Picking out the ideal wines for a wedding, and serving them in the most appropriate ways, is something that shouldn’t be overlooked when planning even a relatively casual celebration. Going in too early with the wrong sort of drink for the setting, for example, can certainly impact on how the rest of the event progresses.
That isn’t to suggest that there are dozens of alarming pitfalls to avoid: too many people already fret unduly about getting wine ‘wrong’, when ultimately it all comes down to what you most enjoy and what you want your guests to experience. Besides, at no time should it be more about personal preference than on your own wedding day, right?
So let’s be clear here: the wines you pick out are not going to make the difference between a dream day and a nightmare (we can’t vouch for the people drinking them though!). In that spirit, if you will, we’ve pulled together a few words of advice that we’ve found helpful in making any wedding wine selection truly toast-worthy.
What kinds?
In terms of wine varieties to serve at a wedding, you won’t be surprised to hear that there’s no hard and fast rule. But whether you’ve got 25 or 250 people coming, attempting to provide a little of everyone’s absolute favourite is likely to be pretty impractical, so the best policy is usually to go for a limited range of real crowd-pleasers.
Soft, fruity, easy-drinking reds and crisper, lighter dry whites are typically a good bet. For reds, avoid anything too complex or heavy – go for popular favourites such as red berry Merlots, curranty Pinot Noirs (exercise caution with the occasionally weighty French reds; there are plenty of lighter ones available though) and juicy Grenache/Garnacha.
Meanwhile, perky, bright-tasting whites like Picpoul, Pinot Grigio and the gooseberry-laced Loire Sauvignons always tend to feel suitably upbeat and celebratory. Though they’re often delicious, you might want to swerve some of the more heavily oaked Chardonnays or very punchy, acidic white varieties – many New Zealand Sauvignons are excellent, but can pack a real flavour wallop that might overpower after half a bottle.
Of course, you’ll also want to bear in mind the sorts of food you’ll be serving, and try to match everything together as well as possible; another reason why it’s generally wise to avoid serving anything too robust or challenging, particularly with lighter buffet-style lunches. Remember, too, that many softer reds are perfectly acceptable accompaniments to chicken and fish, particularly where garlic, herbs or spices are involved.
The time and location that your event is happening at will also influence the best choices. A dense, enveloping red poured in a marquee on an early summer afternoon will probably have half your party snoozing in their seats by the time you cut the cake. Similarly, you’re likely to see much less demand for bowls of vanilla-tinged rosé at an indoors do on a brisk autumn evening.
Finally, always keep the fizz – whether it’s an impressive vintage Champagne or a fun and fruity Cava – limited to arrivals and toasts. Few people actively chose to drink more than a standard glass or two of anything sparkling before feeling it’s time to move on, so don’t bother trying to meet the cost and hassle of keeping those fancy corks popping all day.
How much?
When it comes to mass catering, it’s far easier to trim down basic costs on food than it is on wines (or indeed any other alcoholic drinks). That’s why the bar/table tab can often end up being one of the biggest single expenses of a wedding day to whoever’s footing the bill.
Whether you’d ideally like to drench your guests in booze, or keep them relatively sober for most of the day, again there’s no hard and fast rule in terms of the overall quantity of free alcohol you provide. One equation that’s often used as a baseline by caterers on a budget is to divide the number of guests by 2.15 – this gives a rough minimum bottle count for a shortish function, but of course we all know people (possibly ourselves!) for whom this might seem either excessive or wildly optimistic. You’ll have to tailor this figure significantly to suit your own crowd, particularly if the event is lasting more than a couple of hours.
Whatever the final tally is likely to be though, just aim to supply your guests with what you can afford (and want) to cover for them, and make arrangements for a cash bar if you think there’ll be enough further demand to warrant it. Rather than offering a dizzying array of drinks at the bar, aim to settle on a limited range of options and make sure there’s enough of each to last for the duration – that way, you won’t be forcing guests who stay the course to mix their drinks too much later on (although the jury remains very much out on whether that actually makes much difference!).
Don’t feel obliged to offer anything too exclusive or fancy at a cash bar, as this can also really raise the cost of providing the service. While it’s always nice to have a couple of quality tipples on hand for arrivals and toasts if you can stretch to it, relatively basic varieties are typically fine for later in the evening. (Again, Champagnes and other sparkling wines are particularly costly to keep flowing all night, so keep those strictly limited to the earlier and more formal proceedings.) And remember there’s absolutely nothing wrong with encouraging guests to bring their own bottle either, so long as the venue allows for it.
How to serve it?
Aside from the aforementioned standard cash bar setup, many weddings are now embracing the idea of drinks stations scattered around a venue, with a particular type of alcohol being served at each table. This makes it easier for people to go straight for what they want, without having to queue and order from somebody else.
Presenting a few different wines at different stations is also a really good way of making limited options look more like a carefully curated selection: ‘the delicious Picpoul is over there by the dessert table, while that lip-smacking Grenache is on the other side by the window’, and so on.
Indeed, an increasing number of weddings actually incorporate wine selections directly into their theme or schedule – if that’s likely to suit your group, drink stations can also be approached as an opportunity for something of a tasting session. Place a few attractively presented origin and flavour notes at each station, add a couple of cute visual aids (enlarged label printouts and artificial fruits matching each wine’s characteristics are both popular choices), and maybe even consider a bowl of appropriate nibbles from the same region. You can go as far with this as you think your friends’ interest level might merit!
If you haven’t got the space for all that, then supplying wines to guests’ tables and leaving them to serve themselves is perfectly fine. If you’re offering waiter service, then the supplier will most likely take care of keeping things flowing without any need for further supervision. If not, try to nominate somebody to keep an eye on things, and try to keep an extra unopened bottle on each table at all times: it’s a well-known phenomenon in the catering industry that, somewhat counter-intuitively, people tend to drink less and more slowly when they know there’s always a top-up close at hand.
