How to learn to pronounce wine names

Start with rules, not a word list

Wine names look hard because they come from four or five languages, and each one reads its letters differently from English. The good news is that each language is consistent. Once you know that a French final t is usually silent, you can read Cabernet, Pinot and Merlot without looking any of them up. A dozen rules like that cover most of a wine list.

Established English forms are fine. Saying sham-PAYN for Champagne or SHAR-dn-ay for Chardonnay is normal English, and nobody in a shop or restaurant will blink. This guide teaches the native form because it helps you read names you have never seen before.

• Wine pronunciation guide
• Champagne
• Chardonnay

French: silent endings, nasal vowels and gn

French is where most of the trouble sits, and four habits fix most of it. Final consonants are often silent. A vowel followed by n or m turns nasal, and the n itself is barely heard. The letters gn make one sound, like the ny in canyon. And French puts a light stress on the last syllable, which is why most of the respellings end in capitals.

• Silent final consonants: Merlot is mer-LOH, Chablis is shah-BLEE and Bordeaux is bor-DOH.
• Nasal vowels: Sancerre is sahn-SAIR and Mâcon is mah-KOHN, with the n hummed through the nose more than spoken.
• The gn pair: Sauvignon Blanc is so-vin-yawn BLAHNG and Bourgogne is boor-GON-yuh, with no hard g.
• The oi pair sounds like wa: Pinot Noir is PEE-noh NWAR and Loire is LWAHR.
• Some final consonants are sounded, so check the audio: Brut is BROOT and Malbec is mal-BEK.

• French wine terms
• Merlot
• Chablis
• Bordeaux
• Sancerre
• Sauvignon Blanc
• Pinot Noir
• Brut

Italian: hard ch, soft c, gl and stress

Italian is the friendliest of the four, because nearly every letter is sounded, including the final vowel. The rules to learn are about c and g. Before e or i they go soft, like the ch in church and the j in jam. Add an h and they stay hard. Stress usually falls on the second-to-last syllable, and double consonants are held a little longer.

• The letters ch are a hard k: Chianti is kee-AHN-tee and Verdicchio is ver-DEE-kyoh.
• A c before e or i sounds like ch: Valpolicella is vahl-poh-lee-CHEL-lah and Montepulciano is mon-teh-pool-CHAH-noh.
• A g before e or i sounds like j: Sangiovese is san-joh-VAY-zay and Pinot Grigio is PEE-noh GREE-joh.
• The letters gl before i melt into ly: Puglia is POO-lyah.
• Stress the second-to-last syllable: Barolo is bah-ROH-loh, Nebbiolo is neb-BYOH-loh and Prosecco is proh-SEK-koh.

• Italian wine terms
• Chianti
• Valpolicella
• Montepulciano
• Sangiovese
• Pinot Grigio
• Puglia
• Barolo
• Nebbiolo
• Prosecco

German and Spanish: a few letter swaps

German and Spanish are both read much as they are written, once you swap a handful of letters. In German the swaps are w, v, z and the vowel pairs ie and ei. In Spanish they are j, ll and z. Spanish z has two standard forms: a th sound in central and northern Spain and an s sound in most other regions. Both are accepted.

• German w is a v: Gewürztraminer is geh-VURTS-trah-mee-ner.
• German v is usually an f: Grüner Veltliner is GROO-ner felt-LEE-ner, and velt is also accepted.
• German ie is a long ee and ei rhymes with eye: Riesling is REES-ling and Eiswein is ICE-vine.
• German sp at the start of a word is shp, and z is ts: Spätlese is SHPAYT-lay-zuh and Pfalz is PFAHLTS.
• Spanish j is a breathy h: Rioja is ree-OH-hah.
• Spanish ll is a y in most accents: Tempranillo is tem-prah-NEE-yoh.
• Spanish z is th or s by region: Crianza is kree-AHN-thah or kree-AHN-sah.

• German wine terms
• Spanish wine terms
• Gewürztraminer
• Grüner Veltliner
• Riesling
• Eiswein
• Spätlese
• Rioja
• Tempranillo
• Crianza

Pick 25 names you will actually meet

Rules stick when you hang them on real words, so choose a short starter set before you practice. Take the grapes and regions you see on almost every list: Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Merlot, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Grigio, Riesling, Syrah, Malbec, Tempranillo, Sangiovese and Grenache, then Bordeaux, Champagne, Chablis, Beaujolais, Sancerre, Chianti, Barolo, Prosecco and Rioja. Add Rosé, Brut, Sommelier and Terroir and you have 25.

Each of these names has its own page in the free Vinolingo web guide, with native audio, the IPA, an easy respelling and any accepted English forms. If you drink from one region more than others, swap in its names.

• Cabernet Sauvignon
• Syrah
• Malbec
• Grenache
• Beaujolais
• Rosé
• Sommelier
• Terroir
• Grape varieties
• Sommelier essentials
• Burgundy
• Bordeaux wines
• Wine label terms

Listen, say it aloud, then check yourself

Reading a respelling is not the same as saying the word. For each name, play the native audio twice, then say it aloud at full volume. Say it again in a sentence you would really use, such as ordering a glass. Your mouth has to practice the movement, and silent reading skips that step.

Then check yourself, because what you think you said and what came out can differ. The simplest way is to record yourself on your phone and play it back straight after the native audio. Listen for one thing at a time: first the stressed syllable, then the ending. A speech-scoring app does the same job faster. Vinolingo, for iPhone and iPad, listens to you and scores each attempt, and counts established English forms as correct.

• Names that trip people up

A one-week plan with spaced review

Short sessions spread over days beat one long session. Psychologists call this the spacing effect. Hermann Ebbinghaus described it in 1885, and a 2006 review of the research found that spaced practice beat massed practice in 259 of 271 cases. For wine names, that means ten minutes a day for a week, with each name coming back after one day, three days and a week.

• Day 1: learn the French rules and say eight French names from your list aloud.
• Day 2: review day 1 from memory, then add the remaining French names.
• Day 3: learn the Italian rules and names.
• Day 4: learn the German and Spanish rules and names, and review the French set.
• Day 5: record yourself saying all 25 and compare each with the native audio.
• Day 6: repeat only the names that gave you trouble.
• Day 7: read a real wine list aloud, including names you have never practiced.

• Start with the full guide
• Rhône wines
• Loire wines
• Champagne and sparkling

Common questions

How do I learn to pronounce wine names?

Learn the main spelling rules for French, Italian, German and Spanish, then practice about 25 common names. For each one, listen to native audio, say it aloud, record yourself and compare. Review the set after a day, three days and a week. Ten minutes a day for a week is enough for most wine lists.

Is it okay to say wine names the English way?

Yes. Many wine names have established English forms, such as sham-PAYN for Champagne, SHAR-dn-ay for Chardonnay and MUSS-kat for Muscat. These are standard English and are understood everywhere. The native form is worth learning because its rules help you read unfamiliar names, but you do not need a French or Italian accent to order wine.

Why are French wine names so hard to pronounce?

French spelling keeps many letters that are no longer sounded. Final consonants are often silent, vowels before n or m turn nasal, and letter groups such as gn and eau each stand for a single sound. English readers tend to sound every letter. Once you know these few patterns, names like Meursault (mur-SOH) and Pouilly-Fumé (poo-yee foo-MAY) become readable.

How long does it take to learn wine pronunciation?

About a week of short daily sessions is enough for the two dozen names on most wine lists and the rules behind them. Long village and vineyard names from Burgundy or Germany take longer, but they follow the same rules. Regular short reviews spread over days work better than one long session.

Is there an app that checks my wine pronunciation?

Vinolingo is an iPhone and iPad app that plays native audio, listens to you say the word and scores your pronunciation using Apple speech recognition. It is free to download with 35 terms and needs no account. The same terms, with audio, IPA and respellings, are free to browse in the web guide on this site.