Eater PSA #25: It's Meritage, Like Heritage

We're Eaters, and wine goes hand in hand with that, so just a quick lilttle Public Service Announcement for all you servers, bartenders, sommeliers, wine stewards, wine shop owners/workers, and everyone in between: When serving the American Bordeaux-style blend called Meritage, please for the love of all things buttered and fried, stop calling it Meritahhhhj. It is not a French wine. It is not a French word. And if you're selling that wine to us, and you call it Meritaahhhhhj, and you're supposedly a trained professional, we're sending it back. And complaining to your boss. AND making a scene. From the wine-stained lips of one of our favorite sommeliers in town, Pacific Dining Car's Jonathan Mitchell: "'Meritage,' pronounced like 'heritage,' was selected from more than 6,000 entries in an international contest to name the new wine category. Meritage is an invented word that combines 'merit' and 'heritage' --- reflecting the spirit of members of The Meritage Association." And he also says anyone who uses the French prononciation are Neanderthals. We just heard a radio announcer call it Meritahhhj and we cringed. We've received annoyed looks from pseudo-servers who think we're in the wrong for using the heritage pronunciation, as in, "What barn did you roll out of?" To those servers, this one's for you.