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  Carol Brown review
The Press and Journal - 6th March 2001
Are you game for a quaff?
I have to admit to being slightly nervous when I know that my skills are going to be put to the test. At Aberdeen Wine Appreciators' recent meeting, I took a back seat and left the group in the very capable hands of Heather Miller from Chonky Chonks.
Heather's varied career in the past saw her in banking and the media until she decided, like so many of us have done in the past, to follow her nose and her passion and get into wine.
The result is Quaffers, not just any old drinking game, but an educational tool suitable for anyone who enjoys wine, whether a beginner or a fully fledged buff. You become the owner of an internationally acclaimed vineyard (and let's face it, what wine lover hasn't fantasised about that at some point). You move around the board and, on the way, face a series of encounters which may or may not help you to bottle and sell your wine. Everyone brings a bottle and you get to blind taste your opponents' wine and try to deduce what it is. The boundaries of the game are as limitless as the wines available, with game card sets allowing you to focus on specific countries.
Our evening consisted of blind tasting with multiple guess, sorry, choice answers and two quiz rounds. So the House Reds, Quaffers Bluffers, Phylloxera Three, the Champagne Charlie's' Angels, et al, swirled, sniffed, slurped and spat (or not) their way through the wines.
Wine A, Forresters Petit Chenin from South Africa, was rumbled, but we all got the price wrong, thinking it twice the actual price of £3.45 from Oddbins. Great value for money with typical honey-laced wet wool aromas and fruity flavours balanced with acidity.
It became clear that this was not going to be easy. Only the Buckfasts (who let them in?) got wine B, Burgans Albarino from Spain; the rest of us hit on Chilean Viognier. The characteristics can be quite similar, especially the full peach and apricot aromas. This 1999 vintage, £6.99 from Oddbins, is much better and fuller than the 1998 vintage - that's my excuse for not getting it, anyway.
On to the first quiz round, with much shielding of papers and loud whispers. I now know that the patron saint of wine-making is not Oz Clarke, but St Vincent, and amazed myself by knowing that Misket is a Bulgarian white grape variety.
On to the red tasting, where we were completely thrown by Le Clot, Comte Cathare Syrah. The distinctly stinky, at first, nose gave way to more opulent juicy red fruit, and the structured tannins had us over in Argentina thinking Malbec instead of France. Made under biodynamic principles (according to the stars and phases of the moon), this wine can give you a "feel good about yourself factor" at £5.99 (Oddbins).
The scoring on this round resembled the Eurovision Song Contest results for Luxembourg - nil pointe!
No problems guessing the final and favourite wine of the evening, Beringer Zinfandel 1997 with seductive black cherry, plum and spice and silky smooth dried fruit finish. We had it marked up at £8, not its actual £6.99 (Oddbins).
With the scores on the door close, tension was hotting up for the final quiz round. The mobiles were out in readiness to phone a friend. But which team was going to prove to be the weakest link?
Did you know that Laurel and Hardy were partial to Piper Heidsieck Champagne? We all went for Morecambe and Wise because of prohibition. A few more snippets to throw in to amaze your friends? The first person to be mentioned in the Bible drinking wine was Noah, and a Zapatos is a shoe worn to tread grapes in Portugal.
At this point, things were getting desperate, with arguments as to whether wine-making began in Mesopotamia or Georgia, and there was also a motion by the House Reds to disqualify any team if it had a player called Carol. This was, of course, overruled.
We had an excellent evening and, for legal reasons, I am not at liberty to declare the final scores.
For more information on Quaffers and the wine-tasting roadshows, contact Heather on 01235 535685, or visit the website at www.quaffers.co.uk.
The Press and Journal - 6th March 2001
 Return to 2001 Press Reviews here
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