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You’ve been mispronouncing your favorite wine! Experts Reveal the Correct Way to Say Everything From Sauvignon Blanc to Rioja
Nothing impresses dinner guests more than a shared bottle of wine, but what about when it comes to telling your guests the name of the drink you’ve chosen?
While Chardonnay is familiar enough to most people that it easily rolls off your tongue, what about the lusciously sweet Gewurztraminer or the richly earthy Sangiovese?
Pinot Noir is the most frequently mispronounced wine in the world, with an average of 2,380 people searching Google for a pronunciation guide each month, according to new research from language-learning platform Preply (preply.com). .
The data also revealed that Sauvignon Blanc and Cabernet Sauvignon followed closely behind in second and third place, with 1,620 and 1,260 searches each month by wine enthusiasts seeking help.
Other commonly mispronounced wines include Pinot Grigio (PEE-no-GREE-jo), Riesling (rees-ling), Prosecco (proh-SEHK-koh), and Sangiovese (SAN-joe-veh-see).
While we may be more familiar with common pronunciations like Pinot Noir or Prosecco, there are more intimidating nicknames (file image)
Language expert Yolanda del Peso says the key to approaching puzzling names is to become familiar with the common languages of origin.
Understanding common phonetic practices can help you deal with tricky letter combinations.
“For example, Tempranillo sounds like it should be pronounced ‘temp-pruh-NILL-o’ to an English speaker, but knowing it’s a Spanish wine tells us to follow Spanish pronunciation rules,” Preply’s marketing specialist added.
That means the double “LL” is actually pronounced as a “Y” sound, giving us “tem-pruh-NEE-yo.”
Similarly, ‘eaux’ in French generally produces an ‘o’-like sound in English.
The language-learning platform has also revealed the 20 most frequently mispronounced names, along with a handy cheat sheet on how to pronounce them.