Excited Utterances

Let's say you are in the liquor store, looking for a bottle of wine to kick off the weekend. Among the labels reading "dry, crisp" and "robust, full-bodied" is a bottle of Pinot Grigio that catches your eye: " easily digestible ." Based on the label, you buy it, thinking that you might be spared a hangover. But the next day, you wake up in a scene reminiscent of the movie The Hangover. This potential scenario is why I think the European Court of Justice did German wine cooperative  Deutsches Weintor  a favour when it ordered them to change their labels a few weeks ago. The labels described the wine as  bekömmlich,  which translates as "easily digestible" or "wholesome." But EU law prohibits companies from making health claims about alcoholic products. The company argued unsuccessfully in its defense that the word was not a health claim but instead referred to general well-being, and was easier to digest because it contained r