I’m so excited to share this gorgeous, Rustic-Glam Wine Tasting Party with you today! And my personal affinity for a good vino only has a tiny something to do with it. ;)

This beautiful party was dreamed up by Silvia Lucena of Classy Detailed Events & Creations, and it’s absolutely filled to the brim with creativity, so get ready to drink it all in…

Silvia wanted to treat her party guests to the vibe of an authentic Italian winery, so she transformed her home into “Villa de Lucena” for the evening! I was instantly smitten with the wine-inspired floral centerpieces in particular…. they have such a beautiful mix of deep, rich reds accented by pops of bright purple, blue thistle, and greenery.

And then of course I also love that she incorporated our Rustic Wine & Cheese Party Collection too! You’ll see some of the elements from this collection woven through the party pics below – from party invitations (which we customized for her event) to a flag banner & framed wine quotes.

PARTY HIGHLIGHTS to look out for:

• Wine glasses adorned with ice-breaker questions on the base (great idea!)
• Wooden wine boxes used as buffet risers + wine cork keychain favors
• DIY rhinestone accents everywhere, from glass votives & mirror stands to the custom VINO letters
• Shimmery macarons & cake pops + hand-painted wine cookies with incredible detail

PARTY DETAILS as told by Silvia…

What a better way to celebrate our love for wine and good friends than by having an “Elegant Evening of Wine Tasting” and finding our complete inspiration from the HWTM Rustic Wine Party Collection. I knew the perfect scene of glam and elegance with a bit of a rustic winery feel would be the perfect theme to use this fabulous paper collection. This event was all beautifully captured by the artistic Myra Lucina Photography.

Unlike a traditional wine party, our goal was to engage our friends by introducing them to the world of wine and bringing the Italian winery feel to them from the moment they approached our villa (house).

Decor & DIY

I knew that the hundreds of collected wine corks would come in handy one day. We also had several empty wine bottles which shall remain classified that we were going to finally put to good use. We cut wine bottles in different heights to use as light fixtures and décor. The corks were cut in half, to add a rustic yet elegant look to our votive holders by gluing the corks to the outside of the votive and adding a strip of bling. We cut other corks to use as place holders and used many more corks in our gorgeous dessert table centerpiece whose floral arrangement was by Burlap And Bordeaux. To add to the vineyard feel we rented wine barrels and table tops from Farm Formal and added lots of grapes and crystal bling throughout the design and our very own rhinestone mirror stands for some elegance. With the great help and talent of Tania Fischer Design we incorporated a beautiful picturesque backdrop of the rolling hills of Tuscan vineyards.

Menu & Wine Tasting

You definitely can’t have a wine tasting party without an array selection of wines. We asked our friends to bring a bottle of white and red wines. We served an assortment of chesses, fruits, crackers and an extraordinary selection of hors d’oeuvres such as: Drunken Grapes in Shrimp, Gorgonzola Truffles, Goat Cheese, Fig and Prosciutto bites, Cantaloupe Balls Wrapped in Prosciutto and Tomato, Basil and Mozzarella Skewers.

Our friends were invited to select a wine glass adorned with customized ice-breaker questions for everyone to get to know each other and mingle. We provided a designated wine station with wine tasting cards and instructions to use as a guide in learning the steps of wine tasting. This helped them discover their likes and dislikes with different wines by doing a blind tasting of four different wines which were covered with only a number and customized wine bottle topper provided by Kate Aspen. We also provided an infused water station with hints of mint, orange and lemon.

Dessert Table

One of my favorite components for this wine party was the opportunity to collaborate with so many amazing and talented vendors. From the customized one-of-a-kind letters by Sophisticated Life which complimented the elegant wine theme by spelling out V I N O (wine), that accentuated the dessert table. Our friends were indulged with a medley of sweets from the scrumptious cookie dough cupcakes by Maegs Bakes Cakes which we adorned with Roni Sugar Creations beautiful custom-made cupcake toppers to the delicious lemon curd and fig with mascarpone filing French macarons, topped with iridescent glitter by [Desi]gn Cakes And Cupcakes. Who wouldn’t want to try a famous Cupcake Wars Finalist French macaron?!?! That was a sure bonus! Our friends were fascinated by Sugar Studio’s chocolate ganache cake pops which were dazzlingly decorated to fit our theme and perfectly accented with glitzy Twirly Clear Sparkle Sticks and Black Shimmer Sticks. The stunning and impressive details on the Wine Party Custom Cookies were a hit! We definitely can’t have a dessert table without Candy , Candy Kabobs and fun Favor Bags for our guests to carry their sweet loot in. We embellished the favor bags with the Hostess Ink Rustic Wine Party Circles.

What’s a great party without a distinctive favor? Remember, that some of our motivation for this party was our love for wine… as members of one of our local wineries; Cougar Vineyards generously donated some of their famous cork keychain keepsakes for our guests. Overall, we all had a wonderful night with Fine Food, Great Friends and Lots of Wine!