Hosting a Book Club with Gloria Ferrer Wines

I do love my Book Club. Aside from giving me a fun night out with my posse (‘cuz that’s right. We mamas roll in posses, yo), Book Club also makes me read stuff I wouldn’t pick myself (not even lying to you — we read Jane Eyre and Rob Lowe’s “Stories I Only Tell My Friends” back-to-back. That’s how my posse rolls.)

But even if you haven’t read the book? You come to Book Club. You come to see friends and drink wine and get support or encouragement from friends and drink wine and laugh and cry and visit and mayyyybe talk about the book. And drink wine.

So when it was my turn to host, and I had a chance to serve some Gloria Ferrer sparkling wines — well, it was just serendipity is all.

Here’s the thing about hosting a book club — we’re all busy people, so we don’t want to make anyone do anything too fancy and time-consuming. But at the same time, we like to treat ourselves and make our friends feel special. A night out is kind of a big deal.

So I bring out the good dishes, but I mix and match them with our everyday stuff.

I make sure there are flowers. And since this was a book club meeting, I used books from around the house as stands for some of the food.

I make one or two things from scratch, and then add in some storebought goodies. I’ll buy fresh fruit at the store, and add some homemade whipped cream to top them (here’s the best whipped cream recipe you’ll ever need — 1 pint heavy whipping cream, 1 Tb sugar, and 1 tsp vanilla. Whip it all together until the cream stands in peaks and then keep chilled).

Since the Blanc de Blancs wine also pairs well with Brie, we had crackers with Brie and fig jam — one of my favorite things to serve at parties. Or eat all by myself as a snack. All the time.

I served the Blanc de Blancs and the Blanc de Noirs wines, and can honestly say they were both delicious. They’re lovely and sparkly and light — perfect party wines.

I grew up in the California Bay Area, and I’m always partial to varieties from our wine country. Gloria Ferrer opened in 1986 in southernmost Sonoma County, and their wines have earned over 400 gold medals and 50 90+ scores in the last 5 years.

Gloria Ferrer is also sponsoring a Spring Photo Contest — enter a pic of your own awesome party and tag #GloriousDining and #BeGloriousContest for a chance to win!

So — how do you party? Are you a mixer and matcher and use whatever you have-er? Or are you a dresser-upper and matching fine china user? I think the world needs a little of both.

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I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.