Wine Words: It’s All In The Name

posted by Scott in Snooth, Wine, Guest Bloggers

Let’s face it: names matter. They do. Sure, they are subject to fashion, but because words possess meaning, they carry a weight more permanent than the latest trend. It’s the reason that “Fart” isn’t a popular last name. Go ahead; check your phone book. Anyway, this “weight,” if you will, is a word’s denotation, its definition. As such names have semantic histories, or etymologies, just as any other words might. Philip, for instance, is derived from Greek and means “friend of horses.” I might be mistaken, but I don’t imagine that many parents have this meaning in mind when they name their child Philip. Still that doesn’t change the significance of the word.

Grapes have names, too, and with each its own story. Here are but a few:

Uva di Troia

Zinfandel

Aglianico

Shiraz

And last, but not least, here’s a list of funny ones.

There are literally thousands of etymologies like these. Some are true and some are just fun to tell. Feel free to post your own or tell me your parents named you Philip because they really do love horses.

Scott Rosenbaum is director of operations for the International Wine Center and wine buyer for the retailer DrinkUpNY.

Breaking the Mold: Thoughts on Irregular Bottle Shapes

posted by Scott in Snooth, Wine, Guest Bloggers

There is no need to adjust your computer monitor. The pictures of bottles below have not been manipulated to alter their shapes (admittedly, they have been scaled down so they would fit on your screen). These bottles were purposely distorted from the get-go. They were designed this way and with good reason; like ‘em, love ’em, or hate ‘em, they’re eye-catching. While some might claim, that such bottles are but clever marketing gimmicks of consumer-savvy New World wine producers, I remind you that the Old World has long been at it as well. Think Black Tower or Lancers and Mateus or that one with the cat .  There’s your proof that there is no such thing as accounting for taste, at least when it comes to aesthetics.

Anyway, wines in irregular bottle shapes are popular. They’re  recognizable; in fact, most are memorable, a wine marketer’s dream. Anyone who’s sold wine in a retail setting can tell you of a first hand experience where a customer was looking for a wine they had tried previously, but all they remembered was that it had a red label. If you’re concerned with making a wine look distinctive, such a dilemma is fretful because it happens all the time. Because while the majority of wines don’t have red labels, quite a handful do. But not many wines are in bottles that look like scientific beakers (thanks to my colleague and fellow blogger, Robert Scibelli for showing me this bottle) or bottles that look like they’re melting. Score one for design.

Of course, I dislike these bottles because, though memorable, they are hard to store and ship. With many irregular bottle shapes, the function of distinctive packaging overpowers the function of storage, which I feel is paramount. Many are troublesome to try to fit into wine racks and even more difficult to find packing materials for. Look at me; here I am complaining once again. Hopefully, you’re used to it by now. But for the sake the weekend, let me stop myself. Go outside, relax, enjoy the Spring in all its Springy glory and think about irregular bottle shapes. Is it really worth breaking the mold?

Scott Rosenbaum is director of operations for the International Wine Center and wine buyer for the retailer DrinkUpNY.