The Ultimate Gift

In ancient Rome, wine was linked with authority. Of all the pleasures and privileges of power, none was rated more highly than the possession of a vineyard. The highest favor bestowed by the Roman emperor Julian was the gift of a vineyard prepared—actually planted and pruned—by his own hands.

Which grape variety below has a name whose etymological origin means to speak badly of another person?

A. Catawba

B. Malbec

C. Ugni Blanc

D. Alicante Bouschet

Ok this was probably pretty easy if you know a little French, since mal is French for “bad,” and bec for “mouth.” But allow me to explain further. Although it is now famous in Argentina, malbec’s ancestral home is Cahors, a tiny, ancient wine region in southwest France. Here, the wine is known as le vin noir, “the black wine,” not only because of its dark color, but also because of its severe, tannic, dark flavors. The word malbec is actually a nickname for the grape’s true ampelographic name: côt. But in the nineteenth century, malbec became a slang term for someone who spoke badly of others. There must have been a lot of malbecs in Cahors, for the word became a common surname—and an affectionate term for the local grapes.

“The pleasures of the table reside in the mind, not in the mouth.”

—Charles Spence,

Gastrophysics: The New Science of Eating

The Ultimate Gift

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