VITICULTURE Essential Edition

Viticulture EE is the essential version of Stonemaier Games’ first title. Using ‘Euro’ mechanics players compete to score points and become known as the best wine maker. The main mechanic at play is worker placement, as you send out your workers to gather vines, build more storage and buildings for bonuses, and earn money by selling you wine and giving vineyard tours.

The first thing you do is decide when you want your workers to wake up. The earlier you wake up the earlier you act in the turn order, but the later you wake up the more bonuses you will get from the wake up track, at the risk of being blocked out of the space that you need. The placement options are split into summer and winter, with a broadly thematic slant to what’s available in each season. The trick is you don’t get your summer workers back for using in winter, so you must decide which actions are most important for you.

The player boards are great too, allowing you to track your fields and vineyards as well as your all-important grapes and wines. Grapes and wine mature every year so making sure you have the space for them is important. The gameplay is easy to understand and the playtime quick for the type of game it is. The components are excellent throughout and the great efforts have been made to accommodate the theme without taking away from the gameplay.

Viticulture Essential Edition also has an expansion in Tuscany EE which adds a lot of options without adding too much time or complexity. If you enjoy the base game, it is well worth considering Tuscany as it adds even more life into Viticulture. Ultimately, Viticulture EE and, arguably, Tuscany EE belong in every gamer's collection.