When wedding guests raise glasses to toast the happy couple, everyone wants what is in the glass to be pleasant. We also want the wines not to break the bank. Both can be achieved without much complexity or stress.
The main goal is to ensure that wines will be good company with guests and food. Wines should neither be so expensive as to create financial stress, nor of such poor quality that no one drinks them. Both results are wasteful.
There are a few basic principles to choosing wines.
Don’t get stuck on a name, brand, or grape variety. There are many good wines that over-deliver for $12 or less. Many of these hidden gems are crowd-pleasing wines. They may hail from regions you’ve never heard of—which is often even better for value-to-price ratio.
Ask for advice. The only way to find hidden gems is to ask. Make sure you taste the wines that have been recommended by taking some home in order to narrow the field. If you’re not a wine drinker, ask someone who is to taste the samples.
Keep it simple, or offer variety. Selections can be a single white and red for the entire evening, or switched during the event. (For example, you could have sparkling or red/white for starters, and another pair for dinner.) There is also no rule that you can select only one brand. Some hosts buy a variety.
Finally, have enough on hand. Really, have lots and lots. Even a bottle per guest. The half-bottle per guest rule might work fine for a dinner party, but on a wedding day, if there’s a mishap with a few bottles, or guests decide on wine over other beverages, you cannot order in. Unopened, undamaged bottles can be returned to the retailer for a full refund.
Keeping these principles in mind, the selection of wines should be as pleasant as raising a toast.
