It’s time again to share the deets with you on this year’s annual neighborhood wine crawl. You can read all about last year’s crawl and some hints on hosting your own wine crawl here. If beer is more your thing, you can read about hosting a beer crawl instead here. This year five houses participated, and we each picked our own theme. To limit the number of houses to a reasonable number we could all walk (or crawl) to in one evening, couples teamed up for hosting.
Mr. Spring and I selected Argentina. We spent a wonderful vacation in Mendoza, which is the heart of Argentina’s wine region, last spring and wanted to share the experience with our neighbors.
Argentina is known for their Malbec so of course we had to let the group get a taste of this great wine.
Along with the wine, each house prepared foods to pair with their wines. Beef empanadas are a traditional Argentina food that worked great with the Malbec.
A pasta salad was suggested to pair with white wines. We served it in little throw-away cups. It kept the clean-up to a minimum. We also served a Torrontes that we discovered in Argentina. It is a crisp white, and I suggest you give it a try. We tried a couple of brands, and we all said our favorite was by Norton. We were shocked because it was the least expensive.
To label the wines and food, I made cut-outs in the shape of Argentina and glued them to skewers. We tried to create a rustic setting by using burlap, browns, and creamy colors.
Saltines are a must for cleansing the palate. I also wrote up descriptions of the types of wine we served.
The fun thing about a wine crawl is you get the opportunity to sample a variety of wines. If our guests didn’t enjoy the Argentina wines, they could pour them out. It was a great use of the ice bucket, and it is a totally acceptable thing to do when tasting wine. Just remember to do it discreetly.
Sunflowers were our centerpiece, and they were beautiful. We used the rustic burlap as a tablecloth, and I put wood under the burlap to display the wine and make it a little higher to showcase what we were tasting.
Mr. Spring, our other host, and I were decked out for the occassion. (By the way, you can learn how to make the DINE sign here). We decided last minute to make something to wear, and we bought aprons and attached iron-on letters. I was able to make these words out of one set of letters. Overall, it was a great night in the neighborhood.
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If you hosted a wine crawl what wine would you feature?
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Cheers!
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Fun!! You all know how to live. Very cute idea. Thanks for sharing.
Hi darling, what a fun party. I can only imagine the conversations over the wines.. hugs ~lynne~
I love this idea! And would love to do it. One day I bought dozens of teeny tiny wine glasses at a yard sale that would be perfect for tasting. We used to do a Christmas crawl in our old neighborhood. What fun! Thank you for sharing your ideas. xo
This is just wonderful! One question…Once people leave your home and move on to the next home do you go with them? Do you all stay together in a group? Thanks!
Luisa,
Yes we go to the next house together and travel as a group to the different houses. The person who is the next house usually ducks out a few minutes early from the current house to go set up.
Cheers!
Very nice. I love Malbec wines and Norton does an exceptional job. Also some Carmenera wines from Argentina are great too. Great job, I love what you did and the detail in every aspec. Thanks for sharing.
What a great idea.. Must put this on the list to try. Great idea about the saltines! It just really looks great. xo marlis
What a wonderful idea, a wine crawl. How fun!
– The Tablescaper
I absolutely love this idea and am going to put it on my list of things to host. I would likely choose wines from Argentina as well as they are my favorites. Somehow I’d have to add dulce de Leche to the foodstuffs!
We love dulce de Leche. My mom posted a recipe for a turtle brownie using dulce de Leche. Here’s the link: http://the2seasons.com/2012/08/30/turtle-candy-brownie-how-to/
I remember what a great job you did on your last years wine crawl and I think you have done an excellent job again this year. You come up with the best themes and the coolest ideas on how to present them. I have your moms recipe bookmarked to make for the holidays. It just looks so delicious and I think if I made it now we would just eat all of it!!