Wine- a matter of style

[Craig Camp]

The style of wine varietal name publication seems to be all over the place on the matter of what is or isn't in lower case when it comes to wine varietals and wine names. Place-names are of course always capitalized.

My understanding is that generic mentions of varietals are lower case and specific are capitalized. Thus:

cabernet sauvignon

Spottswoode Cabernet Sauvignon

pinot noir

Saintsbury Pinot Noir

chardonnay

Bollini Chardonnay

nebbiolo

Nebbiolo d'Alba

Comments from the language experts out there would be appreciated.

[Carolyn Tillie]

You are correct that they are all over the map - Steven Tanzer does not capitalize a varietal, but Spectator does as, for example, here is an article printed today about California Syrahs.

Read article here.

The opening paragraph capitalizes the varietal:

Vintage 2000 was a breakout year for California Syrah. Now along comes 2001 and it easily surpasses 2000 in quality, producing the largest number of outstanding Syrahs in California history. Everything seems to be coming together for this rapidly rising varietal, from the quality of the wines, which has been exceptional, to its warm, fuzzy reception by consumers.

I open the May issue of Food and Wine that arrived yesterday afternoon and see that they capitalize their varietals.

In my personal writings, I tend towards capitalization of the wine varietal. I believes it adds for clarity.

[Mark Sommelier]

Craig,

I agree with your understanding on this one.

[Brad Ballinger]

I don't know if I'm a language expert, but I did minor in English in college. Although I've no doubt violated the rule I'm goint to write in the next sentence, it's what I try to do when writing about wine...

Capitalize the grape name when referring to a specific wine. Don't when simply referring to the name of the grape or a type of wine. However, either is probably acceptable. And I'd rather have people write about wine than abstain from doing so because they don't want to make a grammatical boo boo.

As an interesting aside, the auto-correct feature in the version of Microsoft Word installed on my computer automatically capitalizes Riesling (intentionally capitalized here), but not the name of any other grape.

[Rieslingfan]

As an interesting aside, the auto-correct feature in the version of Microsoft Word installed on my computer automatically capitalizes Riesling (intentionally capitalized here), but not the name of any other grape.

I bribed Gates to put in that feature.

This reminds me very much of the spelling/grammar debates we've had on the internet over the years. Hopefully this one won't get folks hot under the collar.

And hey Brad...congrats on being "elevated." I expect you to consult with me on all things Riesling.

[russ parsons]

it's a quagmire and you're just sticking in your big toe. capitalize varietals, or only when part of a proper name? does the vintage go before or after (2003 Duckhorn Merlot or Duckhorn Merlot 2003)? Special designations in quotes or in parentheses (2003 Duckhorn Merlot "Three Palms" or (Three Palms))? what about if it's a region? what about if it's a special designation that does not refer to a placename, but a quality? ((Special Reserve) or "Special Reserve"). What about the Germans? How would you punctuate this? 2003 JJ Prum Riesling Auslese Wehlener Sonnenuhr Kabinett (Mosel). my head hurts.

in the end, it doesn't really matter. we don't even follow style consistently in the newspaper (in food, we capitalize all varietals; in news they don't).

[Carolyn Tillie]

(in food, we capitalize all varietals; in news they don't).

Therein, I think, lies the definitive answer!

[tanabutler]

As a proofreader without any real credentials except a damned good eye, lowercase varietals just look wrong to me. Despite my lowercase log-in name here at eGullet (which was an accident that I came to enjoy), I enjoy the proper use of capital letters. And if the food section of the L. A. Times is going to capitalize varietals, that just tells me they're smarter than the news branch.

[Chris Kissack]

I personally capitalise varietals whether in reference to a specific wine or if discussing the variety itself. Having said that, however, I do think the scheme put forward by Craig is correct. Nevertheless I prefer to capitalise all for clarity.

Chris Kissack

[balmagowry]

As a proofreader without any real credentials except a damned good eye, lowercase varietals just look wrong to me. Despite my lowercase log-in name here at eGullet (which was an accident that I came to enjoy), I enjoy the proper use of capital letters. And if the food section of the L. A. Times is going to capitalize varietals, that just tells me they're smarter than the news branch. 

Second the motion on every possible count (including being a proofreader with a damned good eye ).

One other tricky stylistic point - all the trickier perhaps for being open to interpretation in the matter of varietal names. The correct style in French is not to capitalize any of the words in a title except the first; if that is an article then one also capitalizes the first noun as well as, of course, proper nouns. The question that arises, then, is whether or not to treat varietal names as proper nouns. Actually, my instinct says yes, partly because of lowercase just looking wrong, but also because of the Frenchman's deep veneration for the grape. Still, there has got to be some potential for stylistic anomalies here somewhere. Dang, I'm trying to think of good examples, and of course they've all suddenly fled from my pea brain except for some feeble literary ones. Dang.

Well, OK, then, here are a couple of feeble literary ones (maybe someone with a less wobbly brain can suggest some appropriate ones for wines): what in English would be capitalized as The Black Tulip and The Red and the Black, in the original French are La Tulipe noire and Le Rouge et le noir.

(Hmmmm, what is it with this preoccupation with black? Am I "in mourning for my life"? Nah, just free-associating.)

Lame and inappropriate examples - not to mention that the whole thing is probably moot for someone writing in English. Still, even that might depend on the audience....

Thoughts?

Edited April 7, 2004 by balmagowry (log)

[Craig Camp]

What does French have to do with it?

We are writing about Italian, Spanish, Hungarian, German and every type of wine you can think of - French rules or thinking would have no more weight than any others.

[balmagowry]

What does French have to do with it?

Merely that the French don't cap names the same way we do, and I have known some of them to take umbrage at seeing anyone do it differently, even in other languages. "C'pas français, ça!" That attitude, if not necessarily that style, is pretty much uniquely French, and I was just wondering if anyone had run afoul of it in this context. Spose for anyone who takes that view it would just get lost in the general assumption that anglophones probably don't know anything about wine anyway. Still - the old-school thinking dies hard, I've noticed.

We are writing about Italian, Spanish, Hungarian, German and every type of wine you can think of - French rules or thinking would have no more weight than any others.

Ah, yes - but try telling that to a Frenchman!

[SFJoe]

Am I the only one who thinks of "variety" being the name of the grape, and "varietal" being the name of a wine made predominantly from a particular variety and so labeled?

[Brad Ballinger]

Am I the only one who thinks of "variety" being the name of the grape, and "varietal" being the name of a wine made predominantly from a particular variety and so labeled?

No you're not. Notice I intentionallyavoided the word varietal. And when I do use it, I almost add the word wine afterwards. Varietal wine. Variety grape.

[Andre]

Am I the only one who thinks of "variety" being the name of the grape, and "varietal" being the name of a wine made predominantly from a particular variety and so labeled?

I believe that is also Craig's point and it both looks and does make sense.

My basic instinct is to capitalize but I am going to try to stick to Craig's examples.

Luckily we have no such problems in Arabic nor Hebrew so our region is safe for now....

[blil]

The winemaker at a winery I used to work for told me that a professor once returned a paper she had written and told her to capitalize the names of all the grapes in the paper. Since then, I've always capitalized grape names regardless of whether or not they are preceeded by a winery name. IOW, I capitalize "Cabernet Sauvignon" as well as "Spottswood Cabernet Sauvignon."