Wine Clichés

Writing and wine are my two passions. As such, I am probably a wee bit over-obsessed with wine language - but I argue that it makes for a fascinating discussion, and wine writing has such a fundamental impact on how we understand this beverage.

Lately I've been thinking about wine clichés, while working on a blog post about the subject. I've encountered some good articles about it, but they are a little dated, so I think it's time to revive this topic. (I'll link those articles at the end.) So, without further ado, here are some of my top wine clichés- feel free to share yours!

- This hand-crafted wine...

- Our wine reflects the terroir...

- Stop and smell the rosé

- Delicious now, but will age well for several years

- Food pairing for red wine: serve this with red meat, pasta, and cheese
- Food pairing for white wine: serve this with chicken, pasta, and cheese

- Any kind of pun on the word Zinfandel, usually in relation to "sin": mortal zin, zinful, seven deadly zins...


Frank Prial’s NY Times piece on wine clichés:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/18/travel/18iht-trtalk.html

A cheeky, entertaining mock-article on regulating wine clichés on back labels
http://www.napavalleyregister.com/lifestyles/food-and-cooking/wine/article_bac1746b-5b91-594b-9af9-7d8a68acccea.html

I don't have any problem with the line: "Our wine reflects the terroir." Except that is usually isn't true.

- Stop and smell the rosé

- Any kind of pun on the word Zinfandel, usually in relation to "sin": mortal zin, zinful, seven deadly zins...

Yuck! Those are pretty disgusting examples.


I also hate unfounded and uncertified claims of sustainability.

"We grow wine in a desert but need to truck in or divert thousands of gallons of water in order to produce these wines, but we´re sustainable."

And how many times have you heard a winemaker say: "Ya, we really are organic, but we just don´t like filling out the paperwork to get certified." Ya, I really am a lawyer, but those damn bar exams!

others include:
"Super-Duper-Insanely limited production"

"it´s really declassified_____________"

"The property is right next door to/across the road from F*CKING CHATEAU __________"

"Artisinal"

Phew, thanks for the release.

Cheers,
Bill

"The property is right next door to/across the road from F*CKING CHATEAU __________"

heh, some good examples, Bill! When I worked in wine retail, that line you just quoted was a favourite of one of the owners. He knows his Bordeaux backwards and forwards, and that's all well and good, but it doesn't really mean anything to say that a wine was grown two doors down from Chateau Margaux. That's like saying that you live beside Wayne Gretzky. "Um, that's nice - so I guess you're good at hockey then?"

Wow, apparently my Canadian roots are showing, since that's the first example that popped into my head - and I don't even like hockey!

Melissa, Hi....

I wonder if you are not mixing two phenomena - the cliche and the pun. Playing with words such as the examples you give for Zinfandel is simply punning and in that I agree with Oscar Levant that "indeed the pun is the lowest form of humor, unless you thought of it first".

The cliche on the other hand is are more of concern, especially when taken as something that has been said so often that it has been virtually beaten to death. On the other hand, however, cliches often represent truisms. What, for example of the following when used in wine tasting notes by a hopefully impartial critic:

"Approachable and enjoyable now but best from 2015-2028"
"A delicate expression of the soil"
"An appealing array of aromas and flavors...."
"Long and generous"
"Concentrated and intense while maintaining its elegance"

Every one of the above might well be taken as a cliche and/or of pure and unadulterated bull. Much depends on just whom is saying it and what his/her background and track record might be.

As for me, this evening's meal saw me with a 2007 Grand Cru Chablis. Indeed "approachable and enjoyable now but best from 2015-2028".

Best
Rogov

P.S. Often confused with cliches are generalizations. Those too can be abused but when used in the right context can be remarkably useful. (e.g. Charles Dicken's comment that "there is not a window in all of Paris that closes right".

This hand-crafted wine..

That one always gets me as well. This isn't pottery!!

I wonder if you are not mixing two phenomena - the cliche and the pun. Playing with words such as the examples you give for Zinfandel is simply punning and in that I agree with Oscar Levant that "indeed the pun is the lowest form of humor, unless you thought of it first".

The cliche on the other hand is are more of concern, especially when taken as something that has been said so often that it has been virtually beaten to death. On the other hand, however, cliches often represent truisms......

Every one of the above might well be taken as a cliche and/or of pure and unadulterated bull. Much depends on just whom is saying it and what his/her background and track record might be.

Some very good points, and indeed definitions are important. For my purposes, I define a cliché as an overused expression or idea, and they are basically meaningless because they are so overused.

It's very hard not to dip into clichés when writing about anything, including wine. You're right that wine writing often has a lot of repetition, but this does not always mean that the phrase being repeated is a cliché. I'm thinking more about the terms used on the back of 500,000-cases a year critter wines, or tossed out by wine hacks who can't come up with anything original. I find these terms to be quite obnoxious, not to mention completely devoid of anything even resembling useful information.

[Jenise]

"suitable for every occasion"

"sleeper of the vintage"

"a wine for the ages"

"a poor man's ______ (Lafite, Latour, Caymus, Grange, etc.)"

"Perfect for your [fill in appropriate season] entertaining!"

"A classic example of [fill in appropriate variety or appellation]!"

"Harmonious."

"Non-interventionist."

And how could we do business without: "BEST BUY!"

On a personal note, I know of no other wine reviewer who uses the word "sensational" as often as Robert Parker. I can no longer read the word, in any context, without envisioning his fat, self-satisfied puss.

Not a strictly a cliche, but the words "Reserve" on anything that's $7.99 and produced in batches of 60,000 barrels. I guess it could be a reserve part of a run of 600,000 barrels.

Wow, apparently my Canadian roots are showing, since that's the first example that popped into my head - and I don't even like hockey!

It could´ve been worse. You might have fired off an obscure Curling reference or even one about Celine Dion dressed in the garb of the mounted police!

Along with Kelly Young's "reserve" for mass-produced wine, I take issue with "select" or "selection" when applied to the mass-produced, non-select wine.

"Exploding with flavor" (not many wines really explode with flavor)

To me, the classic cliche is:
"Warm days and cool nights......".
So that, or variations thereof, on so many back labels.
Tom

Some random thoughts:

"We will sell no wine before it's time"

Bulk U.S. wine labeled as Chablis (do they still do that?)

"Neutral Oak", a.k.a. used oak barrels (I guess that is more of a euphemism)

To me, the classic cliche is:
"Warm days and cool nights......".

I still don't understand this. If cool nights are the best than why are rocky soils that abosorb the heat of the day and provide warmth at night also good. Seems to be a contradiction that no one has ever explained to me in terms that makes sense.

To me, the classic cliche is:
"Warm days and cool nights......".

I still don't understand this. If cool nights are the best than why are rocky soils that abosorb the heat of the day and provide warmth at night also good. Seems to be a contradiction that no one has ever explained to me in terms that makes sense.

Harumph, Brian.....since when are the marketing guys supposed to make sense??
But your point is well taken...doesn't make a lot of sense.
Tom

Cool nights may be best in the warmer areas of places like California but rocky soils that absorb warmth may be best in cooler climates that struggle to get ripeness.

"We will sell no wine before it's time"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5LkDNu8bVU

[Jenise]

Oh Dale, thanks for that. Immense fun. I could have spent all morning there watching various drunks! And Orson Welles, of course...just posted his frozen pea commercial in FLDG.

I love that commercial. A friend of mine loves Orson Welles and sent me the link some time ago, as he felt I'd appreciate that it was about Champagne.

Some day I hope to be as rich and famous as him, so that I can just get hammered and make booze commercials all day long.

Cool nights may be best in the warmer areas of places like California but rocky soils that absorb warmth may be best in cooler climates that struggle to get ripeness.

I don't disagree but I rarely see it used like that. More often I see something like this:

Other elements that make Rhône wines distinctive are soil and climate. Climactically few places in grape growing regions have the dramatic diurnal shifts (day to night difference in temperature) that the Rhône region experiences. The region typically sees a 40℉/22℃ change in temperature. Many of the types of grapes that grow here benefit from the slow ripening that the shifts provide. As for the dirt, the soils are mineral-rich and stony, more so in the south. Here one finds the famous galets which are found in great numbers around Châteauneuf-du-pape. Galets are rocks about the size of a fist that cover the ground and are placed at the base of vines. Throughout the day they absorb heat then keep the ground warm over night.

From http://www.nativefoodandwine.com/features-journal/californias-rhone.html

Cool nights may be best in the warmer areas of places like California but rocky soils that absorb warmth may be best in cooler climates that struggle to get ripeness.

I don't disagree but I rarely see it used like that. More often I see something like this:

Other elements that make Rhône wines distinctive are soil and climate. Climactically few places in grape growing regions have the dramatic diurnal shifts (day to night difference in temperature) that the Rhône region experiences. The region typically sees a 40℉/22℃ change in temperature. Many of the types of grapes that grow here benefit from the slow ripening that the shifts provide. As for the dirt, the soils are mineral-rich and stony, more so in the south. Here one finds the famous galets which are found in great numbers around Châteauneuf-du-pape. Galets are rocks about the size of a fist that cover the ground and are placed at the base of vines. Throughout the day they absorb heat then keep the ground warm over night.

From http://www.nativefoodandwine.com/features-journal/californias-rhone.html

Well in the case of such dramatic swings in temperature perhaps the stones act as a safeguard against the vines freezing and getting too cold.

I don't know.

Or maybe the writer is confused.

What I never understood about these large stones is exactly why they are so good at absorbing the heat during the day and radiating it back out at night. Why are they better than, for example, soil or gravel? The little physics I have managed to remember suggests that dark things would be better than light things for this purpose, but why should round stones be good?

Actually I have just thought of a possible reason, but I'll wait for other ideas first.

I always assumed that there needed to be a stone of sufficient size so that it could store enough thermal load to be able to radiate it back over a period of time. While smaller stones will get just as hot they should also loose that heat quickly due to the large surface area in relation to the mass of the stone.