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“Eers one helluva Merlot!”

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Not sure if “long legs” are a good thing in a glass of wine? Well, a supermarket chain in Britain wants to make it easier for customers unfamiliar with wine speak. Spar is experimenting with wine labels written in local slang so shoppers are not intimidated by the usual flowery language.

• Guardian newspaper story
• Our weekly language podcast: The World in Words

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KATY CLARK: Wine connoisseurs have a language of their own to describe fine wines – fruity, okay, nutty, buttery, and so on. Problem is many consumers have no idea what they’re talking about. Which is why Spar – a chain of British convenience stores is putting more colloquial descriptions on wine bottles like this one.

MAN 1: A totally stoten bevy that’s bricked in full flavor with plum, currenty fruit making it taste [INDISCERNIBLE]. A [INDISCERNIBLE] color with cherries and black fruit [INDISCERNIBLE] that runs from the front to the back of your mouth.

CLARK: That was the Scottish description of a nice $7 bottle of Merlot. The original description went like this.

MAN 2: A truly great merlot which is ablazed with succulent black currents and blueberries. It’s full bouquet is … .

CLARK: Quite a difference. Laura Jewell is Spar’s wine controller. Laura Jewell, do any of us know what it means to be ablazed with succulent black currents and blueberries. I mean isn’t that just making it even more confusing?

LAURA JEWELL: I think we’re trying to get people to be enthusiastic about the wines. And I think most people will understand the black currents and that it’s just full and brimming with them. So yeah, I think most people would get it in this country.

CLARK: Who do you think this will appeal to?

JEWELL: This is a bit of research that we’ve done and we’ve discovered that people find language on back labels quite intimidating as you’ve said. So in the middle of redesigning our labels we decided to listen to our consumers. And that meant that we decided to translate that tasting note into eight different dialects to reflect the wide geographical range of our customers. So we’ve done from Scottish in the north all the way to Summerset in the far south. So it’s appealing to a wide range of customers to talk to them in their language on a local level.

CLARK: Who did the translations for you?

JEWELL: We asked people who work in our stores and that are regional wholesalers. So we believe that they’re as authentic as we could get them to be.

CLARK: I’d like to play another local dialect here.

MAN 3: A sweet-smelling red with cherry and vanilla. [INDISCERNIBLE] with a touch of wood. This wine would be right good with your supper as it gets better and better as it [INDISCERNIBLE] glass. Now guzzle down this wine and I’ll be as happy as pig in muck.

CLARK: Happy as a pig in muck. I’m wondering is that really the kind of association you want made with your wine?

JEWELL: We want people to be enthusiastic about the wines and that’s what we’re trying to get across. So I’m perfectly happy with that. It’s a great recommendation and it if appeals to people and makes them smile and takes the stuffiness out of wine then that’s perfect for us.

CLARK: Is this a bit dangerous territory though you’re venturing into to? Maybe seen as a bit patronizing – like people in these parts of the country wouldn’t understand the original language on the bottle.

JEWELL: We just want people to have a bit fun with our wine labeling. And we recognize that there are many different dialects and regional variations on dialects. So we know that they vary from one person to another and from region to region. So it’s really just about making our labels more accessible to our customers in general.

CLARK: Laura Jewell is the wine controller for the Spar convenient stores in Britain. Thanks for your time Laura.

JEWELL: Thank you very much.

CLARK: By the way remember that $7 bottle of Merlot. As we are a Boston-based program we asked our resident experts to translate this into a local dialect. Here we go.

MAN 4: A wicked good Merlot with tons of fruit. It’s strong as hoss and explodes in your mouth. It’s got this awesome flowery smell. And you don’t want to stop drinking it. It’s a keeper.

[MUSIC]

CLARK: News headlines are next on PRI.

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