Ask Decanter

September 8, 2017

John Watson of Michigan is looking for a society of grape lovers on Decanter’s website: Is there a society for grape lovers?

Hopefully he’ll be a member soon!


Article in Decanter: The Grape Crusaders

February 24, 2014

Here’s an excellent article on the club by John Stimpfig in Decanter: The Grape Crusaders: Wine Century Club


Great Wine News

May 4, 2013

GreatWineNews

An inspirational article by über member Dan Traucki published in the May 2013 Great Wine News.


Article in the Wall Street Journal

June 26, 2010

There’s an excellent article about the Wine Century Club in today’s Wall Street Journal: Drink, Drink and be Merry.  Perhaps the best quote is by Walter Rachele: “It’s a serious hobby that’s gone awry.”


Article in Bloomberg

October 4, 2007

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!


On Language

September 23, 2007

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.


Big Article in Today’s Washington Post

August 8, 2007

washingtonwcc.jpg

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.


100 Bottles of Wine on the Wall

September 26, 2006

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.


Article in Maclean’s (Canada)

May 22, 2006

From Canada, a fairly long and slanderous ;^) article in today’s Maclean’s Magazine, 100 wines and you’re in the club.


Mention by Jancis Robinson

August 2, 2005

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!

Jancis Robinson, August 2, 2005

Wine Spectator Article


Ever drunk an Assyrtiko, a Bourboulenc or a Xarel-lo? Then the Wine Century Club might be for you. To join the elite new group, you have to have tried at least 100 different grape varieties–anything from Aglianico to Zweigelt. Deborah and Steve De Long, creators of De Long’s Wine Grape Varietal Table, an educational tool that resembles the periodic table of elements, founded the club to promote “the many unsung grape varieties used to make wine” and meet like-minded people. The first meeting was held in Manhattan on March 16 at Lo Scalco restaurant, where a five-course dinner was paired with wines such as Ocone Falanghina del Taburno 2003 and a Nusserhof Südtiroler Lagrein Riserva 2000. These seem practically commonplace compared to some of the really obscure varieties listed on the application form, which is downloadable from www.delongwine.com/century.html. So far, 32 people have earned membership. Though the application works on the honor system, the fine print notes: “Should you lie, may the wrath of Bacchus curse your palate.”

The Wine Spectator, June 30, 2005