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- Wine Words: From Argentina With Love
Alright, I'm not actually in Argentina. This post isn't about malbec or torrontes. It isn't about steak or the Tango, either. Well, kind of. See, this post is about how I'd describe these things as being of and from the magnificent country of Argentina.
I admit an affinity for describing language as it is supposed to be used rather than how it actually is used. I've been down this road before. But something jabs at me brain when someone tells they had the most wonderful Argentinean (sometimes spelled Argentinian) wine. Why do I heave and haw? I do so because Argentinean is a noun and not an adjective. An Argentinean is a person from Argentina; anything else from that great nation should be described as being Argentine. Proper usage follows as such, "When on vacation, I met the most fascinating Argentinean, together we drank Argentine malbec." Sure, it’s not the sexiest of sentences, but it is a correct one.
I am fully aware of how nitpicky I'm being, but that’s my job. So next time someone tells you how much they dig Argentinean malbec, slap them in face and then tell them how to properly describe their beloved malbec. Just don't tell them it was all my idea.
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3027 - Reply by Philip, Jun 8, 2008.
Wow, you know when you stop and point it out to me, I recall that you are correct, but i'm slovenly and follow the crowd - so ive being doing it wrong for a solid 10 years at least...
It reminds me of this thread, where a few of us were trying to figure out how many grape varietals there are in the world and someone jumped in and pointed out that we should have been referring to them as varieties:
http://www.openwineconsortium.org/forum/topic/show?id=2000748%3ATopic%3A31328
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- Reply by rae, Jul 23, 2008.
Discover the splendor and magnificence of the wines of Argentina. Learn more about their culture, wine regions, geography and cuisines through
http://vino.com/country/argentina/ Cool, cool site!
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04 - Reply by pmeconi, Mar 6.
As an Argentinean I have to thank you for this post :-)
PS. That entry previous to this seems a bit of a spam, too many ads for my taste!
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05 - Reply by IKAL 1150, Oct 16.
CuriousWine, great stuff! Any opinions on the pronunciation of the word "nuclear"? Seems another one folks get wrong quite often.
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1738 - Reply by Gregory Dal Piaz, Oct 16.
One of my pet peeves as well.
Argentine. It's easy!
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0390 - Reply by GregT, Oct 16.
Yes but if you're picking nits:
"something jabs at me brain when someone tells they had the most wonderful "
Do you mean "jabs at MY brain?" Or was that just a Cockney expression that crept in?
". . .someONE tells me THEY had. . ."? How do you use a plural pronoun with a singular antecedent?
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- Reply by IKAL 1150, Oct 16.
i was always confused by "falling rock" signs... too ambiguous
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048 - Reply by Charles Emilio, Oct 16.
No problem here.. I just call it vino argentino
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92 - Reply by penguinoid, Oct 16.
To carry on nit-picking, you note in the weblog post you link to ( http://blog.snooth.com/2008/02/22/wine-words-the-difference-variety-and-varietal/ )
'Of course, you can also call a grape variety a “cultivar,” but most people will have no clue what you’re talking about unless they’re botanists.'
Really, you *should* refer to them as cultivars, as they are cultivars, not varieties. I'm as bad as everybody else, I tend to call them varieties for simplicity's sake but it's not really correct. Any gardener should know what cultivars are, too...
