We’re now 590 members strong and growing!

This year, instead of our annual shindig in New York City, we’re going to celebrate online in recognition of the international nature of the club (not to mention the massive global financial meltdown).

Wherever you may be, please raise a glass of something interesting and delicious on May 7th in honor of the club and the glory that is you.  Bask in grapeness, recite the sacred oath and if at all possible please post a short note about the wine you had here.  The note can be as simple as the name of the wine and its grape variety(ies).

It would be amazing if we could collectively taste 100 or more different grape varieties that day.  It would be more amazing if we could taste over 200 in honor of the newly minted Doppel Members.

If you happen to be in London, England on May 7th, please join me, Deborah De Long and Paula Sindberg at Paula’s giant Swiss wine tasting. We’ll be toasting the anniversary with Heida (Païen), Cornalin, Resi, Lafnetscha, Gamaret, and Gwäss(yes, these are grape varieties!).  To sign up, please contact Paula.

Swiss Wines – Grape Varieties You’ve NEVER Heard Of
Date – 7 May 2009 (Thursday)
Venue – Bacchus & Comus, 57 Pelham Street (private home), London SW7 2NJ
Time – 6:30 – 8:00 pm
Cost – £40/person – sorry but Swiss wines are expensive!

This tasting will feature 12 (!!) unique grape varieties that you’ve probably have never heard of so it’s a real opportunity to add to your grape variety “life list”.
All these wines are rare and seldom made anywhere, even in Switzerland. Most are from the Valais, that beautiful valley along which the Rhône River flows on the way from to Zermatt. The tiny producers here make some outstanding wines. The wines aren’t cheap but, then, what is in Switzerland. So to experience the pleasures of Heida (Païen), Cornalin, Resi, Lafnetscha, Gamaret, and Gwäss, among others, join us on 7 May. Book & pay in advance to secure your place.

Filed under: Meet up, Rare Grape Spotting, Uncategorized by Steve De Long
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Ooooo, seeing double double, double vision
Ooooo, oh my double vision
Ooooo, double vision
Yeah-ah, I get double vision, ooooo . . .

–Foreigner¹

In some members’ quest for grapeness, 100 varieties is just not enough.  There is  now a new level of recognition: Doppel Members.  For the non-Teutonic, doppel is German for double, so these members have tried at least 200 different grape varieties.  I hope this doesn’t discourage aspiring members on their quest for 100 but the wine geek species must evolve! Or at least mutate!

The idea to introduce this new level of membership was presented to me last year by member Nick Hendrix.  He sent  in the most extensively documented application in the history of The Wine Century Club.  He can rest assured that Bacchus will not curse his palate!  All hail Nick, the first officially recognized Doppel Member!

If you’ve tasted 200 grape varieties and would also like to be recognized as a Doppel Member, please send your updated list to steve@winecentury.com. An armed courier will be dispatched with your Doppel Certificate ASAP.

¹Late 70’s power-ballad hair band

Filed under: Grapeness, Uncategorized by Steve De Long
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By unanimous decree, the executive committee of the Wine Century Club has approved The Official and Sacred Oath of The Wine Century Club.  All members are to recite it upon receiving their certificate or when using public transportation.

The Sacred Oath of the Wine Century Club

I Promise to honor the ways of Bacchus
God of wine, agriculture and madness
But to go easy on the madness
So as not to end up
Shouting at the walls
In a cheap motel
Outside of Poughkeepsie*

*For those outside of New York, Poughkeepsie is pronounced puh-kip-see

Filed under: Grapeness by Steve De Long
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Today in Bloomberg, there’s an article – Exotic Grapes, From Aglianico to Zweigelt, Now Make Trendy Wine – by Elin Mcoy, their wine columnist and author of The Emperor of Wine: The Rise of Robert M. Parker, Jr., and the Reign of American Taste. It features our very own Don Romano who makes a good case for adventurous wine drinking!

Filed under: Press by Steve De Long
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Thanks to Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page for pointing out that DC member Henry Richardson was quoted in William Safire’s On Language column in the New York Times. And if you missed Andrew and Karen’s last article on the club in the Washington Post, you can check it out here.

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I am happy to announce the formation of The Wrath of Grapes chapter of the Wine Century Club in Aiken, South Carolina with 10 members. They completed their journey mostly as a group (3 more are still working on it). Listed in the front from left to right are: Marianne Scogin, Greg Teese, Caroline Teese, Jeff Brault and Fatina Ann Washburn Clark. Those in the back from left to right are: John Scogin, Mark Clark, Steven Delgenio, Ernest Hammond and Bruce McMurray.

Marianne Scogin is the Chapter President.

Congratulations to all the Chapter Members!

Filed under: Hello Everybody, Local Chapters by Steve De Long
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Pictured: Wine Century Club Members Maj Capps, left, and William Holby

Two of our most famous members, Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg, have written another excellent article on the club.

To read it, please go to the Washington Post website.

Filed under: Press by Steve De Long
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New member and wine educator Kelly Magyarics wrote a piece for the Wine Enthusiast: 100 Bottles of Wine on the Wall. It’s about her experience in becoming a member – a good read even if its title is a play on the most mind numbing song of all time.

Filed under: Press by Steve De Long
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From Canada, a fairly long and slanderous ;^) article in today’s Maclean’s Magazine, 100 wines and you’re in the club.

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If you’re drinking a Buttafuoco*, Dzhani*, or Ehrenfelser*
chances are you may be a member of the Wine Century Club. To join the club, which is celebrating its 1st birthday on Friday, March 17th, you must have tasted at least 100 different grape varieties. It was founded a year ago by Deborah and Steve De Long for adventurous wine drinkers everywhere.

Just as the world of wine grapes is ever increasing, the club is also expanding rapidly. It began with 33 and now has 109 members form all over the world, including Finland, Georgia (USA and former USSR), Germany, Spain and Brazil. At the present rate of growth (330%) the club will surpass the readership of the Wine Advocate in five years and the population of China in just 12 years. Part of this growth was fueled by the introduction of the first local chapter of the Wine Century Club – Vino Cellars 100 – in Williamsburg, VA. Thanks to Heather Hatcher (Chapter President), Bill Bean (Chapter VP) and Paul Luchsinger (Chapter Secretary) and all its members for their initiative in what should be the first of many local chapters.

*Dzhani and Ehrenfelser are both wine grape varieties. Buttafuoco is an Italian blend of 25-65% Barbera, 25-65% Croatina, and up to 45% Uva rara and/or Ughetta and/or Pinot Nero.

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The Wine Century Club of New York City is pleased to announce the formation of its first local chapter. The new chapter – WINE CELLAR 100 – is located in Williamsburg, VA and is sponsored by The Wine Seller in Monticello Marketplace.

Shown in the photograph are the first three members of the Williamsburg Chapter (from left, Bill Bean, VP, Heather Hatcher, President and Paul Luchsinger, Secretary). Luchsinger is shown holding a
large corkscrew made from an elk antler. “It takes a big corkscrew to open all those bottles,” joked Luchsinger, who boasts a large collection of unique and antique corkscrews. Currently there are eight members in this chapter, with meetings held at The Wine Seller.

For further information regarding the Williamsburg Chapter of the Wine Century Club, contact chapter president Heather Hatcher at the Wine Seller in the Monticello Marketplace at 757.564.4400.

Filed under: Local Chapters by Steve De Long
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The 100 Club – of Grape Varieties

Here’s a clever idea. A New York couple, the De Longs (she designer, he architect), have come up with the Wine Century Club, www.winecentury.com, which you can join for nothing if you have tasted the 100 vine varieties cited on the De Longs’ grape varietal table of 100 shown here and sold at http://www.delongwine.com/wgvt.php for $35. It’s a wall chart, along the lines of a periodic table but with the grapes cunningly laid out in order of acidity and weight, plus a little
box about each.

I like their stated philosophy:

WE ARE:

• People who enjoy wine
• Wine adventurers
• Consumers and promoters of uncommon wine grape varieties

WE ARE NOT:

• Wine Snobs
• Advocates of single varietal wines (Although we like single varietal wines, we don’t favor them over wines blended from several different grape varieties – there are simply too many great blends!)
• Anti-Chardonnay
• Anti-Merlot (Pass the Petrus, please!)

They say only three per cent of the thousands of entry forms for the Wine Century Club downloaded have been completed by people who have actually tasted all 100 of their chosen varieties. I took a look and wonder who can be confident they have ever tasted a Picpoul Noir. I’m not. Fewer than 100 hectares/250 acres remain in the south of France and I don’t think even Ch de Beaucastel make this one, do they? Nor am I sure I have tasted a Vinho Verde made from Avesso although varietal versions do now exist.
Go and have fun with this list yourself!

Filed under: Press by Steve De Long
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