All you need to know to make smarter choices and have fun with wine. Discover new wines, understand labels, food pairings and more.
Wine Cards are regular size playing cards with useful and interesting information about wine on them. Have fun learning about wine, feel more confident buying and ordering wine, and impress your friends! They’re also the perfect gift for any wine lovers in your life.
Playing cards for wine lovers
| GOAL | $4,418 | PLEDGED | $16,027 |
| BACKERS | 386 | DAYS TO GO | 24 |
The Story
lovers in your life.
There’s a whole world of wine out there! If you find yourself sticking to the same old wines, these cards can help you discover new ones.
Look for similar descriptions of wines on the cards, or look at the graphics as a shortcut. For example if you like Sauvignon Blanc (J♠), see what you think of a Grüner Veltliner (7♠).
The cards could encourage you to try a favourite grape from a different region to your regular choices.
Or you might just like the sound of one of the wines on the cards that you’ve never even heard of before!
Have you even taken a bottle of wine to a party or as a gift and just chosen a pretty label?
The cards will arm you with the knowledge to make more thoughtful choices in those situations. You could impress your friends with something they haven’t tried before, or you could take a wine to match particular food you’re going to be having.
Once you know a few things about the grapes used in different wines you can start to recognise wine bargains. Big regions and brands are often overpriced, and by having some underlying knowledge you can break free and find much better value.
For example instead of Champagne (3♦) you can try a Cava (2♦) for a fraction of the price, particularly if it’s called for in a cocktail.
Wine lists can be intimidating, but once you start to recognise the key grapes and regions you’ll soon start to have much more fun choosing the right wine from a wine list. The cards will also give you the confidence to ask questions about wine lists and you’ll get much more out of the experience of choosing a bottle.
Winer from A to Z
What’s on the cards?
Wine Cards are the result of months of research distilled into 52 regular size playing cards – and some useful jokers.
After condensing all this key information about wine, you’ll find it’s much easier to absorb, and my aim is to give you useful, actionable knowledge.
It was critical to me that the information on the cards was accurate and credible, so in addition to reading lots about wine (and of course drinking some) I completed the WSET Level 2 Award in Wines in London where I attained a pass with distinction.
The 52 cards each cover different wines, regions or wine grapes. There’s a brief overview, then information about the characteristics of the wine, what to look for on labels, food pairing, and other useful facts.
Some of the cards have graphics showing characteristics like sweetness, acidity and body. These can then help you choose wines or point you towards new wines to try.
If you’re new to terms like body and tannins, one of the joker cards has a key to help you understand these graphics and how to use them.
Helping you interpret wine labels is a key job of the cards and below is a great example. When buying Prosecco (9♦), look for a Valdobbiadene Prosecco and you’ll find it’s better than a regular Prosecco, as shown on the quality pyramid on the card. This one was!
The order of the cards in each suit is alphabetical. I thought about some sort of hierarchy, but whereas some grapes for example might be more ‘prestigious’ than others, ranking them would do a disservice to others. And perhaps more importantly, having them in alphabetical order makes it easier to find a particular card. This means that Champagne has ended up being the lowly 3 of diamonds!
The hearts (red grapes) for example go from 2♥️ Barbera to A♥️ Tempranillo.
The video below is me chatting about some of my favourite cards, showing examples of the kind of information that’s on them.
The jokers
In addition to the 52 wine cards, there are four extra cards. Two have information on both sides:
- Double-sided index card
- Double-sided food pairing card
And two have information on one side only and a regular back, so can be used as jokers:
- Key to terms and icons on the cards
- Key to labelling terms on wines from different regions
The cards are also cards
Yes, the cards contain useful wine information and facts, but they’re also great playing cards! The cards are regular poker size playing cards made from world-class playing card stock. The card symbols in the corners are a regular size too, so game play isn’t compromised by the magic of wine in the centre of the cards.
Who are the cards for?
Anyone who likes wine! Maybe you’ve just started drinking wine, or have always enjoyed it but never really gone beyond recognising a few favourite types. If that’s the case, these cards will uncork a whole new level of wine appreciation. You’ll soon start to see patterns and can quickly build a solid foundation of basic wine knowledge. Impress your friends next time you’re in front of a wine menu!
Or maybe, like me, you’ve always liked wine but have often wished that you knew a bit more about it. Once I started working on this project I realised that so many of my friends felt the same way.
Wine Cards will definitely cover the basics and even take you a lot further as you get to know them. Some of that comes with no effort as you just absorb the knowledge when waiting for someone else’s turn to play their hand!
If you feel you already know a bit more about wine, or are studying for a wine qualification, then the cards could be a great aid to your learning and a fun way to share your love of wine with other people.
If you’re a professional sommelier you likely already know everything on these cards, but even so, they could be a really fun thing to have to break down barriers when talking to friends about wine.
Will they teach you everything about wine? No, of course not. In a lifetime you couldn’t know everything about wine! But I believe this is probably the best wine information you can find in such a small package.
DISCLAIMER
Crowdfunding Campaigner Magazine has selected this project as part of the general selection process and has not been requested or paid commission to promote this project. The project is considered as relevant in this market and suggesting the project is worth backing due to its viability and potential for success.
