Clyde Gill wrote:

> Few things erk me more than CA wines being called Chablis, especially
> when they are made from Thompson Seedless!

It doesn't really irk me. It just doesn't interest me as wine.

> Though it does tend to
> identify my customer for me when they ask for "Something like a
> Chablis". Nobody has ever asked for that without it being a reference
> to a CA product. Most of those people who drink that stuff have no
> clue that true Chablis is from France.

When someone asks for Chablis like that, that's a clear opportunity
to educate that person in a helpful way. I'd ask "Are you looking
for French Chablis or American white wine?". Odds are, in 9 out of 10
instances, if you're friendly about it, the customer will ask "French
Chablis?" and you'll have an opportunity to explain the difference.
It's a good idea to fastidiously avoid passing judgement in this case.

Odds are they'll still want American white wine but they'll better
understand the difference.

It's also a good segue to mention the naming issues with champagne
and hearty burgundy :-).

> The subject interests me as we are making our first commerical
> sparkling wine this year and have been looking for label terms. It
> seems like Methode Traditionalle is the most descriptive term
> available beyond "fermented in this bottle" which has always been
> awkward at best. What would one think otherwise: it was fermented in
> the bottle next to it?

One would think otherwise it was fermented in larger bottle and
transferred to smaller bottles, or it was fermented in huge tank
and artificially carbonated...

> Sparkling wine is another awkward term. There are alternatives, but
> we want something that the customers will be comfortable with and
> still understand what's in the bottle.

Heh. Sparkling wine. Most people get the meaning. If you're mentioning
it to a customer, you can even say "even though the state says we can call
it champagne, we prefer to call it sparkling wine out of respect for our
French comrades in Champagne" or somesuch.

Most customers don't need a lecture, most customers are happy to learn
new things when not made to feel stupid in the process.

Dana