meritage vs bordeaux blend

"Meritage" is a trademark of the Meritage Association. Only wineries that pay a membership fee can legally label their wine "meritage." That may discourage some from using it, although it doesn't account for ignorance of the name. However, the name itself was coined because it was felt that American consumers wouldn't know what a "Bordeaux blend" was. Perhaps times have chenaged enough now that people no longer feel that it's necessary. Personally, I've never cared for the term, but labeling a wine "Bordeaux blend" is going to get you into trouble with the EU. I suppose that the logical solution is call such things "claret," which AFAIK isn't a regulated term.

HTH Mark Lipton

] hunter wrote: ] > In Toronto I recently went to a California wine tasting event. The sixty or ] > more booths were manned by California wine merchants, who came up from ] > California for the event. Many of the booths proudly displayed their ] > "Bordeaux blend". This puzzles me. In North America, the term is Meritage ] > (rhymes with heritage), which possesses the same blended varietals as the ] > Bordeaux. At several booths, I purposefully approached the rep and asked if ] > their specific winery produced a Meritage. Blank stare. Then I repeated the ] > question using the words, Bordeaux Blend. Reply: "Oh, of course, you ] > mean...etc" ] > ] > In Niagara, several wineries display the word Meritage on their labels. ] > Everyone around here knows what it means. Was Meritage a fad word that never ] > took? ] ] "Meritage" is a trademark of the Meritage Association. Only wineries ] that pay a membership fee can legally label their wine "meritage." That ] may discourage some from using it, although it doesn't account for ] ignorance of the name. However, the name itself was coined because it

I didn't know that. Not a good way to encourage wide adoption!

I always thought it was pronounced meritahge, rhyming with the British "can't."

Anyway, it's a made-up marketing term. Sometimes the consumer really goes for it, sometimes not. I guess the jury's still out with meritage.

] was felt that American consumers wouldn't know what a "Bordeaux blend" ] was. Perhaps times have chenaged enough now that people no longer feel ] that it's necessary. Personally, I've never cared for the term, but ] labeling a wine "Bordeaux blend" is going to get you into trouble with ] the EU. I suppose that the logical solution is call such things ] "claret," which AFAIK isn't a regulated term. ] ]

Ack! Mark, claret comes from Bordeaux. Otherwise, how about "claret-style?"

-E

Salut/Hi Tom S,

le/on Tue, 10 May 2005 13:16:46 GMT, tu disais/you said:-

And to finish the general clar(et)ification.

Claret is the English name for red wine from Bordeaux. It comes from the French name "Clairette" which is the name now given to a rather purpley pink wine from the area. Originally, however it applied to ALL red wines from the region because - apparently - in the late medieval times, they were pretty light in colour - when compared to the much better wines from inland. Yes, you read that correctly! To recompense the Bordelais for their loyalty, they were allowed to hold back the passage of the "up country" wines from inland, until their own wines had all been exported to England. And the "black wine" from Cahors was often used to blend in with the pale Bordeaux wines to give them more oomph. All this of course was long before the invention of the bottle, and the wine came across in barrels usually to Bristol, though of course, quite a lot came into London. It was pretty ropy stuff, and goodness knows how drinkable it was by the time it had been shipped across by sailing boat, and carted by horse drawn cart to the wine merchant.

Rather than getting anyones nose out of joint, why don't we call it by some unique, non controversial name...... I know, how about Meritage?

Emery, it definitely is supposed to rhyme with "heritage", but I often hear the faux-French pronunciation (so it rhymes with Hermitage). Mark is correct that the licensing fee from the Meritage Association is what keeps most groups from using name. While I am a vociferous opponent of the lifting of geographic names,I have zero problem with a California wine with a clear proprietary name (Insignia, Tapestry, Bourriquot, etc) being billed as a "Bordeaux-style blend" - there's no confusion, this is a homage not a counterfeit. As Claret is a name that the British bestowed on a (actually now-defunct) style of wine, I'm ok with that too. Only CA one I can think of that uses is Newton.

in article snipped-for-privacy@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com, DaleW at snipped-for-privacy@aol.com wrote on 5/10/05 8:03 AM:

I got into a long-running tussle over the pronunciation some years ago. It just seemed natural that it should be pronounced 'Mer-ih-tahj'(easy to think it would be "French-sounding". But their site definitely says it rhymes with heritage.

The fee structure is $1 per case of the wine using the name, but it caps at $500. While there are a number of wineries in the US that belong, I see many more using a proprietary name for their Bordeaux-style blend, and just describing it on the label. Most do not seem (to me) to use the term 'Bordeaux-style'at all, but just give the percentages by varietal. Coppola uses the term Claret, and a few others, but I don't see that name often either.

For more info, including a list of member wineries:

Wild Horse also makes (made?) a wine labeled "Claret".

Tom S

So does Niebaum Coppola. There are probably more.

Dimitri

Emery, my point was that the term itself is likely not proscribed by the EU the way any reference to Bordeaux would be. Yes, it is a term used traditionally to refer to red Bordeaux wine, but do you really think that a "Napa Valley Claret" would be so misleading? Unless US law is changed to permit multiple varietal labeling on wines a la our friends in Oz, "claret" seems to me to be the least offensive alternative to the unloved "Meritage."

Mark Lipton

] Emery Davis wrote: ] ] > Ack! Mark, claret comes from Bordeaux. Otherwise, how about ] > "claret-style?" ] ] Emery, my point was that the term itself is likely not proscribed by the ] EU the way any reference to Bordeaux would be. Yes, it is a term used ] traditionally to refer to red Bordeaux wine, but do you really think ] that a "Napa Valley Claret" would be so misleading? Unless US law is ] changed to permit multiple varietal labeling on wines a la our friends ] in Oz, "claret" seems to me to be the least offensive alternative to the ] unloved "Meritage."

Hi Mark,

Poetically put. I agree it is unlikely "claret" is proscribed, but at least personally I would find its use disingenuous. To me the term invokes a style that is the antithesis of any bottle likely to be so labeled out of CA.

This then, is the problem with varietal labeling. So long as things are simple enough, it's a great shortcut for the consumer. And of course there are plenty of Bordeaux blends that are simply labeled CS or perhaps even Merlot, because of the large percentage of that variety. (I sometimes think that CS is just short-hand for Bordeaux blend. Obviously many Bordeaux would qualify as that under US rules).

I was just joking about "claret-style," but I really don't see any problem with proprietary names, as in "cinq cepages" from St. Jean.

I didn't know about a US law against multiple varietals. Certainly there are plenty of OZ bottles labeled that way available in the US, as you say. Seems only fair to let US producers follow suit.

Are you back in the land of righteousness these days? :)

-E

I heard a story about an acquaintance's father who had quite a wine cellar (and budget) along with a deep appreciation for wine. He used to ask for wines with questions similar to "Do you have any of that yummy E-Cheese-Oh?" specifically to rile up folks like you. ;)

Dimitri

I would vote for the OZ solution. At least in the US, consumers do seem to be hung up on varietal names. I, personally, will admit to having to rely on cheat-sheets, when it comes to proprietary names, as to what is likely to be in the wine. It's tough enough trying to remember which Bdx locations, and even chateau is likely to be Merlot, CS, or CF based. The US term, "Red Table Wine," just doesn't have quite the ring to it. At least with most of the ones we (US/CA) have now, one kind of knows, Cinq Cepages, Cain Five (though it probably should have been called Cain Four in 1999, IIRC, as they used no Merlot), Insignia, and several others, but if the % of a varietal falls below BATF standards, then out comes some ad agency name, and all of a sudden, you don't know what you're getting.

I didn't know about the fee for the use of the word Meritage. That explains why it didn't really take off, as I had assumed it would.

Good thread, Hunt

Wasn't that the wine to be served at the "runnaway bride's" wedding?

Hunt