Holiday Party Ideas with Wine

It's time to get creative with your holiday party plans. We've got some tips and tricks for hosting fabulous holiday parties all incorporating great wine ideas. The holiday season is the perfect time to expose your family and friends to new wines from all around the world and especially Napa Valley!

White Elephant Wine Dinner Party

Instead of doing a traditional white elephant gift exchange with the usual stuff nobody needs, why not do a white elephant wine gift exchange. We recommend having a budget of around $50 and tell everyone to bring a bottle of a favorite wine. Have fun running a traditional white elephant exchange and let people steal away those bottles of wine. Two wines that everyone will love are the Mira Rosé of Pinot Noir and Mira Jimmy D’s Red Blend. Both wines are smooth, easy to drink, pair wonderfully with a variety of foods and fan favorites of those visiting the Mira estate in Yountville. For this fun themed holiday party, we recommend a potluck and asking everyone to bring an appetizer or fun finger food.

Wine & Food Pairing Station Party

Everyone loves appetizers and small bites and are the perfectly sized dishes to host with, especially when you have a larger crowd. Your guests can spend more quality time mingling and visiting with friends while trying different bites of flavorful foods and sipping wine. The key to larger dinner parties is crowd control. Set up individual tasting stations around your house with a dish and a select wine. Choose a variety of sweet, savory and healthy bites so there will be something for everyone and so that you can have a broad variety of wines to pair with those foods.

For a wine and food pairing party, it’s important to have a myriad selection of wines to go with the various food flavors. Stock up on a variety of popular, food friendly wines such as Champagne or California sparkling wines to pair with the cheese station; the Mira Sauvignon Blanc to pair with vegetables and hummus dips as well as small salads; the Mira Hyde Vineyard Chardonnay to pair with bite size quiche, deviled eggs and grilled chicken skewers; and the Mira Hyde Vineyard Cabernet Franc or Syrah to pair with a pizza station.

Not sure how much wine to have on hand? Depending on the size of your party, prepare for over a half-bottle per person. 20 people? Make sure and have 12 bottles on hand. 40 people? At least 2-3 cases of wine (12 bottles per case).

Holiday Pigs & Pinot Dinner Party

Arguably, one of the best pairings out there is a pork dish with a delicious Pinot Noir. This holiday season, do something different and host a Pigs & Pinot Noir dinner party. You can choose from a variety of pork dishes including a roasted pork loin, grilled pork tenderloin, slow cooker mini pork sliders, stuffed pork loin, porchetta, or honey glazed pork chops.

We have three different Pinot Noir’s to choose from, all from the acclaimed Los Carneros region of Napa Valley. The Carneros region is ideal for growing Pinot Noir due to its cooler climate and proximity to the San Pablo Bay. Larry Hyde began planting in what would become Hyde Vineyard in the 1970’s. Recognizing the ideal conditions of East facing slopes, sun exposure and coastal influence, his experiments with vine row orientation, rootstock and clonal selection has resulted in a vineyard able to produce some of the finest Pinot Noir grapes. For your Pigs and Pinot Holiday Party, try one of our Pinot Noirs from this region (or all three!): Mira Hyde Vineyard Pinot Noir, Mira Hyde & Sons Pinot Noir or the Stanly Ranch Pinot Noir.

Holiday Cookie Exchange Wine Party

What are the holidays without cookies? There’s nothing quite like a holiday cookie exchange party, but why not make it about wine too?! Invite your guests to bring a plate of their favorite holiday cookies, enough to nibble on at the party and for guests to take home too. As the host, provide the wine for guests to sip on as they try the cookies.

Here are some of our favorite holiday cookie and wine pairings:

Chocolate chip cookies paired with Mira Hyde Vineyard Merlot
Sugar Cookies paired with Champagne or California sparkling wine or a Late Harvest Semillon
Spicy Ginger Bread cookies paired with Riesling or Gewürztraminer
Shortbread cookies with Mira Hyde Vineyard Chardonnay
Peanut Butter cookies with a vintage Port wine