Comments on: What’s in a name? - A serious list of funny vine monikers

by: Kent Benson

Fri, 01 Jun 2007 22:13:52 +0000

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.

by: Tom C

Fri, 01 Jun 2007 14:30:37 +0000

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

by: Kent Benson

Fri, 01 Jun 2007 13:18:18 +0000

Sorry about the Barbera. It’s Dolcetto that means, “little sweet one”.

by: Kent Benson

Thu, 31 May 2007 22:22:35 +0000

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?

by: Tom C

Mon, 30 Apr 2007 14:31:47 +0000

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

by: Carlos Silveira

Sat, 28 Apr 2007 12:39:24 +0000

Tom,
Great List. And the wines with the casacamosca and borrado de mosca grapes? Can you remember some of them?
Best,
Carlos S

by: Tom C

Wed, 25 Apr 2007 20:15:29 +0000

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

by: Matthew L

Wed, 25 Apr 2007 19:51:46 +0000

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

by: matt long

Tue, 24 Apr 2007 21:08:03 +0000

great site, great info.

I would love to hear some of your tradition cheese and wine pairings that work.

Please….

by: TagWorld Brian

Mon, 23 Apr 2007 22:18:32 +0000

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…