The Perfect Holiday Party – The MacRostie Way!

With the holidays upon us, it’s time to stock your cellar for gifting, family celebrations, and perhaps most important, festive holiday parties. In the words of noted French gourmand André Simon, “Wine makes every meal an occasion, every table more elegant, every day more civilized.” With this in mind, we’re here to provide you with some wisdom about how to make wine a memorable part of a flawless holiday gathering, with useful tips for any host or hostess.

How Much Wine Do You Need for a Party? 

Let’s start with some basics. A standard bottle of wine is 750 mL. That’s about 25 ounces. While most sources say that a standard pour is 5 pounces (meaning 5 glasses per bottle), when it comes to parties many people enjoy a slightly heavier pour (and they’ll appreciate you for it!). So, assume four glasses per bottle and you’re on the right track. Of course, some guests don’t drink (so stock up on non-alcoholic offerings), and some will opt for beer or spirits, but for the wine drinkers at your party, you can assume 1-2 glasses will be enjoyed in the first hour, with roughly a glass per hour after that. For a three-to-four-hour gathering, that’s approximately one bottle per guest, with an extra bottle for every four wine drinkers for every additional hour the party goes. And remember, unless you’re trying to usher your guests out the door, you don’t want to run out.

What Wine Should I Pour at My Party?

These days, people’s preferences for red or white wine are almost evenly split, so a good host should have ample amounts of both on hand. From there, it’s good to consider which grape varieties are most popular in the US. For white wine, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc are your perfect go-to wines, with our MacRostie Sonoma Coast or single-vineyard bottlings providing a beautifully rich and expressive drinking experience, and our Clockwise Sauvignon Blanc is the ideal choice for those who like their whites zesty and vibrant. In the world of reds, Pinot Noir and Cabernet Sauvignon rule. For pairing with food, Pinot Noir is delicious, extremely versatile, and a little lighter on its feet—and we have a fantastic variety to choose from. For those who want a richer, more opulent red, our Clockwise Cabernet from Napa Valley’s famed Yountville AVA is sure to delight. For a party that’s truly joyous and bright, consider pouring a great sparkling wine like our Blanc de Blancs. We often greet our guests with a small glass of sparkling, and everyone loves it!

Magnificent Magnums

While a standard 750 mL bottle is great for most occasions, once the gatherings grow a little larger, and the celebrations more meaningful, it’s the ideal time to break out those large-format MacRostie wines from your collection. Epic, impressive, and profoundly age-worthy, when it comes to the size of a wine bottle, bigger is definitely better—and not just because there is more wine to pour. We bottle many of our most sought-after wines, including single-vineyard offerings, in various large formats, including Magnums (1.5L – 8 party pours) and Double Magnums (3L – 16 party pours). When served as a dramatic centerpiece on your holiday table, there is an inherent “Wow!” factor to large-format wines that never fails to impress. To make pouring from magnums a breeze, we recommend using a decanter, which is both elegant and easier.

Perfect Food Pairings

When it comes to pairing food and wine, the old rules aren’t as hard and fast as they used to be. Even so, there are some useful guidelines. For sparkling wine, the classics are oysters, caviar, and citrus-infused dishes, or for a more modern take, try fried chicken or crispy potato latkes. For Chardonnay, try mini-crab cakes, smoked salmon crostini, grilled shrimp, or mini-goat cheese tarts. When it comes to Pinot Noir there are so many choices, including patés, stuffed mushrooms, bacon-wrapped asparagus, tuna tartar, duck, risotto cakes, and artisan pizzas. If your goal is to create a true wine-pairing symphony for the senses, you can never go wrong with the three C’s: cheese, charcuterie, and chocolate! From hard and soft cheeses to smoked and salty charcuterie to creamy milk chocolate and decadent dark chocolate, the pairing possibilities are almost infinite!

Etiquette When Giving or Receiving Wine

Whether it’s a small dinner party or a festive gathering, when you bring a bottle of wine it should always be thought of as a gift for the host, and a way of saying thank you for the invitation. Because the host may have their own vision of the evening’s wines, etiquette says that while the host may pour your wine, it should not be an expectation. If you know that your host is a wine lover, you can always go the extra mile and bring two bottles, with a friendly aside to the recipient letting them know that, “this wine is for the party, and this one is something special for you!” As another option, if you wish to bring a special wine as a present to the host, let them know. “I love this wine, and I think you will as well. If you want to open it tonight, feel free, but if you wish to save it that’s great too.” The bottom line—once you give a bottle of wine, where and when it is served are out of your hands.

Party Essentials

One of the first rules of hosting a great party is not to run out of the essentials—especially wine! The same can be said of stemware. While one glass per person may get the job done, two glasses means less running to the kitchen to wash dishes. It also means that guests can switch between wines with fresh stemware. It is also a good idea to have decanters on hand, champagne stoppers, wine markers or charms to stop glassware mix-ups, an elegant ice-filled bucket for displaying your wines and keeping them cool, towels and polishing clothes, and some wine-away for any unexpected spills. All of the above, including glassware rentals, can be found at most party and event supply stores.

Since the earliest days of civilization, wine has brought people together in joy and celebration. This is the magic of wine, and why it makes such a memorable and meaningful gift. For those who enjoy fine wine, there are few gifts more welcome. Whether it’s for Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, a university graduation, a wedding, or a milestone anniversary, fine wine is a gift that will have your loved ones thinking fondly of you every time they open one of the bottles you’ve gifted.

When giving wine, it’s important to think about three things: the taste of the recipient, their experience with wine, and the significance of the event they are celebrating. This is where we come in.

Exploring fine wine and learning to appreciate its beauty is one of life’s great pleasures. Many of us still remember our first “Wow!” wine and how the experience led to a lifetime of discoveries. When gifting to newer wine drinkers, it’s important to remember that they are just beginning their journey with wine, and that journey should be a source of delight. Because they are easy to love, the classic varietals of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir in our Explore Russian River Valley – AVA Duo are a wonderful and engaging place to start. Whether for a serious aficionado or a less-experienced wine drinker, our Celebrate & Sparkle – Sparkling Duo makes an unforgettable gift, while providing perfect wines for raising a toast.

For more experienced wine enthusiasts, our Night Flight – Nightwing Vineyard Duo showcases the beauty of single-vineyard Chardonnay and Pinot Noir from our acclaimed Nightwing Estate Vineyard.

Of course, the bigger the occasion, the more extravagant you may wish to be. To really make a statement while showing your gratitude and great taste, consider gifting a MacRostie Club Membership. Whether for a university graduation, a milestone birthday, or a special anniversary, a club membership will have them thinking of you each time a new box of wine arrives at their door. With three membership levels to choose from, we have the perfect club for every palate.

To make gifting easy and enjoyable, every gift set in our MacRostie Gift Shop includes ground shipping, a beautiful MacRostie logo gift box, a personalized gift note, and a gift certificate valued at $80 for an Estate House Signature tasting for two people! And of course, you can always go to our Online Wine Store, where you can curate your own personal gift sets.

A Rosé By Any Other Name

The history of rosé wines goes all the way back to ancient Greece, where many of the first recorded wines were made by crushing red and white grapes together and then watering down the resulting wine. In the sixth century, when the first grape vines from Greece were brought to what is now Southern France, rosés began to grow in popularity, offering a pleasant and vivacious alternative to red or white varietal wines. Later, when the Romans came to Provence, they began exporting the region’s rosés around the Mediterranean, where the wines were quickly embraced. Historically, rosé was often considered a vin de soif, or “wine to quench thirst,” and to some extent that is still true today, though the style of the finest rosés has changed dramatically.

A Change in Style: From Sweet to Dry

For many older generations of Americans, rosé meant White Zinfandel or perhaps Mateus or Lancers—sweet, pink wines made from inexpensive grapes. While this style was once hugely popular, by the late 1980s and early 1990s, rosé had earned a reputation as an unserious, mass-produced wine. This began to change in the 2000s. As more Americans began to be exposed to drier French rosés, they discovered how beautifully vibrant and refreshing they can be. Winemakers in the US took notice and were soon exploring drier, more complex, and graceful expressions of rosé, using new winemaking techniques, new methods, and new grape varietals.

The Grapes

While the ancient Greeks mixed red and white grapes together to make their blush wines, modern rosés are generally made exclusively from red grapes. While rosés can be made from almost any red grapes, many of the finest modern American rosés are made from the traditional Rhône grapes (Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre) or Pinot Noir. At MacRostie, Pinot Noir is our grape of choice when making rosé because it produces such a beautifully crisp and vibrant wine with enticing aromas and notions of graceful red fruit.

Saignée or Direct Press

The great majority of modern rosés are made using either the direct press or saignée methods. The direct press method means that the grapes are picked earlier at lower ripeness and lower Brix (sugar) levels. Once the grapes are pressed, the juice is quickly removed from the skins and seeds, yielding a wine with a light and delicate pink color. Because the grapes are picked earlier, they have very elegant aromas and flavors, with lovely acidity that adds structure and mouthfeel. In contrast, with the saignée method the grapes are allowed to ripen as they would for making a still Pinot Noir bottling. Once the grapes are pressed, some of the light-colored juice is drained off to be used for making rosé. Because these grapes were allowed to ripen more, they have higher Brix and more developed fruit flavors.

While most winemakers choose one method or the other, being the innovator that she is, our Winemaker, Heidi Bridenhagen uses both to build layers of flavor. “Rosé is a fun, yet challenging, wine to make,” she says. “Achieving the right color is all about timing and vineyard choice. Color is the first lure of this wine, and it is crucial to have it just right. To give the wine fruit aromatics, a round mid-palate, fresh acidity, and a poignant finish, 45% of the fruit went directly to press with the other 55% produced using the saignée method. Heidi also allowed a range of skin contact from 2-to-48 hours to vary the amount of color in each lot. The wine also benefitted by fermenting and aging in stainless steel tanks, which underscores the vintage’s lovely fruit aromas. The result is a beautifully elegant and dry rosé, with lifted tangerine and watermelon aromas, as well as a fun aroma that brings to mind youthful memories of bubblegum. On the palate, bright, crisp acidity is balanced by richer layers of ripe apricot and cantaloupe, resulting in a wine that is refreshingly smooth and ideal for enjoying during fun, al fresco gatherings.