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.

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,

Popping And Breaking Corks For Wine Wednesday. There is something about the holidays that often causes you to throw caution to the wind. For instance when shopping, should I spend that extra money on a gift for my beloved? Sure why not. Oh heck, why not splurge on myself as well.

And at that holiday party. I really shouldn't have a second or third, cookie or drink. But it's the holidays, why not. I tend to get that way with wine. Want to pull a cork? Let's do it! I have a good sized wine collection and I like to open bottles more than normal when people are in the for the holidays. Sometimes I forget about things tucked in the back of the wine cooler. Things that should not age as long as they have. For others, the fact that I forgot, and let them sit, is brilliant. Those are the wines that get better with age.

I love all things that sparkle. Bubbles. It doesn't matter what time of the year it is. However, over the holidays, sparkling wine and Champagne rule. I pulled this bottle of Juve & Camps Gran Reserva Cava for a Christmas party and it was gone before I knew it.

A good idea when you bring wine to a party that you want to drink and it to the host and say let's open this. If you want the host to keep it, put it in a bag and have them tuck it away, put it on the gift table or under the tree.

Juve & Camps has been making wine for more than 200 years in Spain and the cava, or sparkling wine is great. The Reserva de la Familia is one you'll most often find and it's $23. This one, the  2015 Gran Reserva, is the top of the line. It had flavors of nectarine and apple and it was delicious and the bottle is festive. It's in the $60 price range.

Popping And Breaking Corks For Wine Wednesday. It wasn't all good. Yes, several corks actually broke. But in the end, good ruled. Don't wait for that special occasion to open your wine, It might not last that long. To me, almost every day we are alive is a special occasion. Here are a few of my hits and misses.

I am writing some stories for New Year's and was having a little bit of fun over the weekend with this video. Check it out.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CmReyFYuXuv/

I let this one sit too long. It's ten years old. Look at the color. It's an assyrtiko from Greece that is best when consumed young and fresh. The color was a big clue this was past it's prime.  It wasn't horrible, but it wasn't good either. We put it aside for deglazing a pan.

This pinot blanc from Oregon is five years old and it was fantastic. The sad part is not just that it's gone, but so is the winery in Oregon. It was sold. Thank you Zivo for a great bottle.

The cork broke on this bottle of Ramey Claret from Napa. When the person who opened the bottle tried to get it out,  it just got worse and crumbled. A dried out cork is typically not a good sign. We had been debating decanting this wine. Now we had no choice. We had to filter it through a wire mesh into a decanter. Good news, the wine was fantastic at 19 years old. I'm glad we opened it.

Yes, it happened twice. Another cork broke. When removing the corks from older bottles, it takes a gentle hand, slow pull, and some patience.  This is a 2015 Two Hands Bella's Garden Barossa Valley Shiraz. I was surprised at how much fruit was in it. Not port-like fruit as often happens in older wine. It was actually better the next day. This one could've been decanted. Oh, and yes, there was so much wine open at this point that we had some left the next day.

This wine is right on time. 2014 Justin Isosceles from Paso Robles. This is the winery's flagship red blend. It's cab based. Everything about it was good. The cork, the temperature, the fruit, the acid. It really was enjoyable.