Einzellage

The official name for an individual vineyard site. There are 2,658 of them in Germany. Germany’s 13 wine regions are officially broken down into 39 BEREICHE, which in turn are broken down into 167 GROSSLAGEN, which are broken down into einzellagen, the plural of einzellage.

Although wine lovers are generally pretty easy going, certain things really piss them off. Which of the following is not one of the issues most likely to aggravate wine enthusiasts?

A. Serving cheap wine at a party

B. Pronouncing Moët “Mo-AY” instead of “Mo-ETTE”

C. Using stemless glass water tumblers for wine

D. Calling all sparkling wines “Champagne”

Referring to all sparkling wines as “Champagne” is pretty bad in our book. But it did not come up in a recent survey by The Drinks Business as one of the top ten things that drive wine enthusiasts crazy. The other three did. Not pronouncing the “t” in Moët was considered as bad as pronouncing the “t” in merlot.

“In Europe then we thought of wine as something as healthy and normal as food and also as a great giver of happiness and well being and delight. Drinking wine was not a snobbism nor a sign of sophistication nor a cult; it was as natural as eating and to me as necessary.”

—Ernest Hemingway
A Moveable Feast

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