Glossary entry

Spanish term or phrase:

vidueño

English translation:

vidonia

Added to glossary by Charles Davis
Oct 4, 2012 08:52
11 yrs ago
5 viewers *
Spanish term

Vidueño

Spanish to English Other Wine / Oenology / Viticulture
Canary Islands
16th century

possibly Vidonia?
https://www.google.es/#hl=en&sclient=psy-ab&q=vidonia wine&o...
Change log

Nov 6, 2012 13:44: Charles Davis Created KOG entry

Discussion

Charles Davis Oct 4, 2012:
Malmsey Yes, "malvasía" is "Malmsey" in English. The name is famous thanks to Shakespeare's play Richard III, in which Richard has his brother, the Duke of Clarence, drowned in a butt of Malmsey. It's basically madeira.
lexisproject (asker) Oct 4, 2012:
Text just says that there were two main types of wine in the Canaries, vidueño and malvasía. The latter seems to have an equiavalent English term Malmsey
Lisa McCarthy Oct 4, 2012:
@ lexisproject Can you provide the text in Spanish?

Proposed translations

1 hr
Selected

vidonia

In order to be sure I would need to see the context, but the reference to the Canary Islands and the sixteenth century makes it very likely that, as you suspect, this refers to the wine known as "vidonia" in English.

First, "veduño", "viduño" and "vidueño" are all historical variants of the same word, as can be seen from consulting the first RAE dictionary of 1739. Its dictionary definition there is "La calidad, ò especie, ù casta de las vides, ò uvas".
http://ntlle.rae.es/ntlle/SrvltGUIMenuNtlle?cmd=Lema&sec=1.0...
In other words, a variety of vine.

However, "vidueño" (or "viduño") is also the name given to a specific kind of wine from the Canaries:

"El término “vidueño” era utilizado en el siglo XVI y XVII para aquellas variedades que se elaboraban conjuntamente, dando lugar al “vino de toda uva”."
http://www.papasantiguasdecanarias.org/gastronomia_recetas.p...

It's still used as a Canarian wine name today. Historically, it was a recognised kind of wine that was very well known and exported in large quantities. It was consumed in England as early as the sixteenth century, as an alternative to madeira, made from "malvasía" or malmsey grapes (hence "malmsey wine"). And in English, this variety of wine, from Tenerife, was called "vidonia", which is clearly derived from "viduño":

"13. EL SIGLO XVIII EN CANARIAS
Productos de exportación en el siglo XVIII
[...] El vidueño, otra variedad de vino tinerfeño, surgió en este siglo como una necesidad o alternativa al declive de la exportación del malvasía. Los ingleses, los antiguos compradores del vino, se negaron a seguir comprándolo, porque les resultaba más barato comprar el de Madeira o el procedente de Portugal y sur de España. Hubo también un cambio de gustos en los consumidores ingleses, y esto, añadido a las continuas guerras entre España e Inglaterra, por motivos de rivalidad colonial, llevó al malvasía a la ruina.
La respuesta de los cosecheros canarios fue producir un vino de parecidas características al de Madeira; de aquí que se le denominara “falso Madeira” o vidueño. Para ello, hubo de traerse cepas de aquella isla, vendimiar sobre lo verde y mezclar o encabezarlo con vino tinto y aguardiente procedente en su mayor parte de Mallorca. El vino permanecía en bodega durante al menos tres años hasta su definitiva exportación. El vidueño se exportaba en su mayor parte a las llamadas Trece Colonias (Puertos de Filadelfia y Boston) y a Inglaterra. Se llegaron a negociar considerables cantidades de vidueño y aguardiente, y el Puerto de la Cruz y Santa Cruz fueron los puertos de exportación."
http://www.gevic.net/info/contenidos/opcionesMenu_preview.ph...

"La emancipación de Portugal de la Corona española y su conversión en aliado preferencial de Gran Bretaña prohíbe las exportaciones canarias de viduño a las colonias portuguesas y británicas de América y paulatinamente gravará hasta prácticamente hacer desaparecer o reducir al mínimo las de malvasía al mercado británico."
http://angelicaguanche03.wordpress.com/2012/02/01/

" Vi*do"ni*a (?), n. [Cf. Pg. vidonho the quality of grapes, Sp. veduño.] A dry white wine, of a tart flavor, produced in Teneriffe; -- called also Teneriffe."
Webster, 1913
http://machaut.uchicago.edu/?resource=Webster's&word=vidonia...

"Canary Island Wines

The Canary Islands have long been celebrated for their wines. The favourite Teneriffe wine is Vidueno or Vidonia. Canary sack is supposed to have been made from the Malvasia sweet grape, whereas the modern sack is dry (sec). The best vineyards are at Orotava, S. Ursula, Ycod de los Vinos, Buenavista, and Valle de Guerra."
James Mew, Drinks of the World (1892).
http://chestofbooks.com/food/beverages/Drinks-Of-The-World/C...

Quite clearly, therefore, "vidueño" or "viduño", in the context of the Canary Islands, denotes a particular kind of white wine, which was well known in Britain (and America) where it was known as "vidonia". It was the basis of "Canary sack", a variety of sack or fortified wine, often mentioned in Shakespeare.

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Note added at 1 hr (2012-10-04 10:18:18 GMT)
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A search for "vidonia" in Google books produces many fascinating historical references to this wine.
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
5 mins

variety of vine

María Moliner dictionary gives the following definition "cada variedad de vid = veduño"
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6 mins

Vidueño

Keep the word in Spanish and provide an explanation in brackets or as a footnote:

Vidueño

A vineyard area wholly planted with a single variety of grape. Also a variety of grape. Sometimes applied to the combination of varieties mixed in a vine in unknown proportions.

http://www.winesfromspain.com/icex/cda/controller/pageGen/0,...


Description

The term “vidueño” was used in the 16th and 17th centuries for varieties that were used in combination to make a “vino de toda uva” or “wine of all grapes”. Using this same technique, we have combined varieties such as Marmajuelo, Gual, Verdello, Muscatel and Malmsey among others. In order to simulate the traditional treading of the grapes in a wine press, we subject the pressed grapes to a prolonged maceration, conserving the aromatic potential by fermenting them at a controlled temperature. The balance attained by using kegs enriches the traditional nuances.
http://directory.cruvee.com/wines/Contiempo-Vidueno-Valle-de...
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1 hr

vine variety, variety of vine

clase de vid que ofrece características particulares que son conservadas por la multiplicación por estaca o injerto
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