What’s in a name?

In Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Juliet muses to Romeo, “What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell just as sweet.”

She of course is referring to her love for him despite their feuding families, the Capulet and Montagues.

But sometimes a name is much more and, in fact is begotten because of what it is.

Grape names for example, especially in Italy, where Romeo and Juliet is set, often come with stories of their etymologies.

Take, for example, Sangiovese, the main grape used in  wines such as Chianti, Brunello and Vino Nobile di Montepulciano. Sanguis Jovis, or ‘Jupiter’s blood’, was the name given to the grape by monks from a monastery on Mount Jupiter in Santarcangelo di Romagna.

Or Nebbiolo, the only allowable grape used in Barolo and Barbaresco. It is so named because of the fog or nebbia that shroud the hills where the grape is from.

Also in Piedmont, there is dolcetto or little sweet one.

Over in the eastern part of Italy in Friuli there is tazzelenghe which translates to tongue cutter because the natural acid of this grape is so high that the resulting wine could cut your tongue.

Pecceriorro, a grape from the hills of Marche, is named after the sheep herders who domesticated a wild grape vine as they moved their sheep across the high plains. Pecora is Italian for Sheep.

Or the white grape catarratto of Sicily so named because cascata means waterfalls and refers to the waterfalls of wines this grape is capable of producing where quantity, not quality, was the password for most of the last couple of centuries.

Sagrantino is derived from the Italian sacro meaning ‘sacred’, or sagrestia meaning ‘sacristy’, from its use in sacred context.

Over in France, merlot was so named because in the fields of Bordeaux it is often the first to ripen and the blackbird swooped in to eat it. Merlau is old French for blackbird.

Cabernet Sauvignon is a blend of the its two genetic parents, cabernet franc and sauvignon blanc.

Among the Pinot family (family being that there are many other varieties that are genetically similar: pinot noir, pinot gris, pinot blanc etc.), pinot refers to the tiny compact bunches of grapes the vine produces resembling a pine cone, or pinot in French.

Locally, there is a hybrid grape called Marquette which was developed at the university of Minnesota. It was named after the 17th Jesuit missionary who reached the Mississippi River travelling further west than any other missionary before him. In Minneapolis where the university is located there are parks and streets named after him too.

Maybe the name of the grape isn’t actually of importance, which is why wines are often named where the grapes where grown (Chianti, Champagne, Bordeaux for example) with nary a mention of the grape as  it is only the medium for the place.

So go ahead and drink your rose wine while deciding which of the Capulet or Montagues you want to side with, but remember that sometimes, the story behind the grape name is almost as interesting as the wine itself.