09/18/07 Terms Part 1

Welcome to Vine to Wine this is your host Linda Moran. I often feel helpless when I overhear people talking about wine and they are obviously in need of some understanding of the terms they are using. I want to jump in and help but I realize not everyone wants to be corrected. But I vow that my listeners will never have that problem. Today we are going to begin a two week series defining wine terms and giving you correct pronunciations for wines and grapes alike. Let's begin with a couple of my pet peeves when it comes to pronunciation. If we see the grape Merlot it is pronounced MAIR-LOW not Mur -lot. The word is Meritage not Maritaj and it is signifying a traditional blending of specific red grapes varieties. Next it is Rees-ling not Rise-ling. Speaking of Riesling the famed French Riesling area is called AllSAS not al-says Key ahn tee not Chee ahn tee. I also feel as though it is my duty to let you know off-dry does have a meaning and it is telling you the wine is neither very sweet or very dry it is somewhere in between. Okay so that is a bit of a gray area definition & A pleasant lingering finish is indicative of a good wine. So that is it for today tomorrow and in the days to come we will be defining terms and helping you pronounce terms and wines. Remember to send your wine questions to Linda at Vine to Wine dot net and thank you for joining me on today's Vine to Wine.