The World Cup...of Wine Too?

Starting tomorrow, the majority of the world will shift their eyes to Brazil, intensely fixated on the matches of their chosen football teams, fiercely focused on the scoreboards and standings for the next month. I'm usually not part of this vast majority-that is, until this year.

It's interesting to note that there are many winemaking countries that qualified for the World Cup this year: Chile, Spain, Italy, France, Australia, USA, Greece, the list goes on. You'll find a winemaking country in the majority of the Group Stage matches. Since I have no real affinity for any specific team, I'm going to follow along-and drink along!-to the winemaking countries by uncorking a bottle to celebrate team wins by Chile, Australia, Italy, France and the USA (let's face it, if I drank a bottle in honour of every winemaking country that wins a game in the tournament, you might as well throw me into rehab!). Those are my top 5 choices. However, if Spain, Portugal, Argentina, Germany or Greece make it to the Quarter-finals, I will cheer them on at that point too. In order to pace myself, I've scheduled out the games I will celebrate-drinking multiple bottles mid-week really isn't responsible when you're a parent and work full-time. So here's my celebratory schedule for the Group Stage:

Fri June 13: Chile vs Australia, 4pm MST

Sat June 14: England vs Italy, 4pm MST

*due to a French-themed dinner party I am hosting that night, I will drink the Italian bottle on Sunday the 15th if Italy wins

Sun June 15: France vs Honduras, 1pm MST

Mon June 16: Ghana vs USA, 4pm MST

*Liver break for 3 days. I'm getting old!*

Fri June 20: France better win so I can celebrate hard at a French wine festival I already have tickets to that night!

*If Italy wins their game vs Costa Rica, I will drink on Sat June 21

Sun June 22: USA vs Portugal, 4pm MST

*If Portugal wins, I'm drinking port! 

*2 day liver and probably wallet break*

Wed June 25: Ecuador vs France, 2pm MST

Thurs June 26: USA vs Germany, 10am

*If Germany wins, I'll toast them instead 

All bottles opened for a win will be tweeted. I'll revisit the rules for the 2nd stage when the standings are finalized. 

Best of luck to my top 5 picks, my liver and my wallet, although this will definitely make football more fun! Cheers!