Volio Wine Madness 2020

With the March Madness “Sweet Sixteen” and “Elite Eight” originally scheduled for the end of March, we all would have been experiencing serious basketball fever by this weekend (highly contagious but much better than COVID-19). For many, this would include excitedly watching as each new game result either confirmed or ruined their meticulously filled out tournament bracket. We’re sure many of you were certain that “this was going to be your year,” if only you could have had the chance to compete with your bracket alongside the NCAA teams! Sadly, you will never know if your expert predictions would have been leading the pack by now or completely busted. But in the absence of “the real deal” this spring, Volio has come up with an alternative way to embrace the spirit and excitement of March Madness…with wine! Read below for how to create a wine-focused tournament bracket that you can use to play along and compete with friends and family, from the comfort of your kitchen table.

[Download your bracket here!]

Instructions:

1. Pick a theme for the tournament: New World vs. Old world, four regions to represent the four quadrants, random assignment, etc. See below for an example.
2. Choose different grape varieties to represent the teams in each “game.”
3. Purchase a bottle of wine for each team. We suggest calling ahead to your local bottle shop to explain what you’re planning and get their suggestions on good choices for each varietal. 
4. Once the tournament has been set, the games can begin. Each participant should fill out a bracket predicting which wine or varietal they think will win over the tastes of every player during the tournament. For example, you might predict that the Barbera and the Pinot Noir will meet in the semi-final.
5. Then, as a group, work through each round (Elite Eight, Final Four, Championship) by holding a blind tasting to represent each game. See below for blind tasting tips!
6. The winner of each game, determined by a majority vote from all players, moves on to the next round. For example, Nebbiolo won the Piedmont division against Barbera (majority preference from all players) and Gamay won the Burgundy division. Therefore, Nebbiolo will face off against Gamay in the Final Four. 

Recommendations:

• Group the wines into their respective match-ups on the table before hiding their identity. Ex: Nebbiolo and Barbera wines set side-by-side in the top left corner of the table.
• Then, cover the labels and bottles to prevent you from seeing which wine is which. Use paper bags, tin foil, socks, etc. Then have a different player who didn’t see the original positions of the wines swap their places a few times so everyone involved is completely blind. 
• Keep all wines masked/blind until the very end then reveal all the wines at the same time to determine the final champion and count how many correct picks each person got.
• The player with the most correct picks wins Wine Madness 2020! In case of a tie, flip a cork.
• Raise the stakes by giving a prize for the winning bracket. Our suggestion is a gift card to a local restaurant or bar, which the winner can redeem once we’re all out of this quarantine.
• Drink responsibly! Feel free to spread out the tournament over a few days. If you do this, just be sure to seal the wines well and store them in the fridge overnight.
• Get creative with the rules! Don’t hesitate to expand the number of wines, teams, or divisions as you see fit. We can’t wait to see what clever ideas people come up with. 

Feel free to share your brackets on social media, tagging Volio and using the hashtag #VolioWineMadness!