A GAME FOR GEEKS

If you relish queries such as "Which wine is likely to be fuller-bodied: Barbera d'Alba or Barbera d'Asti?" then Wine Wars is for you.

Accurately advertising itself as being "for wine geeks and wannabes," this board game is basically Trivial Pursuit for oenophiles. (If there are some nonexperts in your group, it might be best to team them up with someone a bit more cork-dorkish.)

The categories are Vine to Vino (growing grapes, making wine and world production); Grapeosphere (grape varieties, their wines and their geography); Wine Cellar (selecting, storing and tasting wines); Wine and Food (cooking with wine, food and wine pairings, and wine service), and Cork Culture (wine people, business, arts and sciences, and trivia).

Each player or team tries to fill a card with these cool, teeny-tiny cardboard wine bottles by correctly answering the questions. And some are actually pretty easy: "What is the nickname of the Charles Shaw wines sold at Trader Joe's grocery stores?"

Naturally, players should have something to sip while they're playing -- especially since the answer to one of those questions might just be on the bottle's label.

BILL WARD