Let the Wine Games begin!
My dear friend Evie Douraki asked me to write an article for her winery’s blog. At first my thoughts contemplated on important research topics and high-flown statements, when it hit me that WINE IS FUN and it should be fun! In these crazy times we live in, we need moments of carefreeness and games can provide just these! I love to play games with my friends, just like when we were teens, so moving on I will present the best wine games to be played and enjoyed by all wine enthusiasts and professionals!
Ready, set, go!
GAME 1: ‘’NAME, ANIMAL, THING Wine Edition’’
First write all 26 letters of the alphabet on a sheet of paper, shuffle them and then choose one.
With the letter chosen, write a name of a producer eg. Antinori, a grape eg Aglianico, a wine region e.g Alsace (countries are accepted) and something related to wine e.g ácre or acetobacter.
As soon as the first player has finished writing he must countdown to 10 so all other players finish too. The remaining players should finish before the countdown!
Each correct answer is rewarded ten (10) points.
If two players have the same answer, then only 5 points should be rewarded.
If a player has the only answer, and the rest no answer the player gets 15 points!
If the answer is not accepted (e.g., if name of the grape does not exist), or if the entry is not given the player is rewarded 0 points.
Only the final points count. Typically, the winner is awarded with a bottle of wine to take back home or the last glass of wine left!
GAME 2: “GUESS WHO”
For this game you must appoint a Chairman. The Chairman will collect all the answers and assist with the final scoring. All participants should answer 3 identical questions and write the answers on 3 papers with their name on it. Questions must be wine related, for example you can write your 3 most favourite wine regions, or your 3 most favourite grapes, or wineries etc. Then the chairman takes all the papers shuffles them, then gives blank papers to the people joining the game to keep score and starts asking the whole group for e.g. “Guess who likes Montes Alpha?’’. All should answer clear and loudly. When the chairman reveals the actual person who gave the answer, the ones who got it right get a point. The ones that gave the answer on paper should just say another’s person name in the group. It’s a great game to see what your friends like or to get to know one another!
GAME 3 : “THE WINE OPTIONS GAME’’ by Len Evans
The objective of this game is to answer all the questions prepared by the player who is appointed as the “Question Master’’. The Question Master will ask a series of questions for a wine that all participants have tasted. The Question Master, who runs the game, should prepare in writing all questions and have a tie breaker prepared in case more than one players reach the end.
The game should start with easy questions, e.g ‘Is the wine part of the Old or New World?’ and gradually proceed to the more challenging questions. The ones who fail, get knocked out and the winner is the last one standing.
GAME 4 : “CALL MY WINE BLUFF’’
This game will best suit large wine gatherings and offer hilarious moments of joy!
This game is an imagination expose and sharpens the player’s verbal skills!
First choose a wine bottle. Then taste the wine. Having tasted the wine, each player should write down tasting notes and purported attributions, and then read out loud to the group. The purpose of this game is to guess which notes and attributions are correct.
Sommelier and Restaurant Manager of Riviera Restaurant/Co-owner of Nakara catering.
