It so happened that I was casting about for a new birthday-celebration idea recently. I don't want to do the same-old standy birthday, which is dinner and drinks with a few close friends. Life feels newish to me right now and that seems stale and unimaginative. On the other hand, I don't want to throw a giant, expensive party with big expectations. However, I do want to gather together a goodly assortment of all the newish and interesting people who are in my life here now, and bring them closer into the friend-fold. And also, summer's flying by and I have not yet steeped myself in its mellow sensate pleasures. How to accomplish all this - new, different, sizeable number of people, summer pleasure, party that is not a pain in the ass to throw?

I was muddling and mulling and puzzling this when an IRC conversation about Vinho Verde cropped up. I found it intriguing and different and summery and hadn't heard of it.
And it's cheap! So my new birthday concept is to buy several varieties of the stuff, and have a laid-back tasting party. I think I'll put candles in jars all over the porch and yard, and make a bunch of boiled shrimp and some dip thingy, like pitas with raita.

But help me plan the rest! What food should I serve that tastes good with this wine? Any advice for making a tasting party fun and non-stuffy? What music should I play? What makes a great summer party?

Vinho Verde from Portugal works well too! Good for Thai street foods, BBQ type items, crispness and acidity backbone stands up to yum salads, spritzyness can refresh palate on fried items. Your picks are dead on!

grilled bluefish was also mentioned in several places I looked..

What sort of house/yard do you have?

I would say, think about what foods they serve in Portugal, and go with variations on those.

Which basically puts you at seafood and sausage, if I'm correctly remembering the one (great!) Portuguese place I ate at. Spicing was fairly simple. Lots of grilling and frying.

I'm not sure about Thai -- I tend to like sweeter whites with my Asian foods, but I could imagine it working.

As for music, I can't imagine a more perfect party for the perfectest summer music ever, Joao Gilberto and his talented family. Seu Jorge would also be great. (And maybe you could add in some music from Macau and just declare it a colonial party!)

I think we need Gaspode on this thread. . .she has eaten in Lisbon. . .mebbe she remembers something about it.

Also, I went to a tasting once where they had a bar with all the various wines, and they passed out xeroxed sheets with descriptions, and then just let people choose what they wanted to drink in what order as they wandered around the garden behind the wine store. Which was nice, because it felt like you could be all wine-tastey about it if you wanted to by consulting the sheet, or you could just ignore that and have some wine.

So maybe you could do something like xerox labels or descriptions or something and scatter them around the party, have all the wines available for tasting at all times, and just let people dip into whatever they want. The xeroxes would give people something to talk about, without being intrusive or bossy, and would let you be as flowery or funny or to-the-point as you'd like abou tthe wine, without worrying it might be offputting for some people.

What sort of house/yard do you have?

I have an apartment that basically has only two 'public' rooms, the kitchen and LR, but both are large and good for sitting and/or milling around. I've got a long, narrow porch with no railing that is very nice to hang out on, and access to a larger backyard, but I'd probably have to move neighbors' kid accessories around in order to claim a lot of the yard. What I could do is use lighting to designate part of the yard as my partay space.

Great suggestions, all.

To be more specific, I live in a house on a leafy street, and the house is divided into two apartments. So the setting is more houselike than apt.like. Here's the porch, which would probably be the party epicenter. Neatened up, of course. I'm thinking of starting at 6:30, so we have evening sun at first and then summer night.

you called?

I would recommend some very simple flavors. vinho verde is *light*. The taste isn't gonna stick around. You don't want anything overly spicy overwhelming it -- this is why a geverztraminer goes so nicely with the spicy Indian foods. It's big and in your face.

Some kind of grilled whitefish dip with toast points or pita?
lots of salad? esp with radishes and salt YUM!
oooh maybe a big grilled salmon or trout or something? Like a whole one? That ppl can just take the meat from? expensive I guess

hrrmmm sounds like a great time! I'll keep thinking about it.

flickr vinho verde tags

Meeks - Vinho Verde is good, but you should also throw in a bottle or two of other stuff, just for fun, stuff like Pinot Blanc from the Alsace part of France, preferably one with a slight fizz to it. Albarinho, another Portie wine, is also good, dry and spicy like Viognier, but also very summmery and cheap.

If I had it in me right now, I'd deluge you with links and what-all, but I'll catch you later maybe and give you the full doubleshot info.

Vinho Verde goes great with seafood of any sort, as long as you follow gaspode’s advice about avoiding spicy dishes. If you want to get all Iberian, maybe make a few tapas plates available. You could also serve some sherry – Manzanilla is served chilled, as I recall – and a bottle or two of Cava. Maybe some Rioja for the red wine drinkers? (It’s kinda trendy now so finding a good AND inexpensive Rioja might take some work. If you do serve it, be sure to get some manchego cheese as well.)

As for the music, maybe some Tropicalia? I can vouch for this disc being a decent anthology. Nice summer music, although actually Brazilian rather than Portuguese.

Thank you, wonderful people. I'll ask for more info where offered and will keep you posted.