Play Games and Drink Wine for the Best Moments Ever

It’s all fun and games until the wine is poured. Then it’s the best time of your life!

In many places, the weather is hot and often muggy and elsewhere, there’s a slight chill in the air. Inside, though, the temperature is whatever you want it to be. Wherever you are, merriment is required , so choose your fun and pour the wine!

When you’re patiently waiting your turn at the bocce ball court, opt out of mindless scrolling on your phone and play a few games of classic Solitaire Freecell with a themed deck dedicated to all wine lovers. Solitaire Freecell (click here to access the game and instructions – it’s free!) is the most popular online card game on many computers. It’s played with one deck of cards and although there’s an infinite number of potential deals, stay calm because your brain will love this. Solitaire Freecell is a problem-solving game during which you have to figure out how to get all the cards to the foundation by leveraging the free cells. Critical and strategic thinking skills? Yep!

All you need is wine, of course, so open a bottle of red wine from Argentina. That’s how smart you are! Click here for three luscious choices.

How about honing your wine tasting skills with family or friends who love wine as much as you? Meant for any wine enthusiast, from the newbie to the seasoned pro, SOMM Blinders Game is a card-based game having the objective to match your cards to the wine you think you’re drinking in each round. Points are earned based on those cards and after all the wines have been tasted, the winner is the player who has the most points. The loser has the rights to dump and clean the spit bucket!

I’ve been playing with the Original Deck that includes red and white wines. The deck has 107 cards that incorporate taste descriptors, cards for high or low acidity, high or low tannins, with or without oak, regions and grape varieties. The white wines to play with in the Original Deck are Pinot Grigio from Italy, Sauvignon Blanc, Oaked Chardonnay and Unoaked Chardonnay (think Chablis). Red wines are California Cabernet, Bordeaux, Beaujolais and California Pinot Noir. (Other decks focus specifically on red wines OR white wines – each deck covers six wines.) The individual deck (Original Deck, Red Deck, White Deck) is $35 and you can order here with the coupon code GRAPEXP to receive a 20% discount. Cheers to that!

SOMM Binders Game is addictive, but so are the wines you’ll be blind tasting, I’m sure! Need some ideas for a delicious Italian Pinot Grigio? Click here for how to find only the best from Pinot Grigio delle Venezie DOC.

 

Whether you call it “Bags,” “Cornhole” or [fill in the blank], there’s nothing more riveting than this nostalgic yard game. Tossing bean bags into a cut out hole on a slanted board may sound easy, but take it from me, it’s not (unless you’re 2 feet away from the board). As you may expect, there are plenty of aficionados who are part of the American Cornhole Association and it’s game-on for these pros who know what they’re doing.

Playing a few rounds is tradition in our family and so is sipping a few wines. Which all-American favorites? Zinfandel. I’ve written plenty of articles about this iconic wine often termed “America’s Heritage Wine”, but you may enjoy my article from 2018 regarding the backstory of those in California and a few suggestions for what to find. Click here!

When I visited Italy decades ago, I was mesmerized by seeing young and old alike play bocce ball in the park. Now, as a proud owner of three bocce ball sets (!), I love this game as much as my Italian friends. Bocce ball was played in ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome and during the Roman Empire, the game was an activity of the Roman soldiers to “pass the time” when they weren’t marching to other countries. Thanks to Italian immigrants, it’s popular in other parts of Europe, North America, South America and Australia. It’s even part of the Paralympics due to the efforts of the Fédération Internationale de Boules.

As an homage to Italian immigrants who shared this game with so many, open a bottle of affordable, enticing Montepulciano d’Abruzzo, one of my latest finds from Italy, and secure a win. Click here to learn more.

My first lawn game when I was a little girl was croquet since I could actually win from time to time. The origin of croquet is a bit fuzzy since similar games date back hundreds of years – balls, hoops and sticks have always been popular. In the mid-1800s, croquet appeared in the UK thanks to Walter James Whitmore who “tweaked the rules, wrote a guide with tactics and was an instrumental part of croquet’s first open tournament.” Not surprisingly, he was the first champion.

At times, croquet has been eclipsed by lawn tennis and fallen out of favor even by its staunch supporters, but I’m a true fan and will be setting out those wickets next weekend. My wine for pairing will be English sparkling wine! Click here for two brilliant suggestions.

 

Cheers to all-things-fun with games and wine! ~ Cindy