Do you speak wine? Why poor pronunciation means poor quality

With wine originating mainly overseas, much of the public in this country fails to fully engage with wine due to the barrier a foreign language creates. Many find it challenging to decipher what appears to be an impenetrable morass, with everyday phrases and names that originate from France, Spain, Italy and Germany. Even with an aptitude for foreign languages, I have had to work hard over the years to begin to feel comfortable and even then, there is always that wine-related phrase or name that will trip me up.

Anecdotally, the names of the most popular wines we drink are easy to grasp because they are easy to pronounce. When the average consumer is met with a tricky foreign name to try and wrap their tongues around, they would rather buy a beer than fail to ask correctly for a Gewürztraminer. Pinot Grigio may have had a helping hand from the late Terry Wogan, who helped popularise the name, but the five-syllable wine embeds itself audibly to a consumer who would probably never have picked it in a ‘blind tasting’. The jammy and very drinkable Merlot has also benefited hugely from its simplicity in pronunciation.

In the UK, we are famously bad at learning foreign languages. This, without a doubt, manifests itself in our lack of willingness when presented with a wine list without the ‘usual suspects’ front and centre. This crushing fear to even attempt a foreign moniker has, in my opinion, dumbed down the wine offering in many good restaurants around the country. On many occasions in my career, wines that clients loved in tastings have since been removed from wine lists because the restaurant patrons have deemed it unpronounceable and therefore it sold poorly.

I fully understand the commercial decision not to persist with things that don’t sell. Still, it makes for a duller wine world when, as a nation, we keep our drinking repertoire to a concentrated bunch of grape varieties. A wine list full of Shiraz, Sauvignon Blanc and Malbec will most probably sell, but it makes for a boring set of choices and, more importantly, will de-skill the waiting staff.

The erosion of my profession’s status from what was once a career, but is now seen as a transient position for young people on their way to a ‘better job’, is hugely sad to see. Most restaurateurs are not fools. The public are their clientele, and if their staff are not interested in learning about wine why bother going to the effort of education or training?

Breaking the ever-decreasing circle of wine apathy will not be an easy task. Still, I can assure you that if we are curious and ‘thirst’ for something new and interesting, it will ensure that the good producers will continue to make delicious wine from the unpronounceable.

What to look out for? Would a ‘rosé’ by any other name smell as sweet? Famous grapes with more than one name: Côt is another name for Malbec. Originally hailing from Cahors in the southwest of France, this is a slightly greener version of the variety made super-famous by the South Americans. Cannonau is a synonym for Grenache. This soft juicy red grape variety grows all around the Mediterranean, but this name is what they call it in Sardinia and southern Italy. Prugnolo Gentile, specific to the Vino Nobile di Montepulciano wines of Tuscany, it is more commonly known as Sangiovese. This widely planted Italian grape is the key to Chianti.