Wine Wars
Posted on | January 19, 2010 | Written by Jane Nelson | 5 Comments
This past Saturday evening, a group of friends gathered at my apartment for what we thought would be merely an evening of cheese fondue and wine. The night began in a fairly standard fashion—the opening of wines of varied origins, the streaming of a balanced mix of Frank Sinatra and The Rolling Stones, and the scrambling to find anything that could serve as a chair for the guests. The gruyere and emmental melted together flawlessly as the Tempranillo and Grenache lent their fruit to the experience. Everyone was smiling, laughing and enjoying themselves.
Then Wine Wars appeared.
Wine Wars is, essentially, the oenophile’s version of Trivial Pursuit, a game complete with categories such as Vine to Vino (growing grapes, making wine, and world production), Wine Cellar (selecting, storing, and tasting wine), and Cork Culture (wine people, business, arts and science, and trivia). I have always enjoyed Trivial Pursuit and loved wine, so I was on cloud nine the day my roommate returned from Christmas gripping the Wine Wars box in her hand. In playing, I’ve found that the game is a lot more than just fun—it does a wonderful job of not only boosting the confidence of novices, but also challenging self-proclaimed experts.
We played in teams that had a novice and an expert on each team. The first round was tame; everyone was fairly confident that Pinot Gris and Pinot Grigio were the same grape variety; Bordeaux was a place-named wine (rather than grape-named wine); and that standard wine bottles held 750 milliliters. However, as the game continued, teams spent more and more time deliberating before giving their final answers. Some of us were surprised to learn that the same Tempranillo swirling in our glasses got its name from temprano, meaning “early,” for its young-maturing nature. Others were baffled by the fact that Zinfandel vines are not native to California, but are related to the primitivo grape of Italy. I myself was intrigued to learn that the trade name of the person that makes and repairs barrels or casks is a “cooper.” With every correct answer, we earned small wooden game pieces to add to our mini wine lists. And in the end, only one glass of wine was knocked over in one player’s fit of rage, and a wonderful time was had by all.
The battle piqued my interest in other wine games on the market. A few hours of Google-searching provided one title over and over that is next on my list—Winerd, an interactive board game that incorporates a blind tasting of sorts. But I wonder if I will find other wine games that, like Wine Wars, can suit a crowd with diverse wine backgrounds. Have you found any you like?
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January 19th, 2010 @ 1:09 pm
We have also seen Zin is from Croatia. Many of these similar varieties have been wiped out by phylloxera. We can anticipate that the variety actually came from somewhere else originally, but this is the best information we have to date.
January 19th, 2010 @ 7:17 pm
This sounds like hours of fun. Several years ago I participated in a Wheel of Fortune-like, computer-generated game designed to train the trade, pitting MS candidates against MW candidates. Wine Wars sounds like great present to find for wine geek friends in the upcoming year!
January 20th, 2010 @ 12:19 pm
Christy, my question is – who won?
January 20th, 2010 @ 5:21 pm
I love that idea!! I am picking up Wine Wars asap! The only place I know to buy board games is Toys R Us, but I have a feeling they probably don’t carry it! hah. Where can I find this game? Sounds like a fun way to study.
January 21st, 2010 @ 9:14 am
Hey Tom — I had several delicious bottles of Plavac Mali (cross between ancestral Zinfandel and Dobričić grapes)last summer in Vis and Hvar in Croatia.