Play To Wine, at the "Casino" of Wine Trivia

When I got the invitation by Geometry Global and MHD  to a Wine Trivia afternoon, naturally I was INTRIGUED, ...in my younger days, I loved quiz games, and quiz and board games, so I had to look deep down inside to that forgotten youth to reignite the enthusiasm.

Held at Eight Gourmet Gala (EGG for short), the place looked like "casino", felt like a "casino" but wasn't a casino.  A "roulette" table showing the different categories of Taste & Scent, (Payout 3 to 1), Variety (Payout 1 to 1), Origin (Payout 2 to 1), Region (Payout 3 to 1), and Brand (Payout 1 to 1), with individual chips worth 10..a total of 80 wine points to each contestant, with an allocated number...

The Board....

The categories.....

 The rules...

 PLACE YOUR BETS......

NO MORE BETS, (bell rings).....

The first varietal, ......Sauvignon Blanc Semillon 2013.... where almost EVERYONE lost to the house, a vast majority placing their bets on the Sauvignon Blanc....a number of hhits and misses, with the tasting, I mean, who can really pick up lychee, lime, blackcurrant, honeysuckle....But once we knew the varietal, we knew immediately it had to be the Cape Mentelle.

Ooh, one contestant placed her chip on Pinot Noir....even the "croupier" looked surprise.

 For the blind tastings, bottles are draped in their Ninja costumes....after a few rounds, some "connoiseurs" had increased their capital to numerous 100 point chips...

The next major shocker came with the Malbec.... actually, faithful students of MHD under the careful tutelage of Cherry Koh, had they been attentive during class, would be able to identify most of the varietals...but for the Malbec, we chorused, I don't recall attending any Terrazas de Los Andes tastings before, so it was like sitting your SPM or A Levels without having finished the syllabus.  OBJECTION ME LORD!!!! ...

So yeah, I think the house won big time on this, as people staked their entire fortunes on this being a Merlot...and when the "M" was revealed as the first letter, there was great premature rejoicing...The Reserva Malbec 2013 with intense floral, fruity notes with rose, violets, ripe black cherry, certainly took everyone by surprise.

" Nah, you don't believe ah? See properly la..."

This must be another of those rounds where we broke the house, where everyone is winner.

Other wines featured but were distinctly identifiable were the Domaine Chandon Shiraz, 2012, the Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc 2015 and the Reserva Cab Sauv 2012...

Winners could use the points to bid for food vouchers at EGG, but most saved the best for last, a bottle....

Alas, no one individual had enough points to win a bottle on their own, so cartells were formed to merge and bid.... and I guess Walauwei's team won the bottle.  Did they share it I wonder?

A most fun way to spend the evening, congratulations Geometry, MHD and EGG on a funtastic wine-ing afternoon.