"I was always thinking of games that I was playing…"

May 8^th, which is only 2 weeks away at this point (didn’t we just celebrate the new year?!), marks the Wine Century Club’s 5^th birthday. For those of you that live under a bone-dry rock, the Club’s only membership prerequisite is that you’ve tasted at least 100 different grape varieties—no yearly dues, no application fees. My kind of club. Earning its acceptance was easily the most fun I’ve ever had in my wine-soaked life.

In honor of the “Big 5,” I’m asking that everyone raise a glass on May 8, but not just any glass, because that’s too simple a request for winos. Hop over to the Wine Century Club Website, download the grape variety list/application in their membership section, find something you’ve never had (hopefully something you can barely pronounce), and HUNT IT DOWN. Step outside the fucking pinot-chard-cab bubble and fill your glass with something new, something interesting, and hopefully something delicious. Then come visit your gracious host and let me know what you had…and it had better be a doozie! Consider the gauntlet officially thrown.

In addition, Gonzo reader and fellow blogger Don, of Beer & Whiskey Brothers, recently asked how my New Year’s resolution was going. The goal: to taste wines in 2010 that represent each letter of the alphabet, but not by the mere winery name…by their personalized names, which not every wine has. Most wineries slap their names on a label and add the grape variety(ies) and/or the appellation. The majority don’t bother to actually baptize the wine with a name, making my task a little harder than that of others who decided to join me in the challenge but took the easy (winery name) way out. Below is my list so far—I’m more than half way there.

Feel free to throw out names of wines that’ll help me complete the list and I’ll do my best to hunt them down. And please, don’t be a fucking wiseass and offer up some rare $500 wine I’ll never get my hands on. Remember, I’m still unemployed!

A – “Apogee” (L’Ecole No. 41)

B –

C – “Command” (Elderton)

D – “Doyenne” Syrah (DeLille Cellars)

E – “Este” (Bodegas Alto Almanzora)

F –

G – “Gipsy Legend” (Chateau Virant)

H – “Heaven on Earth” (Stellar)

I –

J –

K – “K Syrah” (K Vintner)

L – “Le Pousseur” (Bonny Doon)

M – “Mes Trois Amours” (Ledson)

N – “Novateur” (Fortress)

O – “Orchis Mascula” (Dom. Ferrand)

P – “Perigee” (L’Ecole No. 41)

Q – “Question Mark” (Katarzyna)

R – “Ratafia” (J Winery)

S – “Sal’mon” (Salomon Undhof)

T – “Tantalus” (Elderton)

U –

V –

W –

X –

Y –

Z –

Tagged as: wine century club