What Should We Call Wines That Are Not From Warm Places?

Mark Ganchiff

Mark Ganchiff is the publisher of Midwest Wine Press, the leading source of news on the growing wine industry in the central United States. Mark has been a wine judge at the 2012 and 2014 INDY International Wine Competition, the 2014 Cold Climate Wine Competition, the 2013 Mid-American Wine Competition, the 2012 Illinois State Fair Wine Competition and the 2013 Michigan Wine Competition. He also enjoys speaking at wine events including the Cold Climate Wine Conference, the Illinois Grape Growers and Vintners Association Annual Meeting, the Midwest Grape and Wine Conference and the Wisconsin Fruit and Vegetable Conference. Mark's articles about regional wine have appeared in Vineyard & Winery Management, WineMaker and several regional magazines. Mark is a Level One Sommelier in the Court of Master Sommeliers. He lives in Louisville, but also has a residence in Chicago.

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8 Responses

  1. Patrick says:

    How about “wine”?

    • Mark Ganchiff says:

      That name puts you in some pretty good company, but I don’t think the Midwest would make the top #20 in a word association game with “wine.” (But then again, I called this website “Midwest Wine Press.”)

    • Jeremy Haese says:

      Thats funny, your on to something there,,,,,, you must be in marketing????

  2. John says:

    To be blunt- and I’m assuming people would agree- but the reason for finding an appropriate name is as a selling point to consumers (which you touched on). If it stopped at growers harvesting their crop, than the name would have little importance. Generally speaking, consumers don’t care to compare California corn to midwest corn. But wine is art and it has to be sold as such. So regarding “New American Viticulture” – I like that a lot. But I agree viticulture isn’t the best term for consumers, and consumers are consuming it as wine, so why not call it “New American Wine”? It is relatively new, it is American, and it is wine. It creates intrigue, it’s not scientific, confusing, or misleading, and it doesn’t sound like its making excuses. (“Grapes” instead of “wine” could work too, maybe? Or they could be interchangeable). But, I think it’s very important. California had to break the barrier of being considered ‘Non-French/Italian wine.” Cold hardy always sounds to me like the grapes are sacrificing quality to survive the cold, and so we’re defending them from being ‘Non-Californian.” But the cold-aspect should be left-out entirely. Why address it if it’s not a weakness? As you said, California doesn’t have to claim itself to be warm-climate. Our ‘cold-hardy” grapes are good and the wine made from them is good. They’re just new (relatively). So in all senses it is…. ‘New American Wine.’

    • Mark Ganchiff says:

      John,

      I like “New American Wine,” or perhaps “The New American Wine.”

      Thanks for weighing in.

      Mark G.

      • Jeremy Haese says:

        Wat about “New World” or something to that effect. I know that hybrid grapes are being developed in places other than america?

  3. Richard Buck says:

    I was thinking instead of hybrid (with it’s bad connotations), how about FUSION?. We could have Cold Fusion or Midwest Fusion or Heartland Fusion?

    • Mark Ganchiff says:

      Fusion is a forceful name. Looked “Fusion” up on the net and learned that Sunkist has a drink called “Solar Fusion.” Dr. Pepper had a “Fusion” too, but they discontinued the brand.