Two thirds of Scousers apparently can’t pronounce world’s top wines

If you crack over Chianti, get tongue-tied at Tempranillo or hit rock-bottom with Rioja, you are not alone.

One in five scousers don’t drink the wine they want – because they can’t pronounce it and we certainly fall into that category at The Guide Liverpool, mores because we’ve normally drank that much of the stuff!

A survey of 2,000 people by Spanish wine brand Marqués de Cáceres has revealed just how many Brits are getting in a tizzy over the names of their favourite tipples.

Almost half of people in Liverpool can’t pronounce Chianti correctly (49 per cent), only a fifth says Rioja in the right way and three quarters of people slip up when trying to say Riesling.

This leads to awkward social situations, with one in five saying they’ve changed their order in a restaurant or shop because they couldn’t pronounce it, while a third have pointed at a bottle rather than attempting to say its name and over a third (35 per cent) admitting they’ve been corrected by someone else when they’ve tried to say the name of a wine and got it wrong.

As well as the names, it appears there’s a lot we don’t know about wine in Liverpool.

Of those surveyed, one per cent believe you should drink red wine at temperatures above 20 degrees celsius, while nearly a quarter of scousers insist it is served below ten degrees celsius. The ideal temperature for serving red wine is 15 degrees celsius.

When it comes to white wine, which should be served at a crisp, chilled nine degrees celsius, five per cent would serve it at temperatures above 20 degrees celsius, with two fifths opting for temperatures below five degrees celsius.

We are equally clueless when it comes to the country of origin of some of the world’s most popular drinks. Almost half of people in Liverpool don’t know where Rioja is from (Spain), over half don’t know that Prosecco and Chianti are Italian, and almost half do not know Riesling predominantly comes from Germany.

Instead, we choose our wines for different reasons with nearly half selecting a bottle purely on price, nearly a fifth going on a name they’ve previously heard of and some even looking first at the alcoholic strength of the wine before making a choice – this goes for one in 10 men and eight per cent of women.

Cristina Forner, President of Marqués de Cáceres, says: “People should not be afraid of asking the name on a bottle of wine, nor of getting it wrong. You’ll only get it wrong once.

“It’s what is the liquid inside the bottle that matters and by trying new things, people can educate themselves on what they like when it comes to wine.

“When I’m not sure of a wine I’ll simply take a photo of the label on my phone and then I always have it to show at bars or shops.

“Drinking ‘like the locals’ on holiday helps too, as you can discover names that are not as everyday as some of the labels we see in supermarkets.

“Marqués de Cáceres is a family-owned bodega in Rioja that has been producing wines for generations. We are established as a trendy choice with Spaniards and have a name that is completely unforgettable!”

Let us know what winey words you struggle with and we will share the best on Twitter and Facebook.