Some Very Good Names to Remember
What’s in a name? Well, considering many of our given or nicknames, they may seem pretty ordinary and, dare I say it, arbitrary. But there is much more to names than we give them credit for.
Even ‘Davo’ from down at the pub has not just got a name, he’s got a great name as it is a ‘variation’ on David, which in turn came from Dawid in Hebrew. Dawid meant ‘beloved’ or ‘uncle’ in antiquity, which was a pretty good name for a Jewish king if he wanted to be rejoiced by his subjects and remembered fondly by historians. And funnily enough, we still hear stories about kings with this name even today – millennia later.
Similarly in Africa, if you are called ‘Adetokunbo’ it means you were born abroad as this name means ‘the wealth has returned home’ in the Yoruba language, which is about as awesome as it gets. Or if you are a girl called Lindiwe, it means you are the first girl after a string of boys – as Lindiwe means ‘we have waited (very patiently)’ in isiZulu.
Companies too strive for meaning in their names, with Nike famously named after the Greek goddess of victory, and even accounting solution MYOB (an acronym for Mind Your Own Business) is a clever play on words that sounds like an insult, but actually describes the product – and automatically positions the company as a confident, cocky leader in their field.
Waitiri Creek Wines are certainly believers in the power of names as they regard each bottle of wine they produce as unique and with its own personality – that’s what happens when you do everything by hand rather than with machines. And with personality of course comes a name that describes that personality or the history that comes with it. The winery itself is named after a 19th century stage coach stop that was between Cromwell and Arrowtown. This stage stop was named after the creek it was near which was Waitiri, itself named by the local Māori after the nearby mighty Kawarau River that Waitiri Creek feeds into. ‘Waitiri’ means thundering or noisy water, a name that belongs to the Māori Goddess of Thunder and an apt description of the Kawarau River.
The local Māori influence continues with the tale of the travellers walking through the Central Otago area centuries ago and coming across a thorny bush or small tree they called Matagouri. Very slow-growing and, left undisturbed, the Matagouri can grow for 100 years or more, so Waitiri Creek named their pinot noir vineyard the Old Matagouri Block – perhaps as a hint to their plans! This vineyard also provides premium grapes for the Waitiri Creek, Drummer and Harriet Rose labelled wines – all too with historical names.
Waitiri Creek Drummer Pinot Noir is named after Drummer aka James Leslie, the eldest son of the Leslie family who first settled the nearby Shanagolden vineyard land in 1867. Harriet Rose is named after the founder’s goddaughter Harriet Rose, who was born and bred in Arrowtown. After keeping close to her Otago roots by studying teaching in Dunedin, and then working in both Dunedin and Wellington, Harriet is soon to make the move to London later this year.
As a family-owned winery, the folks at Waitiri Creek take things very personally, from doing all the pruning and picking by hand, through to giving their wines names that mean something. Whether or not these names matter to you is irrelevant; all you need to know is that they were all chosen with careful thought, research and respect for those who’ve been before. This matters because you can be sure that Waitiri Creek applies the same level of care and thought when it comes to making their wine – and that is very good to know indeed.
