How Much To Spend On Wine For A Supper Club?

One question that continually comes up around supper clubs is how much should be spent on wine? There is no correct answer. It is one of those topics around the club’s guidelines that needs to be discussed.

The cost of wine/alcohol is usually the driver around a dinner party’s cost. I believe that it is true that most of read wine lists right to left. That is, the more expensive a wine is, the better it is. Of course this isn’t true, but is a good indicator.

In my mind wine falls into five categories

  • Jug/Box wine. My daughter’s friend swears by her box wine. She claims that after aeration it isn’t bad
  • $10 Bottles. You can get some pretty good white wines and an occasional decent red wine especially a blend
  • $20 Bottles. There are some really good white wines and better red wines.
  • $50 Bottles. Here is where you get outstanding whites and really good red wines
  • Over $50 Bottles. We are talking special occasion wines. Just make sure you keep them away from family members that like to put ice in their wine.

My price categories are based on competitive retail prices. When looking at restaurants you can mark wine up 2 to 4 times in the categories above.

A good price target for supper clubs is $20 a bottle. You can get a decent bottle of wine and not break the bank. The funny thing is that it isn’t the price of a bottle but rather the number of bottles that drive cost. We have had a few memorable evenings where consumption overtook discretion. One time there so many bottles in our recycling bin after a supper club party that our 12 years old daughter and her friends made comments.

Our neighborhood supper club uses the price limit of $20 a bottle. Hosts have been known to serve a more expensive wine and charge $20 when allocating costs. Some hosts are simply more popular than others.

As we get older and more affluent, we have enjoyed better wines. We had some really good times when we were younger and couldn’t afford a decent wine. The reality is that the quality and cost of wine is not that important. Making friends and socializing over a meal is what supper clubs is all about.

If you enjoy this blog and similar other stories/supper club lessons subscribe to get future blogs at www.impromptufridaynights.com/blog and be on the look out for my book Impromptu Friday Nights a Guide to Supper Clubs due out from Morgan James Publishing on January 30, 2018.

Do You Remember Your First Time?

A great thing about supper clubs is that they can be a venue for you to try things you have never had before. With someone else writing the menu there is a good chance you get to taste something’s that are completely new.

I can remember the first time I really had truffles. While I had eaten dishes that said they had truffles in them I had never experienced real truffles until we visited Tuscany. Our first night in Montepulciano we ate at Ristorante La Grotta. As we were looking at our menus as a waiter came by with a plate of Tagliderini al Tartufo. The aroma was amazing, but also hard to describe. It certainly was not like anything we had ever smelled or eaten before.

The next day we went on a truffle hunt with an old man in his 80’s and his two dogs. After a few hours our guide had found us a large handful of white truffles that we took back to the kitchens of Il Podere Casale where the chef made up a 4 course meal with each course featuring the wonderful truffles we found that day.

I once saw an old friend at a corporate event and in passing asked “What is new and exciting”. To which he replied: “Like my wife says, it may not be new, but it is still exciting”. Truffles like we had in Tuscany will always be exciting. Given the cost of truffles in the U.S. I doubt I will be writing supper club recipes for them. The great thing about supper clubs is that they are a great venue for that “first time” experience.

If you enjoy this blog and similar other stories/supper club lessons subscribe to get future blogs at www.impromptufridaynights.com/blog and be on the look out for my book Impromptu Friday Nights a Guide to Supper Clubs due out from Morgan James Publishing on January 30, 2018.

“Many People Have Eaten In This Kitchen And Some Have Lived To Talk About It”.

One of the beauties of being in a supper club is that you get an audience to test your culinary skills with. Supper clubbers by their nature are a receptive audience. They just enjoy socializing over a meal.

Growing up with two older sisters and mother that were good cooks, I was kept out of the kitchen. I really didn’t start cooking until getting out of business school. I had an apartment with my good friend from school Tom Julian. TJ was definitely my first culinary victim. He was from Utica NY and used to say everything I made tasted like “mischambrul”. We think that word is Utica slang derived from the Italian ‘mischiato’ which mean mixed up.

I experimented on poor Tom. Everything I made was based in a combination of garlic and onion. Even in those early years I was trying to replicate dishes from local restaurants. I learned early that if you offer to cook, people will come. Tom and I did our fare amount of entertaining and free food ensured an audience.

Being from Utica Tom used to talk fondly of the flavors from his youth. He would go on and on about the “Greens” from the restaurant Grimaldi’s. I tried to replicate this dish from his waxing. The result is what I call Baked Escarole. There is probably more garlic and onion in my recipe than Grimaldi’s, but Tom didn’t complain.

Check out the recipe: 

Whether at a supper club or experimenting on poor Tom, make it and they will come. The key is to have a good time over a meal.

If you enjoy this blog and similar other stories/supper club lessons subscribe to get future blogs at www.impromptufridaynights.com/blog and be on the look out for my book Impromptu Friday Nights a Guide to Supper Clubs due out from Morgan James Publishing on January 30, 2018.