Unsurprisingly given the state of the wine market at present, we have more BerserkerDay Newbie hopefuls than ever before. Currently at 31, which is pretty remarkable…the most ever, by a good margin.
For those who don’t know, Monopole Crü volunteers are the folks tasked with vetting potential Newbies. The way it works is I assign two Monopole Crü volunteers to each potential Newbie winery—preferably groups rather than individuals, with those members pulling in their local tasting group buddies so we’ve got a broader base to work from. They taste through a sampling from each Newbie hopeful, send me their notes and recommendations, and we include those who made the cut while being mindful not to make the total group of sellers too unwieldy. We’re trying to stay somewhere around 100 total.
With this many potential Newbies, the Monopole Crü volunteers are going to have their hands full, so if this type of thing interests you, jump in soon. I’ll be starting the process early next month and announcing it in the Monopole Crü forum, which is also where I post the exclusive offers that come throughout the year.