Cinsault
Since I have been drinking infinitely more of the stuff than I was, say, ten years ago, I have heard a variety of ways in which people pronounce Cinsault (or Cinsaut, if you prefer). I now have more South African readers and one could argue the the spiritual home of Cinsault is South Africa. So who better to ask how to pronounce Cinsault than my wonderful new readers?
I am not trying to see how many people know the right pronunciation (whatever that means); I am merely interested in how people pronounce Cinsault!. As I am sure we all know, language is our servant not our master – we use it as we please.
What I am asking is you to chose one of the options, or add another, for the way you pronounce Cinsault. I have spelled out the pronunciations that a few of my friends have used, in the poll below. What I mean is I have written out how they are said; for example, I pronounce ‘Pinot Noir’ as Pee-no N-w-ar.
So have a think how you pronounce Cinsault, choose one of the suggestions I have given. You can use the drop-down box to either type in how you pronounce Cinsault, if you say it differently, or choose one of the ways of pronouncing Cinsault, that have been added to the drop-down box by other people. I hope that is clear!
Remember, despite what the French may think, there is not a right or wrong answer. I want to know how you pronounce Cinsault/Cinsaut.
Remember to say/choose how you pronounce it if you choose ‘Other’!
Here is the poll!
My excellent friend Ricard gives some fascinating etymological detail in the first comment below
I participated in the poll. It’s san-so. For me. You might also be interested, that in Priorat, they have small ancient plantings of Cinsault, which they call Samsó. (Pron: Sam-soh). Same spelling as the Biblical name Samson. It’s a perfectly understandable local corruption of Cinsault. Interestingly and annoyingly, in the north of Catalonia, in Empordà, where they also make great wine, they have a variety called Samsó… but it’s Carignan! Go figure! In Priorat it’s Carinyena or Carenyena or even Caranyana. Also, Cinsault comes from the Occitanian (Provençal) “cinc sòus” (Catalan: “cinc sous”) which means “five sous” as in five units of the currency used in the Mediterranean basin in the Middle Ages. Because it was a way of saying “worthless” or “very low value”. In Catalan we still say “sou” to mean “salary” or “wages”. Little did they realise of course that in the future their worthless grapes would make great wine!
Thank you for the etymological detail, Ricard, fascinating stuff! My organ is greatly enhanced by you sharing your knowledge.