Most grape vines grow best in between 30 and 50 degrees of north and south latitude lines across the globe. This is where you will find all of the top wine producing regions. The most common species of grape producing vines is Vitis Vinifera. Almost all of the best known wine grapes (such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Pinot Noir, Syrah, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling, and so many more) are all varieties of the vitis vinifera grape.
Most of what we talk about is referring to the top wines of each region. Think of the way we discuss wines the same way we talk about sports. Most people tend to focus on the top players from each team or even only the top teams. Some people who know more about sports will know the second tier of players from each team and coaches, and some that know much more about sports will know all the teams, all the players, sleepers, upcoming talents, coaches, general managers, owners, and the history. The world of wine is very much the same. Most people know the major wines from the major regions. Enthusiasts and professionals tend to know some lesser known regions, major sub-regions, more varieties and typical blends, and the top level professionals/sommeliers can tell you the distinct nuances between two of the same kind of wines that come from the same villages but are produced by different vineyards. Then there are also people who specialize in one region or kind of wine. There is so much to learn and so many different areas to explore that there is something for everyone no matter your interests or preferences.
Here are the major wine producing countries and some of their top regions:
The short answer is history, quality, and early investments.
Many of the famous wine regions we know today have been producing wines for hundreds of years (or in some cases over a thousand years, literally) and have had a reputation of producing quality wines for just as long.
In 816 AD, the coronation of Emperor Charlemagne’s son, Louis, occurred in Reims, France. During the celebration local wine was consumed and Reims quickly became the traditional site for the coronation of future French kings. With this the wines of Reims and the Champagne region became closely associated with royalty.
The English, including its royalty, had a big appetite for the wines of Bordeaux. In 1243 AD alone, King Henry III purchased over 350,000 gallons of wine from the Bordeaux region. The demand from the English market drastically increased the amount of vines planted around the city of Bordeaux and, as a result, would prove to be a major contributor to the region's success in years to come. With Bordeaux being a main exporter of wines (due to their geographic location and easy access by way of ship which were the easiest way of transporting the heavy wine barrels at the time) that came from other areas of France, policies were put in place that restricted these other wines from being brought into the city until mid November or later in the year. This meant that wines produced in Bordeaux could be sold and exported for several months, competition free giving the region a tremendous competitive advantage over other wine producing regions.
In the 1500’s as Spain and Portugal colonized the Americas, with them came their traditions of producing, drinking, and trading wine. Indigenous wild grapes were discovered in Latin America and were used in an attempt to make wines. However, they were quickly determined to be inadequate and replaced with imported European vines. Spanish viticulture practices spread from central America throughout South America and by the 1560’s vineyards in Chile and Argentina (including Mendoza) had already been established.
In the mid 1600’s, the Dutch East India Company was a dominant force in the European trade markets. They expanded their trading into alcohol and with that, expanded their trade and influence in the world of wine. Most notably was their influence on the Bordeaux region. They introduced their techniques of reclaiming land using them to drain areas along major rivers which revealed alluvial land perfect for planting and growing grape vines in Bordeaux. Beyond their influence in the fields, the Dutch influenced the taste of and types of wines produced. Bordeaux at the time was used to producing light-red clarets to satisfy the English market. The Dutch however, preferred sweet white wines and deeper full bodied reds. If you are aware of the types of wine that Bordeaux is famous for today you might be able to see where this is going. Many growers switched grapes and began planting white grapes such as Muscat to meet the Dutch demand for sweet white wines. It was the Dutch that realized that the district of Sauternes was the perfect place to grow sweeter grapes because the harvest could be delayed later into the fall. You might be asking, “why would this matter?”. The later in the season that the grapes are harvested, the more time the grapes have to ripen on the vine which increases the concentration of sugar within the grapes.
How? [Sunlight exposure for the vines translates to sugar production in the grapes. That is why warmer areas tend to create bigger fuller bodied wines with higher alcohol content. With a higher concentration of sugar in the grapes there is more sugar for the yeast to eat and convert into alcohol during the fermentation process. Cooler regions tend to produce more acidic wines because they get less sunlight exposure. Sugar content and acidity levels within grapes exist on opposite ends of the same scale. Sunlight exposure to the vine is what slides the needle across that scale determining if the grapes will be more acidic (with less sunlight exposure) or sweeter (with more sunlight exposure).]
Grapes that have a higher concentration of sugar do not always turn into wines with high levels of alcohol. The winemaker can decide to stop the fermentation before all of the sugar is converted to alcohol by the yeast cells. Any sugar that has not been converted to alcohol and is left in the wine is called residual sugar. The more residual sugar a wine has the sweeter tasting the wine will be.
This is how the sweet white wines that the Dutch preferred were produced. The 1660’s were the beginning of the district of Sauternes producing the sweet white wines that it is still famous for today.
Just as the Dutch had influenced Bordeaux, they planted the seeds that would make South Africa grow into becoming the well known region it is today. In the late 1500’s the Dutch East India Company set up a settlement on the cape as a place to restock supplies when sailing from Europe to Southeast Asia. Half of a century later doctor Jan van Riebeeck, colonial administrator of the Dutch East India Company, was there on a mission to help some shipwrecked sailors. In 1652 he returned, laying the foundations for what would become Cape Town. Despite the fact that grape vines are not indigenous to South Africa, van Riebeeck noticed the similarities in climate between South Africa and some major European wine regions, writing “they ought to grow as well and successfully here on the hillsides as they do in Spain or France.”
He soon had grape vines shipped in, many of which coming from France. In 1659, after several years of trial, error, and setbacks, the first South African wine was produced. Van Riebeeck wrote “Today, praise be to God, wine was made for the first time from cape grapes, namely from the new must fresh from the vat.”
Just as the Dutch had influenced Bordeaux, they planted the seeds that would make South Africa grow into becoming the well known region it is today. In the late 1500’s the Dutch East India Company set up a settlement on the cape as a place to restock supplies when sailing from Europe to Southeast Asia. Half of a century later doctor Jan van Riebeeck, colonial administrator of the Dutch East India Company, was there on a mission to help some shipwrecked sailors. In 1652 he returned, laying the foundations for what would become Cape Town. Despite the fact that grape vines are not indigenous to South Africa, van Riebeeck noticed the similarities in climate between South Africa and some major European wine regions, writing “they ought to grow as well and successfully here on the hillsides as they do in Spain or France.”
He soon had grape vines shipped in, many of which coming from France. In 1659, after several years of trial, error, and setbacks, the first South African wine was produced. Van Riebeeck wrote “Today, praise be to God, wine was made for the first time from cape grapes, namely from the new must fresh from the vat.” He soon had grape vines shipped in, many of which coming from France. In 1659, after several years of trial, error, and setbacks, the first South African wine was produced. Van Riebeeck wrote “Today, praise be to God, wine was made for the first time from cape grapes, namely from the new must fresh from the vat.”
Let’s talk about something that almost ended the world of wine that we know and love today… Phylloxera (“Phil-lox-er-ra”) is a small vine louse that feeds on the roots of vitis vinifera vines. In the process of feeding on the vine’s internal sap it infects the roots causing them to swell and preventing the sap from being able to flow and deliver nutrients throughout the plant eventually killing off the vine. These insects can reproduce at an astonishing rate with each female able to lay hundreds of eggs at a time. As they kill off a vine, using up that food supply, they move on to the next vine. They travel through the soil, are carried by wind, or hitch a ride on unaware humans. Phylloxera is indigenous to North American where the local vines have built up a tolerance to them. In the mid 1800’s, 1858-1862, vines were exchanged all around the world (including North American vines that had phylloxera attached to them) for the purpose of scientific research. This unintentionally spread the louse to the non-resistant vines of Europe. From 1863 through the 1890’s, European vines were under attack by the invasive Phylloxera which threatened to kill off their whole wine industry. This had far reaching implications because this was during a time when the wine industry was booming and a large portion of the European economies were reliant on wine. In 1880 it is estimated that no less than 80 percent of the Italian population earned a living from the wine industry. Soon it was discovered that European vines could be graphed onto the Phylloxera resistant rootstock of American vines. By 1900, over two thirds of French vines had successfully been graphed and were now resistant to phylloxera. This plus the enforcement of only planting the most desirable grapes of each region through regional wine laws gave each region the best chance at surviving. Eventually this strategy proved to be effective and the European wine industry slowly began to rebuild.
Something that is important to understand is that the biggest influencer / determining factor of what a bottle of quality wine will taste like is regional wine laws.
Up until 1907, wine had taken many forms and could be made using a wide range of base ingredients and techniques. However in 1907, for the first time, French law legally defined what wine was and that it could only be made from grapes or grape juice. The definition included the following “First, wine should not contain additives that were harmful to the consumer (this was in reference to the former use of lead in wines). Second, wine should not be misrepresented as to its provenance or character - cheap French wine should not be passed off as good-quality Spanish wine, even if it could be manipulated to taste and look like it or if a customer was ignorant or gullible enough to buy it. Finally, and this was where it was difficult to draw lines, wine should not be fabricated beyond a certain point. Wine-makers or merchants could deepen the colour of red wine by exposing it to skin contact as long as possible (extended maceration) or by blending lighter wines with darker, but they could not use berries or other substances.”
Every major region has their own set of laws that govern their wine productions from the planting of the vines all the way to the label that is put on the finished product. Regional wine laws will dictate things like what grape variety/varieties can be used, viticultural practices that can or can not be used, vinification practices that can or can not be used, whether the region will produce reds, whites, or rosés, the degree to which the wines will be dry or sweet, flat or sparkling, the amount of wine that can be produced each year, if the wine can be blended with different varieties, vineyards, or vintages, what kind of vessel the wine is fermented in, what type of barrels are used for aging, the amount of time the wine must be aged in the barrel and then in the bottle… All of these areas and more are determined by regional wine laws and affect the taste and outcome of the wine. Understanding this will help you understand the significance of all the information that follows. Knowing the unique and important laws of different regions will help you to understand the types of wines that are produced in that region and hopefully help you develop a more clarifying sense of what a wine will be like from simply reading the label or having a few pieces of key information about the wine.
In terms of major wine regions today, the “Old World” basically refers to wines produced in Europe. The “New World” refers to wines produced pretty much everywhere else. Besides just where the wines are produced there are also stylistic differences in the wines that are produced in the old world versus the new world. For example, the old world flavors are more centered around mineral and earthy characteristics. The fruit flavors tend to be more subtle and perceived as tart fruit on the palate. By comparison, new world wines tend to focus less on mineral and earthy components and be more fruit forward. With these wines the fruit flavors are perceived as more bright and ripe fruit on the palate rather than the tart fruit of old world wines. Old world wines tend to have stricter regulations putting a greater emphasis on tradition and “terroir” whereas new world wines tend to have more room for experimentation and blending.
European philosophy is “that good wines come from specific sites that have distinctive terroirs.” The idea is that you can only get certain tastes / experiences from grapes grown in a specific place which is why the concept of “terroir” is so important.
You are drinking a moment in time, it is a window into a specific place expressing its current soil composition, weather, and climatic conditions. It is not merely about good and bad, that bottle is a time capsule showing what is / was. It is stored information that tells a story if you know how to decipher it.
An appellation: is any designated wine producing area where laws govern the types of grapes grown and the vinification processes. This word can refer to both a region as a whole, a sub region, or an individual village. All are considered appellations.
Fermentation: is the process by which yeast cells convert sugar into alcohol. CO2, heat, and the addition of flavors and aromas are also byproducts of fermentation, although often less talked about than the more fun alcohol portion. However, knowing these other byproducts is important for understanding how many wines turn out the way they do. This is especially relevant when learning about Champagne and other sparkling wines.
A simplified version of the chemical process looks like this:
Sugar + yeast = alcohol + CO2 + heat (+ aromas and flavors)
There are 3 typical ways of stopping the fermentation process:
Chaptalization: is the adding of sugar to grape must during the fermentation process to increase a wine's alcohol content (oftentimes to compensate for under ripe grapes).
The European Union (EU) has wine laws that apply to every member country of the EU. Most European countries adhere to these rules and have their own regulatory systems for wines as well
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