In my last few Wine of the Week posts, I have teased a fabulous Sip Happens Party…well the day is finally here and we are ready to reveal what the party is all about. If you follow my friend Val from Chicken Scratch, you may have noticed that she recently celebrated her blogiversary and decided to start a new wine series. Val has been a faithful follower of my Wine of the Week series so I decided to get in on the action.

Val, along with Eva Marie Taylor and Erin from Living in Yellow  have created a wonderful wine tasting party for all of us to join in on. Here’s how it works:

• We provide the wine idea, party printables and food pairings and then you get your girlfriends together for a fantastic wine tasting party.
• During the party, we would love to see your photos on Instagram using the #siphappensparty hashtag.
• On February 3rd we will all link up so you can share all of the party details and tell us what you thought of the wine.

And that’s not all – we are doing an awesome wine giveaway which includes:

• PayPal cash to host your next party
• Sponsorship package on Living in Yellow
• Necklace from Chicken Scratch’D Designs
• Wine Coasters from Eva Marie Typography
• Wine Carrier from Detroit Duchess

The giveaway will begin after the party and run from February 10-14, so stay tuned for more details on how to enter.

Open the Google Doc here to sign up to be a part of the Pay Pal Cash Giveaway.

Erin, our guest host, chose the wine, 14 Hands Hot to Trot Red Blend and Eva created some awesome party printables that you can download here.

What wine tasting would be complete without food pairings? Here are some tasty treats that will complement your Hot to Trot Red Blend:

For a wine tasting party you want to make sure to have some oyster crackers around so your guests can cleanse their palate before trying different wines and combinations.

Appetizers

Since the 14 Hands Hot to Trot Red Blend is a combination of Merlot, Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon for your appetizer I recommend crackers with Gouda, Cheddar and Manchego cheeses.  Try a piece of each cheese with your Red Blend and you will be surprised at all of the different flavors you discover. For my fellow Detroiters, I like to head down to the DeVries cheese shop in Eastern Market when I am doing a wine tasting because they have the most amazing selection of cheeses.

Main Course

If you want to serve dinner at your party you might consider a Prime Rib or Pork Chops to complement the wine. I found this great Rib Roast recipe from Martha Stewart that would be perfect. You could also add some of the Hot to Trot wine to the bottom of the pan while its roasting. I also found this recipe for Herbed Adobo Pork Chops that you marinate overnight and throw on the grill, so delish!

Dessert

At any wine tasting you want to make sure to have milk chocolate and dark chocolate available for tasting. You can just have a few bowls of hershey kisses to make it easy and they really bring out the flavor of the wine. For dessert, I like the idea of melting dark chocolate for a fondue and having various fresh fruit dippers out on the table. I received a fondue pot for Christmas, so this would be the perfect opportunity to test it out. For 1 bag of chocolates you would want to mix 1 cup of heavy cream into your fondue pot.

I am super excited to host my own Sip Happens Party and cannot wait to see what you come up with! Please let me know if you have any questions in the comments below.

Now download your invitations and get to sipping!