Wine Wars: A Trivia Game for Wine Geeks and Wannabes

Know someone who joined their local wine club and eagerly awaits their monthly wine? Someone who can’t leave Trader Joe’s / Costco / Wal-Mart you name it without at least three to four bottles that are right in their price range and tells you how this one will be perfect with tonight’s fish/pasta/roast? That’s who this game is for. That someone probably always enjoyed wine, but is really getting into it at this stage in their life, and geeks out on new discoveries and insists her/his guests swirl, inhale, sip, hold, swallow — then tell her if you don’t taste leather and tobacco in that zinfandel! Yes, leather! Isn’t that cool? This is trivial pursuit on all things vino; winemaking, grape variety, storage, cooking and pairing, and the business, as well as the pleasure, of the wine industry. Like the amateur athlete, your wine drinker’s passion for her sport will be challenged and rewarded. ‘What white wine grape excels in the cool climates of Germany and makes famous botrytized wines?’ Best answered after a swirl, inhale, sip, hold for a moment — let every tastebud have its chance — now swallow. It may be ‘Wine Wars’, but we can be quite friendly about it. More so as the evening wears on.