What’s in a name? - A serious list of funny vine monikers
What does the word “Grenache” mean? What about “Malbec”? “Chardonnay”? As far as I know, these vine variety names don’t “mean” anything, or perhaps they did once, but the roots of the meanings of these names may now be lost to time. There are some vine varieties that do still have clear etymological antecedents. “Tannat” clearly refers to the variety’s seriously tannic nature. The “Sauvignon” part of Cabernet, Blanc, etc. is an old way of saying “smells or tastes of the vine”. The name “Albana” refers to a white variety from Emilia-Romagna that clearly refers to the Italian word “alba” (dawn), likening the grape’s color and freshness to the turn of a new day.
There are some varieties however whose names are more than anything else, are playful or downright funny . Here’s a decidedly incomplete list. I’ve listed the grape name, the variety’s country of origin, and the meaning and/or background story in English
Cacamosca - Italy - “Fly Shit” - So named because at full ripeness, this variety’s berries take on a black speckling.
Borrado de Moscas - Portugal - Surprisingly, also means “fly shit” - presumably for the same reason as above.
Esgana Cao - Portugal - “Dog Choker” - The variety is sour enough to choke a dog.
Bastardo - Portugal - Self-explanatory
Arneis - Italy - In the Piedmontese dialect Arneis means “fussy” or “pain in the ass” in the figurative sense
Okuzgozu - Turkey - Every vowel has an umlaut, BTW - Means “cow’s eye” in Turkish.
Xinomavro - Greece - Means “bitter black” in Greek.
Negroamaro - Italy - Means “bitter black” in Italian - To my knowledge, these varieties are genetically unrelated.
Juhfark - Hungary - Means “sheep’s tail” in Hungarian.
Agiorghitiko (a-yor-YEE-tee-ko) - Greece - Literally means “St. George”.
Gros Plant - France - Means “big plant”.
Cagnina - Italy - This is a good one…means “little bitch”. Don’t know if this is a canine or human reference…
Espadeiro - Portugal - “swordsman”.
Grillo - Italy - Means “cricket” (the insects).
Joao de Santarem - Portugal - Literally means “John from Santarem”…maybe a little like calling it “Frank from Omaha” in English.
Maria Gomes - Portugal - This is a proper name and surname…like calling a grape “Mary Jones”.
Pagadebit - Italy - Literally means “debt payer” because of the variety’s naturally high yields.
Picapoll (in Catalan) or Picpoul (in French) - Means “lip stinger” due to the variety’s high acidity levels.
Piedirosso - Italy - Means “red feet” for its ability to stain - especially feet…
Tazzelenghe - Italy - This is a good one too - means “tongue ripper” due to the variety’s wines’ harshness in their youth.
Pignolo - Italy - Means “stickler”. The vine presents a number of great challenges to those that choose to grow it.
Schiava - Italy - Literally translated means “female slave”. Not going there…
Tinta Cao - Portugal - “Dog red” - It’s actually a very GOOD variety…
Uva Rara - Italy - Means “rare grape”. And while this is a very interesting grape, it is anything but rare.
There are probably lots of other varieties whose names means in their native languages actually “mean” something (funny)…I KNOW that I’ve missed some…If anyone knows of any other strangely name grape varieties, post ‘em!
TOM CIOCCO
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Tom, I don’t know of any name lore around grape varieties. But I recently learned an interesting fact about a varietal. The pronunciation of meritage properly rhymes with “heritage.” It’s not supposed to be Frenchified to rhyme with “garage”. http://www.meritagewine.org/
A related point: this past week while jogging to a wine podcast, I learned that there is a difference between the words “varietal” and “variety”. Like the pronunciation of meritage, many people seem to get this wrong, including me. (Maybe this was mentioned already somewhere. If yes, forgive me. But I thought some might find it interesting.) “Variety” is a noun, it describes a type of grape: Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Merlot, etc. But “varietal” is an adjective; it describes a wine that is made from the particular variety. So, for example, Elke is a varietal, made from the Pinot Noir variety.
Anyhoo…
Comment by TagWorld Brian — April 23, 2007 @ 5:18 pm
great site, great info.
I would love to hear some of your tradition cheese and wine pairings that work.
Please….
Comment by matt long — April 24, 2007 @ 4:08 pm
Tom,
Great list. I admit to being an intermittent reader of the blog, but I find myself drawn back more and more. You do great work!
Best,
Matthew L
Comment by Matthew L — April 25, 2007 @ 2:51 pm
Thanks Matthew. I always want to acknowledge people’s appreciation for what I do here, but I often think that responding with a “thanks, etc.” looks like I’m trying to draw undue attention to the praise - almost like a sort of “double dipping”. Thanks again to one and all.
TOM CIOCCO
Comment by Tom C — April 25, 2007 @ 3:15 pm
Tom,
Great List. And the wines with the casacamosca and borrado de mosca grapes? Can you remember some of them?
Best,
Carlos S
Comment by Carlos Silveira — April 28, 2007 @ 7:39 am
Hi Carlos-
I have never (knowingly) had a pure cacamosca or borrado de moscas wine, so I can’t help out very much…these are very rare local grapes.
TOM CIOCCO
Comment by Tom C — April 30, 2007 @ 9:31 am
None of these are particularly funny, but how about:
Gewurztraminer - “Tramin spice”, Tramin being a village in Italy.
Barbera - “little sweet one”
Pinot Noir/Gris - I’ve read that the word pinot refers to the triangle shape of a grape cluster. And, of course, noir and gris mean dark/black and grey, respectively.
Spatburgunder - the german name for Pinot Noir. Spat, means late and burgunder references the grapes burgundian origin. I’m not sure how the “late” part fits in.
I’m told any grape name which includes Bouschet, such as Alicante Bouschet, refers to a French father and son grape crossing team.
BTW - I have always heard that Sauvignon means, “savage”. Is that not correct?
Comment by Kent Benson — May 31, 2007 @ 5:22 pm
Sorry about the Barbera. It’s Dolcetto that means, “little sweet one”.
Comment by Kent Benson — June 1, 2007 @ 8:18 am
Kent-
In my experience, all correct except:
It is “Dolcetto” that means “little sweet one”
and
My understanding is that “sauvignon” means “smells or tastes of the vine”
Anybody else?
TOM CIOCCO
Comment by Tom C — June 1, 2007 @ 9:30 am
Tom-
Late last night I realized my Barbera mistake, but I had shut down my computer for the night and was too tired to post the correction. I did so this morning (See the post immediately preceding yours).
Like most esoteric wine topics, I find grape names fascinating. Thanks for highlighting it.
Comment by Kent Benson — June 1, 2007 @ 5:13 pm