359915 Sat Jan 13 17:18:11 -0800 2007 11 34 Wine 0 2185164 So I am at a great Italian restaurant and I read the wine list and see "Vino Santo" so I tease the owner, a friend. I have NEVER seen it written "Vino Santo," ONLY Vin Santo; it even said Vin Santo right on the label. He said, "No, it can be either." Now, grammatically, I can see what he's saying. But, please, have you ever seen it as "vino santo"? Sat Jan 13 17:18:11 -0800 2007 10896 chaddict 1 2185569 In Tuscany it's Vin Santo or Vinsanto, but in Trentino / Alto Adige there's a Vino Santo D.O.C. Sat Jan 13 19:35:26 -0800 2007 2185164 11369 Robert Lauriston 1 2185576 *Vino santo* is standard Italian for holy wine. As googling will show (68K hits), it is widely used, and not just in liturgical contexts. Also, the Oxford Companion's entry for vin santo concludes with the following paragraph: "Trentino also produces its own version of Vin Santo called Vino Santo, made from the Nosioloa grape and a decisively sweet dried grape wine. These wines are quite different from Tuscan Vin Santo, since they are aged in barrels subject to regular topping up ... Vinsanto is the official term for the sweet wines of Santorini." Sat Jan 13 19:37:48 -0800 2007 2185164 10520 carswell 2 2186208 I think most of those 68K hits for "vino santo" are mistakes or some other usage. If you Google Italian pages only, you get only 22K hits for "vino santo," and if you exclude Trentino only half that. By comparison, "vin santo" gets 156K and "vinsanto" 87K. Sat Jan 13 23:28:57 -0800 2007 2185576 11369 Robert Lauriston 1 2186201 Thanks for the lessons! I never knew about Vino Santo from Trentino. Is it just as good? Different? If so, how? Next question: if the wine is from Tuscany, wouldn't it be incorrect to label it Vino Santo on the wine list? Sat Jan 13 23:26:35 -0800 2007 2185164 10896 chaddict 1 2186385 If we rate most common ortographic errors on wine lists form 1 (light) to 10 (real bad), this one would rate probably 0.23 Sun Jan 14 00:31:37 -0800 2007 2185164 28703 RicRios 1 2186397 I have a bottle of Villa Puccini Santo Vino (not Vino Santo) from Pontedera, Pisa in Tuscany here in front of me that I'm going to try tonight. The spelling variations may just be from whatever a wine maker wants to call the wine. Sun Jan 14 00:37:06 -0800 2007 2185164 10732 JMF 2 2187875 Odd, they used to call it Vin Santo, maybe still do on some bottles: http://www.verdoniimports.com/Our_Wines/Villa_Puccini/Villa_Puccini_-_Vin_Santo__IGT/villa_puccini_-_vin_santo__igt.html In some regions the names are legally defined by the DOC statutes. Villa Puccini may have changed it to Santo Vino because they're doing something different than the DOC rules allow. I'm skeptical that that's real Vin Santo since it's NV and so inexpensive. Sun Jan 14 17:18:54 -0800 2007 2186397 11369 Robert Lauriston 1 2196512 Next question: chilled or no? 2 different resturants in 5 days and one was chilled, the other not. Wed Jan 17 03:36:14 -0800 2007 2185164 10896 chaddict 2 2197877 No. Cool cellar temperature. Wed Jan 17 17:17:08 -0800 2007 2196512 11369 Robert Lauriston 3 2208959 To me, "cool cellar temperature" means chilled. Not straight out of the fridge chilled, but for those of us without an official temperature controlled cellar, it's much cooler than room temp. I prefer my vin santo chilled but not cold. If that helps at all... Sat Jan 20 06:56:53 -0800 2007 2197877 11559 nagrom 4 2209624 Cellar temperature means 55-60 degrees. Sat Jan 20 18:08:47 -0800 2007 2208959 11369 Robert Lauriston