Thursday, December 14, 2006

Thursday Wine Procrastination: Games and Quizzes for Slackers

I'm having a difficult time concentrating on the mountain of work that I need to get done before the holidays. Looming deadlines, impending holiday festivities, and the horror of post office lines--aargh. You too?

Here are some Thursday diversions to make the end of your work week just a little more enjoyable. And, they're both wine related.

First, while surfing around Italian wine and food blogs (see above on procrastination) I found a link on Esalazioni Etiliche to an entertaining computer game for wine geeks courtesy of my favorite London wine merchants, Berry Bros & Rudd. Their Wine Binning Game puts you in the role of someone who has just inherited Great Uncle Algy's country house, Pickering the butler, and underground wine cellar. It tests your knowledge as you answer questions by putting wine bottles in the appropriate bins. If you succeed, you learn the secret of Uncle Algy's cellar. After the game, more procrastination can be had clicking through BB&R's superb wine information, aged Bordeaux selections, and wine-tasting dinner announcements.

Not esoteric enough for your procrastination? Head over to the new wine store chain, Best Cellars (logo on the right side of the page), and take their Do You Know What You Like? quiz. Best Cellars is pioneering a new approach to wine selling, that uses flavor profiles like "Fizzy," "Fresh," "Soft," "Smooth," and "Big" to categorize their wines rather than more classic varietal or geographic sorting methods. The quiz will direct you to the Best Cellars flavor profiles that are most closely aligned to your current taste preferences. These nifty logos (right) help guide you through the stores and the online site. All of their wines have great value and are from all over the world. They also have a Beyond the Best selection of wines that represent "best values from around the world irrespective of price." While their everyday wines typically are priced under $20, the Beyond the Best selections are more expensive wines that still have excellent QPR. With stores currently in NY, DC, MA, VA, and TX here's hoping that they go nationwide soon!

Happy procrastinating--then get back to work.

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