WineInk: Wine capitalization

This one is inspired by The Aspen Times editor Ray K. Erku, who rightly called my bluff recently when I tried to capitalize the names of a few wine grapes.

“One thing I have strived to learn when editing WineInk is whether to capitalize wine types,” Erku wrote in a very nice email. “From what I understand, grape varietals — pinot noir, chardonnay, for instance — aren’t capitalized. On the flip side, wines of origin — Chianti, Burgundy, for instance — are, of course, capitalized.”

Editor Erku is, of course, 100% correct. The names of grapes are not capped, while the regions where they are grown do, indeed, get the big letters — at least according to the Associated Press Stylebook and The New York Times. And those are the pre-eminent sources for editors who are in the business of getting the language and the punctuation of a story correct. The AP Stylebook provides the following tip: “Wine names for grape varietals, such as chardonnay, are not capitalized. Wines named for regions — Chianti — are capitalized.”

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That is pretty clear.   

Over the many WineInk columns (This is No. 913), I have gone back and forth on the capitalization of grape names. Yes, I know the word and verb establishment has stated rules, but I have often thought that something as unique and individualized as a grape variety deserves an atta’ boy, if you will — a little something extra to honor it for being special. Hence, my use of caps at the front of grape varieties like Sangiovese, Spätburgunder, and Shiraz, just to use some “S” grapes for examples.

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There have been myriad editors of this column, and I appreciate them all for the time they have invested in correcting my myriad mistakes over these last 17, going on 18, years, but I also think that many of them have seen that wine writing, though a serious discipline, may not require the same adherence to the rules of grammar that a news story might. The name of the column is “WineInk” for Bacchus’s sake. Capital W. Capital I. One word. If that doesn’t break some rules, I’m not sure what does.

And I am not the only one who breaks the rules when it comes to “capitalising” the names of grapes. The Brits do it all the time. Jancis Robinson, one of the most respected and influential wine journalists of our time, does it in her books and newsletters. Decanter Magazine, some say the most prestigious wine magazine (I’m proud to say I have been published in its pages), also uses caps when discussing Assyrtiko or Xinomavro, just to use some Greek grapes, for example. By the way, the Brits also spell “capitalisation” with an “s” instead of a “z” in the middle. It drives my spellcheck bonkers.

When I look on regional wine sites, I find that they, too, often use caps when discussing grapes.

“In Germany, the Spätburgunder (Pinot Noir) is to red wine what the Riesling is to white wine: the cream of the crop,” reports Wines of Germany, a presentation of the Deutsches Weinistitut.

On winesofgreece.org, there is a section with recipes and wine pairings. Under the instructions for making a beef tagliata with balsamico reduction, the site recommends pairing the dish with “a vibrant Mavrodaphne from Kefalonia, an Aghiorghitiko from Nemea or a Xinomavro based Rapsani.” The grapes just sound more impressive when capped, don’t you think?

Then there are the regional wine sites in America that also cap the names of grapes. The Sonoma County Winegrowers site writes: “From the highly regarded Chardonnay and Pinot Noir of the Russian River Valley and Sonoma Coast, to the dense flavorful Zinfandel of Dry Creek Valley and distinctive, approachable Cabernet Sauvignon of Alexander Valley and Sonoma Valley, Sonoma County’s range of geography — valleys to mountains, coastal ranges to inland benchlands — is second to none.”

It is hard to argue with that statement, even if you prefer the first letter of the grape names to be lowercase.

Wine Spectator, perhaps the most-read wine publication in America, has long capitalized the grape names in its pages and online editions. I can’t find written justification for this practice on the company website but assume it has been discussed on occasion, and the editors have decided that caps rule.

If you really want to geek out more about this conundrum, maybe the best piece ever written on the subject deserves your attention. In 1985, William Safire, The New York Times Pulitzer Prize-winning author of the “On Language” column, wrote a piece titled “Wines without Caps” (nytimes.com/1985/08/25/magazine/on-language-wines-without-caps.html) in which he laid down five rules for the use or disuse of Caps in the wine-writing realm.

He called his recommendations ”Winespell, Safire’s Rigid Rules for the Clarity of Capitalization in Wines.” And then he proceeded to lay out a seriously confusing, though well-thought-out, argument for how to deal with grapes and regions and wine styles.

The bottom line here is that there are linguistic edicts dictating the rules for proper use of capitalization practices that are well accepted by some and then broken by others. Out of respect for the parameters of this publication, I will submit my WineInk columns in the future with the names of grapes de-capped and the regions capped, in keeping with the standard practices of journalism.

But in my heart, Cabernet Sauvignon will always be capitalized.