This wine club differs from most others in that it does not aim to sell wine on a monthly or quarterly basis to its members. It exists to provide fun, encouragement and wine education to more adventurous wine lovers. Members need to have recorded the names of one hundred or more wine varieties that they have tasted.
History of the Club
The Wine Century Club was started in 2005 by Steve and Deborah De Long of De Longs Wine Info. Their company publishes the famous Wine Grape Varietal Table, as well as a range of wine tasting books and maps of wine regions.
The Club now has nearly 600 members worldwide. It aims to promote knowledge and appreciation of the wide range of unusual and rare wine grape varieties used throughout the world.
How Many Wine Varieties are There?
This question is a little tricky because there are a few factors that make an accurate answer impossible. The definition of grape variety is not always clear cut. two vines may be very similar and one ampelographer (grape variety specialist) will say they are different varieties while another may say they are clones of the same variety. Other grape vines or whole vineyards may not be identified correctly as local usage of varietal names is not always systematic.
The consensus is that there are somewhere between 5000 and 10000 wine grape varieties. Of these only a few dozen are known to most wine lovers, and only a couple of hundred make significant amounts of wine. See this article for more information about wine varieties.
Wine Century Club Activities
Members of the Wine Century Club are united by the desire to expand their wine appreciation by tryng wine made from a large number of different grape varieties.
With members scattered around the globe the Wine Century Club relies on the internet for most members to stay in touch. There are a few local chapters which have some activities but the main event is the annual birthday party.
The fourth Club Birthday party was held on 7 May 2009. It took in the form a virtual tasting in which members celebrated by tasting unusual and rare wine varieties and reporting via a special blog. Dinners were organized by local chapters and informal groups around the world. A total of 159 wine grape varieties were recorded as being tasted by members on the birthday.
While the Club has a emphasis on learning about wine in a fun way it also serves a more serious purpose. Diversity in wine grape varieties depends on the continued efforts of enthusiastic and innovative grape growers and winemakers. They need consumers who know about these wines and the Wine Century Club provides consumers and advocates for them in every corner of the globe.
Membership of the club is growing steadily. Many members are pushing on towards their double century of wine varieties collected.
How to Join
You can join the Wine Century Club through De Long's Wine Info website. Just follow the links through to the Century Club Membership is open to anyone who has tasted, and recorded, one hundred or more wine grape varieties. Members are provided with a handsome certificate to attest to their achievement.
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