Review of ‘Winerd: The wine tasting game’
I enjoy a game night just as much as the next person, but I tire quickly of Scrabble, Monopoly, and most card games. My supreme dominance in most game night fare makes the evening boring for me and frustrating for my competitors. I was looking for a challenge.
Enter Winerd, the Game. This baby has it all – trivia, gambling, a board featuring a myriad of wines from across the world, and best of all, WINE TASTING! Lindi and I decided to bust the game out last night and challenge my beer-loving fiancée Zeb to a game of wit and skill.
All you need to get this party started is three bottles of either all red or all white wine, glasses, a couple of pens, and a thirst for knowledge (plus a couple of friends, this ain’t no solitaire!).
The game starts auspiciously – with a tasting, of all things! Each player tastes through the three bottles of wine, noting the name, vintage and region as well as the color, aroma and flavors. Taking detailed notes is key, as down the road you’ll rely on your notes (and your excellent palate, no doubt) to win blind tasting challenges.
Once each wine has been properly documented by each player, the real fun begins – TRIVIA! Each player must answer a wine-related question correctly in order to move forward one space – questions range from the ridiculous (“When the cork is presented to you in a restaurant, you should: A – Look and it and touch it. B – Bite it to determine the cork’s subtle flavors. C – Smell it.”) to the sublime (“Blue cheeses go best with: A. Light-bodied wines B. Tannic wines C. Sweet wines (P.S. the answer is C!)
Then the GAMBLING starts – if you feel fairly confident that you know the answer to a question, you can play your Bonus card to double your stakes, and the person asking the questions can use their Challenge card to up the ante.
There are four Blind Tasting Challenge spaces on the game board – a chance for each player to test their palates and wow their friends with their tasting abilities. The “challenging” player pours one of the three wines previously tasted for the Challengee, who then deduces the Wine Name, Region and Vintage. If the taster correctly guesses all three, they move forward 3 spaces – if they only guess two, they move two spaces, etc.
We had a blast playing this game, although Lindi and I were both humbled by the blind tasting prowess of Mr. Zeb Walter. He correctly guessed the exact wine in 3 of the 4 blind tasting challenges – Lindi and I only guessed exactly right once between the two of us. Who knew that the wine novice would be such an expert blind taster? His palate has been finely tuned by years of Coors Light/Bud Light blind tastings, evidently.
I highly recommend this game to any wine lover, whether you’re new to the world of wine or your middle name is Sommelier, you’ll have a blast and learn some pretty excellent wine facts that will later truly impress someone… even if that someone is just your beer drinking fiancée.
