{"id":9105,"date":"2023-02-01T15:20:00","date_gmt":"2023-02-01T14:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rickzullo.com\/?p=9105"},"modified":"2023-03-05T21:46:24","modified_gmt":"2023-03-05T20:46:24","slug":"the-language-of-wine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rickzullo.com\/the-language-of-wine\/","title":{"rendered":"The Language of Wine"},"content":{"rendered":"
Back in November of 2008, I stumbled into a great little cicchetteria<\/em> in Treviso. I was only passing through town for one day\/night to catch a cheap flight (19 Euros!) for Prague the next morning. I ordered some type of fishy Venetian bruschette<\/em> and asked the gruff bar owner for a local vino to accompany my lite bites<\/strong>. <\/p>\n He barked at the bartender across the room, \u201cGive the ragazzo americano<\/em> a Malbec!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cRagazzo?\u201d I thought. I was 42 years-old at the time, and way past my \u201cragazzo\u201d days. And Malbec? I had always associated it with Mendoza, Argentina, not Veneto, Italy.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Malbec. Originally a French grape used mostly for blending, then later made famous as a stand-alone varietal in Argentina<\/strong>. Italy\u2019s Veneto region has its own spin on this robust uva<\/em>, it\u2019s just that they spell it a little differently. Malbech with an \u201ch\u201d at the end.<\/p>\n This got me thinking about the language of wine, and what terms are used to define the different types. In France, they usually refer to a wine by its region of origin. In the U.S., wines are usually classified by the grape.<\/strong><\/p>\n In Italy? Well, like many things Italian, to a foreigner there seems to be no apparent sense of logic or order. Sometimes it\u2019s named according to the region, sometimes it\u2019s the grape, sometimes it\u2019s the estate\u2026 and sometimes it\u2019s the gods.<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n Probably the most recognized Italian wine outside of Italy is Chianti<\/strong>. This refers to the region in Tuscany, of course, but it\u2019s also grown in other parts of Italy where it’s known by the grape, Sangiovese. Estimates suggest that up to 10% of all grapes grown in Italy are of the Sangiovese varietal, or one of its subspecies, such as Sangiovese Grosso, which is the grape used to make the prestigious Brunello di Montalcino<\/em>.<\/p>\n The word Sangiovese can be interpreted as il sangue di Giove<\/em>, or the blood of Jupiter <\/strong>(a.k.a. Zeus, in Greek traditions). The blood of a god? This seems like a pretty good starting point from which to make a wine. No wonder it\u2019s so good!<\/p>\n Italian winemakers have a flair for the dramatic<\/strong>, apparently. How about the white wine from Campania called Lacryma Christi<\/em>, the tears of Christ? Or something more subtle and suggestive, like Nebbiolo<\/em>, referring to the weather conditions. The deep fog, la nebbia<\/em>, that settles over the Langhe valley in late October, coaxing the fruit into perfect ripeness.<\/p>\n What are some other ways that winemakers try to confuse us? And why do they change the name of the wine or grape instead of agreeing to a standard that consumers can understand? I guess that\u2019s part of the mystique of wine<\/strong>. Wine is part agriculture, part manufacturing, and part alchemy, I would say. <\/p>\n These delectable nectars can take on a fabled status. For example, a few years back, Dan Beuttner and The National Geographic identified several \u201cBlue Zones\u201d around the world where the populations boasted a disproportionate number of centenarians<\/strong>. Not surprisingly, one of these locations is in Italy<\/a>, in the mountainous region of Sardinia. <\/p>\n Researchers found that the long-lived people in this area drank an average of \u200btwo glasses of their local wine, Cannonau<\/em>, every day<\/strong>, usually just after 5:00pm, with friends and a small bite to eat. <\/p>\n But is there anything \u201cmagical\u201d about this particular wine? Is there an ingredient, some undiscovered molecule (i.e. resveratrol), that imparts longevity on the wine drinker? <\/p>\nDrops of Jupiter<\/h2>\n
\u200bThe Language of Wine<\/h2>\n