March Madness, wine style
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Mark Fisher’s request is my command! Based on this “Beer Madness” from the Washington Post, I present “Wine Madness.”
Wines are divided into four divisions: Supermarket wines, Parkerized wines, Natural wines, and Riesling. The early money is coming in strong on Mollydooker for taking the whole thing, but don’t count out the other number one seeds, Two Buck Chuck, Dr. Loosen, and Domaine Huet.
Some of the early match-ups will be bruising, particularly the Carol Rossi vs Franzia in a battle of heavyweights and one of these two may play the winner of the Mollydooker vs Run Rig game for the title. Games also of note: White Lie and Wine Sight might be a catfight in the “wine for women” pairing; Noel Pinguet (Huet) vs Nicolas Joly in a biodynamic chenin show-down; and Leeuwin Estate and Pierre Trimbach will battle it out with their different styles in the Riesling category and the winner could be the tournament’s Cindarella.
Click to see the whole 32 team bracket.
UPDATE: Thanks for the support! Check back next Monday when you can see who advanced to the quarterfinals–and then vote them through to the finals!
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On March 17th, 2008 at 12:28 pm ,Tim wrote:
That supermarket bracket is super easy with Rossi a likely Cinderella. But I see a JJ Prum - Sassicaia final
On March 17th, 2008 at 12:30 pm ,Lyle Fass wrote:
How do I play? Do we mail these in? Is there an algorithm at work here?
On March 17th, 2008 at 1:19 pm ,Mark Ashley wrote:
Just be careful, the FBI is watching.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/chi-fri-facebook-gambling-ncaa-mar14,1,3870360.story?page=1
Carlo Rossi? Paul Masson wuz robbed.
On March 17th, 2008 at 1:47 pm ,Randy wrote:
I LOVE it. Riesling gets its own division. Who says Riesling is not king of the grapes!?
On March 17th, 2008 at 1:47 pm ,Mark Fisher wrote:
Some heavyweight matchups in the first round, Tyler. But my picks for the Final Four are Sutter Home White Zin, Mollydooker, JJ Prum and Domaine Huet. And in a “Shock the World” final, Domaine Huet pulls off the upset of mighty Sutter Home.
On March 17th, 2008 at 2:22 pm ,Dr. Vino wrote:
Wow, this is great, thanks so much for the support!
How about checking back next Monday to see who made it to the semifinals? Those games are played in marginal cities anyway so the results can just be reported.
Then you can vote your favorite remaining teams/wines into the finals!
So check back Monday or get a jump on your predictions or games you are looking forward to, um, seeing, now in the comments.
On March 17th, 2008 at 3:42 pm ,Steve wrote:
Awesome!
But come one guys, Huet and Prum always choke in the semis.
My money’s on a Trimbach - Valandraund final.
Where do we place our bets?
On March 18th, 2008 at 9:48 am ,Jon wrote:
Come on now, we’ll obviously have semi-finals of Prum vs Beringer WZ and MollyDooker vs Mascarello with the ‘Dooker shocking the heavily favored Beringer juggernaut in the final.
On March 20th, 2008 at 4:02 pm ,Joe M. wrote:
I think that Puzelat is really dangerous in their bracket. Not a deep squad, but if their starting 5 play up to their ability they could cause some real headaches. Loosen has a great program, and Ernie’s teams are always hungry, focused and not lacking for ambition. 2 Buck Chuck should all but coast into the final Four, leaving Clio to struggle through what on paper appears to be the toughest region.
Clio should be able to handle Puzelat in the semi, tiring the Puzelat squad with the power of Mourvedre, new French oak, Aussie know-how and Spanish networking and sales skills. I really like Loosen to pull an upset over 2 buck chuck in the other semi, and then to run past Clio in the Final.