Claret

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See also: Bordeaux wine

Claret is a name used in English for red wine from the Bordeaux region of France, along the valleys of the rivers Gironde, Garonne and Dordogne, including Medoc, Graves and St Emilion. Claret wines are sometimes divided into Left and Right bank Clarets- Left bank clarets include the Medoc, Graves and Pessac-Léognan, whilst Right bank clarets include the St Emilion and the Pomerol. There are also numerous lesser appellations which are sometimes referred to as Clarets, such as Fronsac

Contents 1 Usage 2 Pronunciation 3 History 4 See also 5 External links

Usage

The term claret is most common in the United Kingdom. People from many former colonies (including the USA) call it red Bordeaux or just Bordeaux.

Claret is a protected name within the European Union for describing a red Bordeaux wine; it was accepted after the British wine trade demonstrated over 300 years' usage of the word.

The name Claret is occasionally used in the United States as a semi-generic label for any red wine in a style similar to that of Bordeaux. However, the usual practice today is to label wines by the grape variety or varieties from which they are made.

The French themselves do not use the term Claret, except for export purposes.

Usage has expanded to include the color which resembles the red hue of this wine. It has also become a slang word for blood. An old English expression for giving someone a bloody nose is "Tapping the Claret".

Pronunciation

Claret is frequently mispronounced in United States English as /klæ'ɹeɪ/ as it is believed to be a French word. Although it is originally from the French word clairet (English translation is 'pale') the word claret is an English invention and thus is traditionally pronounced according to English orthography rules as /klæ'ɹɛt/. The mispronunciation is a form of hypercorrection, arising from considering the common form as an ignorant mistake and substituting a more cultivated sounding (but inappropriate) pronunciation.

History

The Plantagenet kingdom, covering England and much of France from 1152 to 1453, encouraged wine trade and the development of English taste for this wine, adopting the French word clairet to describe it.

In the Late Middle Ages, a claret was a spiced wine-based drink produced by pouring wine, usually a red, over a bag containing a mix of spices. It was similar, and often identical, to hypocras. Spices that were specific to medieval clarets include anise, caraway, cardamom, cinnamon and fennel.

The term now more frequently applies to unspiced red Bordeaux wine. The flavor of red Bordeaux is not "fruit forward" or "fruit driven", but has a complex balance of fruit, oak and tannins and is generally medium-bodied.

See also

• French wine

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