Bring on Bogle’s ghost story writing contest!

The WC knows more than a few terrifying wine stories that could lead to the $5,000 prize

Yes, I know the Wine Curmudgeon has had his problems with Bogle over the past couple of years. But I see a way to make amends.

It’s the winery’s 2021 Original Ghost Story Writing Contest, in which the winner gets a $5,000 first prize and the chance for their piece to be turned into a short film. But it has been a while since my writing won anything, and I didn’t get five grand for that.

Besides, who knows more about the horrors of the wine business than I do?

How about these possibilities?

• Adapting this story, about aliens visiting Earth and their first encounter with wine – and wine scores.

• The three-tier system that ate Pittsburgh. The Supreme Court can’t stop it! State legislatures can’t stop it! Watch it devour city after after city, leaving cranky wine writers in its wake!

• The invasion of the alcohol snatchers. What? Drink only a 13 percent wine? Only a 14 percent wine?! Only a 15 percent wine?!! Not after strange pods start showing up in the homes of California winemakers.

• The Stepford focus groups. It seems like a quiet and otherwise normal suburb. But it has a deep, dark secret – all the wine drinkers are exactly alike and all the wine is oh so ….. smoooth.

• Hush, hush sweet wine. Strange things start happening in a small Southern town – and all the wine suddenly tastes sweet – when a woman’s cousin comes home. Yes, probably not a winner given my criticism of Bogle, but I can see the first five scenes of the film in my head.