Good Morning,

I have been getting lots of questions from friends and a couple a days ago I saw the same question on a twitter post so I thought I’d talk you through how I handle the situation of guests bring wine. My way is not the right way, it’s just my way.

When a guest brings a bottle of wine am I supposed to open it then or is it for me to enjoy later? See this is why wine gets a bad rap…if someone brought beer over what would you do? You would hand them one and open one for yourself….but that would be too easy, wouldn’t it?

After checking the proper (Ask Ann, Dear Abby) sites, I got some conflicting info…like if a guest calls before hand and asks what you are serving and brings wine then, they want you to serve their wine with dinner. (My friends never call and ask what I am making, they are thrilled not to be cooking and they know they have a 90% it will be good). Then I read it is a hostess gift and never open it while they are there but when you do open it, write a thank you note. (I know it is a whole other subject but the art of thank you notes is a lost art, we should bring it back).

What I do when it comes to taking wine to a friends’ home? When I am buying wine’ if it is a special wine and I want them to have it without me I buy 1 bottle and if it is a bottle I want to share I bring 2 bottles. As soon as I arrive, if I bring one just for them, I say, this is just for you to enjoy and I want to hear what you thought of the wine after you have enjoyed it. They LOVE IT. They feel special and have no worries about trying to serve it with dinner or during the party.

If it is a party, I bring two identical bottles and say, one is for all of us to sample tonight, but I brought one just for you to have and relax with in the future, thanks for inviting me tonight. There is one other scenerio that has some questions, a special event. In a few weeks I am headed to a 40th birthday party and I have already called the host and ask if I can bring champagne and he said yes. I have purchased a magnum ( A big ass bottle), there will be 20 plus of us there and it will allow everyone to try it and we will toast with it and the size does matter when trying to impress!

When a guest shows up at my place with wine, I always ask about the signifactes of the wine, when did you try it? What is the story behind the wine? If they say, oh I just did not want to come empty handed, I know they are not expecting to have me serve it that night, if it does get opened that is great, if not, no biggie. But if a guest launches into a story about where they found or tried the wine or about who made it or it came highly recommended. I just ask them, would you like to open it and share it tonight or should I save this for the next time you and I are together. I have never had a negative answer, they always state exactly what they want to have happen. Sometimes they want everyone to try it, other times they say, this was really expensive, let’s wait until we can really enjoy it and let it open up. Either way I am happy.

I know I write just like I think, I hope you followed easily…but this is how I host and how I guest while bringing a bottle to the party!

Much LOVE and wine,

Tammi

Take a couple bottles of this to a party, it will be a hit and you will be a ROCKSTAR!