How To Say These 10 Most Commonly Consumed But Mispronounced Wines
Thanks to Joseph Phelps Vineyards for inviting me to review their wine. They provided me with a free bottle in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.
When you look at a wine list, do you often not order something that looks or sounds good out of fear? The fear of mispronouncing the wine? No one wants to look bad at the dinner table, especially if you are on a date or trying to impress colleagues. Let’s face it, when you are looking at names of European origins, some of the pronunciations can be tricky. I was recently at French restaurant in Naples when two of my friends were struggling with Mourvedre, mor-veh-druh. It’s a little grape with a big punch, popular in southern France. For Wine Wednesday, here is a how to say these 10 most commonly consumed but mispronounced wines.
The list was put together by the research team at Anna Spanish for National Drink Wine Day on the 18th. They analyzed Google data to find out which wine names most often have people seeking online pronunciation guidance. Language expert Anna Latorre says the key is to familiarize yourself with the common phonetic practices of the language of origin. For example, take Tempranillo or tem-pruh-NEE-yo. The popular grape from Spain uses the Spanish pronunciation rule where “ll” ends up sounding like a “y.”
I shared this with friends last night who were surprised at some of the names on the list. They are longtime wine drinkers. However, they also admitted to occasionally getting tongue tied on the pronunciation of a few French and Italian grapes.
Here are the top 10 mispronounced wines according to google analytics.
- #1 Cabernet Sauvignon, kab-er-nay soh-VIN-Yohn
- #2 Pinot Noir, PEE-noh nwar
- #3 Sauvignon Blanc, soh-VIN-Yohn blan (the c in French is silent but commonly pronounced worldwide)
- #4 Pinot Grigio, PEE-noh GREE-jo
- #5 Merlot, Mer-loh
- #6 Malbec, mal-bek
- #7 Prosecco, proh-SEHK-koh
- #8 Sangiovese, SAN-joe-veh-see
- #9 Riesling, rees-ling
- #10 Viognier, vee-ON-yay
You don’t have to have perfect pronunciation. It’s a good possibility your server doesn’t either. Not all are trained in the subtleties of wine. Worse case scenario, it is ok to point at the wine on the menu instead of trusting your tongue. Finally, here are three of these commonly mispronounced wines I’ve recently tried and would for sure try again.
Don’t let fear of mispronunciation keep you from ordering a new wine or any wine,
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