In today's edition of "Shut up and take my money", French agricultural news site La France Agricole has teamed up with board-game giant Hasbro to make a version of Monopoly using France's wine regions.
In Le Monopoly de la France Viticole, you are not a property magnate: you are a négociant on the hunt for France's best vineyards and wines. Instead of buying houses and hotels, you purchase barrel halls and tasting rooms, charge rent from other vignerons making wine from your vineyards and build your wine empire à la Jean-Claude Boisset.
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Some of France's most famous vineyards and wine styles take the place of the traditional streets of London, Paris or Atlantic City, depending on which version you had in the cupboard when you were young. Minervois replaces London's Angel Islington, Jura takes over from the Old Kent Road and Margaux gets comfy in Oxford Street's spot.
Maybe it's a sign of the times that the game's most expensive properties, Mayfair and Park Lane, are occupied by Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru and Champagne, respectively. Do the makers of the game have something against France's top reds?
The train stations are replaced by wine trade shows around the world, and the community chest and chance cards have been updated to reflect the vinous nature of the game. You are more likely to get taxed for spraying your organic vineyard with pesticide than winning second place in a beauty contest.
The game is a collaboration between La France Agricole's wine arm La Vigne and (of course) Hasbro. Released just in time for Christmas, the game looks like it may be the perfect gift for the Francophile wine nerd in your life, or you could buy it for yourself and rope your long-suffering spouse into playing it with you. Surely this has to be better than that time you tried to make them play Lord of the Rings Trivial Pursuit?
Of course, wine games are nothing new, and off-brand versions of wine Monopoly have been available for sale for some time (Wine-Opoly, anyone?) Most of these games are based around wine trivia (Wine Searcher even has a quiz), but Le Monopoly de la France Viticole is more about building a wine empire.
Unfortunately, in my own personal experience, both Monopoly and competitive games about wine have a tendency to bring out the absolute worst in people. So maybe the likelihood of rage-quitting after getting snapped stealing from the bank is more likely when people are trying to prove how much they know about wine in the process, exacerbated by the obligatory bottle or three at their side.
But some people like that kind of thing and so for them I say: the game – which so far is only in French – retails at 50 euros and is available for pre-order on the La Vigne website.
