Shila’s Guide to Wine: Part 1v (B)
Previous chapter. This will be a 10-part series, covering all the basics and some intermediate-advanced aspects of viticulture and œnology. For context: I grew up on my family’s vineyard and have been learning winemaking methods for as long as I can remember. I’m excited to share some of my knowledge here, and make wine more accessible for everyone.
The World’s Principal Wine Regions
I shan’t repeat everything I wrote as an introduction to this chapter last time, but if you need a quick recap, check out Part A of this chapter! In the previous installment of this series, we covered the main wine-producing countries and regions of the viticultural Old World, and this week, we’ll tackle the New World. As I mentioned before, I’m going to be providing a single wine recommendation per nation, which by no means covers the entire range of wine produced within that country but rather acts as an introduction to the national approach to wine.
Chapter 11: The New World
In the context of viticulture, the term New World refers to any grape-growing region outside of Europe, the Caucasus, and the Fertile Crescent. Despite both China and South Africa’s being geographically part of the Old World, they’re actually both major wine-producing countries within the context of the New World!
Typically, New World wines tend towards a bold, punchy character with a full body, riper, fruitier flavours, and minimal acidity. Although wine culture in the New World descends directly from Old World traditions, New World vintners are far more comfortable with breaking said traditions—in fact, the New World can be best characterised by its innovation and modernity, unhindered by such rules and regulations which restrict and control Old World wines. The New World, broadly speaking, also enjoys a warmer climate than the Old World and as such its wines lack the lean, earthy minerality of Europe, with vintners focusing more on the grape itself than the vine and earth nourishing it.
The freedom of the New World vintner and love for fruit itself over vines has fostered a culture of individuality in New World viticulture. Human influence on wine is highly prized in the context of the New World, with unpredictable ambient yeasts discarded in favour of controlled cultured yeasts. Oftentimes, many celebrated wines (such as Penfold’s “Grange”) are produced from grapes harvested over a wide and changing area, the precise composition of the wine varying according to the vintner’s judgement. The majority of famous individual vintners, such as Max Schubert and Carol Shelton, hail from the New World for this precise reason; in the New World, it’s widely considered that the vintner plays the most crucial role in wine production, whereas in the Old World, it’s the land itself which defines the wine.
Above: a glass of Zinfandel and a sweltering Californian vineyard.
As the largest wine-producing country in the New World, it’s no wonder that US wine can be found on supermarket shelves globally, nor that American vintners annually reap hundreds of awards for their wines. The USA is an enormous country with an incredible diversity of landscapes and climates, making for an unbelievably varied range of wine styles and a stellar reputation both domestically and internationally.
Despite its prowess today, the USA has suffered a turbulent history of winemaking. The first European explorers of North America, the Vikings, famously named the region upon which they’d stumbled Vinland (lit. wine-land) because of the many grape vines they found there. However, later colonialists, settling several centuries later, after the voyage of the Mayflower, discovered that they hadn’t a taste for the indigenous grapes of America—and in 1629, the first European vines were planted in Senecú, present-day New Mexico.
Above: Mission grapes growing in California, circa. 1875.
By the early XIX century, wine production and innovation in the USA was principally driven by European missionaries, who brought with them new grape varieties and attempted to cross them with native American grapes, resulting in such national varieties as the Catawba grape and infamously austere Mission grape. These missionaries also established the first European-style wineries, mostly on the West Coast, and by the mid-XIX century, secular attempts to produce high-quality American wines were undertaken by vintners such as Jean-Louis Vignes, a Frenchman and one of the first commercial vintners based in the USA, and Nicholas Longworth, who used the Catawba grape and European winemaking techniques to produce the first American sparkling wine.
Come the late XIX century, winemaking had spread across the USA as far east as New York state, and production had begun to shift from European-style domaines, or family-owned wine estates, to larger companies and complexes. American wines had become standard contenders at European wine tastings and competitions by the 1900s, frequently winning prizes over more established French vineyards, but this rapid success was abruptly curtailed by the national enforcement of Prohibition in 1920. The Volstead Act permitted home production of up to 200 gallons of wine per year expressly for personal consumption, with some vineyards continuing to produce wine on a significantly reduced scale for personal, medicinal, or sacramental purposes—whilst others turned to a rapidly expanding industry of “home wine kits”, essentially dried blocks of compacted grapes which could be shipped nationwide and fermented by the customer in his own home. Regardless, Prohibition essentially halted any prospect of a serious American winemaking tradition, with the majority of vintners simply shutting shop and pouring out their barrels.
Above: judges at the 1976 Paris Wine Tasting, which proclaimed Napa Valley wine the best in every category.
After Prohibition ended in 1933, the USA was in the throes of the Great Depression, and so former vintners couldn’t afford to re-start their old businesses. In fact, serious American winemaking didn’t wake from its slumber until the 1980s, when the economy had recovered from the almost-constant wars which had plagued the country from the 1940s onwards, and the infamous “Judgement of Paris” at the 1976 Paris Wine Tasting had proven US wine a tour de force and inspired a new generation of vintners. In 1980, an appellation system called the American Viticultural Areas (AVA) was established, modelled on the French system but allowing vintners far more freedom for innovation in production. This newly-standardised winemaking industry, coupled with the widespread influence of œnologist Robert Parker and his democratised 100-point system for wine critique, made for an invigorated and distinctly American approach which was to define modern US wine.
There isn’t a single US state which doesn’t cultivate wine grapes, but the nation’s principal wine regions can be found in California (in particular, the Napa Valley and Sonoma Coast), New York state (mostly produced around the Finger Lakes), Oregon (focused on the Willamette Valley), Virginia (the oldest and largest region being the Shenandoah Valley), and Washington (all regions are sheltered by the Cascade Mountains, with Columbia Valley producing most Washington wine).
Above: Chardonnay grapes grow in the atmospheric Sonoma region.
Although the USA’s varied climate means that hundreds of grape varieties are grown there, it’s most famous for its cultivation of Zinfandel, Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir, Syrah, Merlot, and Durif/Petite Sirah. Typically, the American approach to wine is a robust one, valuing intense fruit flavours and producing bold and oaky styles with both red and white grapes.
My recommendation: Bedrock Wine Co. Old Vine Zinfandel 2016.
• Uncorking American Individualism
• American Wine — J. Robinson & L. Murphy
• The American Wine Industry Has an Old People Problem
Above: Chilean red wines often feature bold fruit notes.
Chile’s viticultural history dates back as far as the XVI century, but it is only in very recent years that its wines have come to be taken seriously by international critics and markets. Despite the climate in Chile being widely considered by œnologists to be practically perfect in every way (a fusion of California and France), it is only really in the last 20 years that Chilean wine has exploded in popularity and the industry soared.
According to local legend, the first vines were planted in Chile by the conquistador Francisco de Aguirre, likely brought over from established Spanish vineyards in neighbouring Peru. During Spanish rule, wine production in the colonies, including Chile, was strictly limited in order to force import of Spanish wines; as such, for much of the XVI and XVII centuries, viticulture in Chile was the domain of the clergy, and wine was often produced under the guise of sacramental purposes when, in fact, Chile ran a clandestine secular wine industry, even going so far as to export to Peru, who had suffered far more under Spain’s wrath.
By the XIX century, Chile had come to be known throughout South America and beyond as a notable producer of sweet wines akin to Madeira. Wealthy Chilean landowners made trips to France prior to the phylloxera epidemic, and were inspired by the grapes and winemaking techniques found in the Bordeaux region. Traditional French wine grapes such as Malbec and Sémillon were imported by the vine to Chile, and during the period of blight and misfortune in XIX-century Europe, many French vintners emigrated to Chile, bringing their traditions and methods with them. In 1850 and 1871 respectively, the wineries Viña Ochagavía and Viña Errázuriz were established on the basis of French vines.
Above: perhaps the most famous television wine advertisement of all time, promoting the Chilean Casillero del Diablo.
In the XX century, political instability alongside economic difficulties significantly hindered Chilean wine production, limiting it to a small-scale domestic industry. It was only in the 1980s, when international recognition of Chile’s favourable climate spread, that foreign investment in Chilean viticulture began to increase and allow Chilean vintners to develop their own winemaking processes. It was during this period that Chile’s winemaking industry advanced technologically, with the introduction of stainless steel fermentation tanks and oak barrels for aging, and Chilean wine began to emerge on the world stage. Nevertheless, as recently as 1995 there were only 12 vineyards in the entire country—but by 2005, this number had increased over fivefold to 70 vineyards, and is still growing today. In the past couple of decades, Chile has progressed rapidly in the field of winemaking, and is now developing sophisticated soil mapping techniques over its tradition of simply matching grape varieties to climate. It’s important to point out that in early 2023, Chile suffered wildfires which have destroyed or seriously damaged thousands of vines and livelihoods, with the Itata Valley being one of the worst hit. If you are considering supporting any of the regions mentioned in my guides, please do support Chile at this time.
Above: some unbelievably old vines in the Itata Valley, with the left vine planted in 1792 and the right in 1862.
Chile has a number of notable wine regions, including Itata Valley, which boasts some incredibly old vines dating back to the XVII century, and Colchagua Valley, one of the most important wine regions of all South America. The most prominent grape varieties grown in Chile are Carménère (the national signature grape), Malbec, Merlot, Sauvignon Blanc, and Cabernet Sauvignon, but the traditional País grape, which until the early 2000s remained Chile’s most widely-cultivated grape, ought not be overlooked.
My recommendation: Casa Lapostolle Clos Apalta 2018.
• Everyone Knows Two Things About Wine From Chile
• The Wines of Chile — P. Richards
• The Rising Appeal of Chilean Sauvignon Blanc
Above: terrible Photoshop, beautiful wine & landscapes in Argentina!
Like Chile, Argentina is a relative newcomer to the international wine scene, but that’s not to say it doesn’t boast a longstanding viticultural history and some incredibly old vines alongside its vastly varied wines today. Argentina is often compared to Chile in its status as the other South American winemaking giant, but in fact it differs in many ways, not least in terms of climate; whereas Chile has a diverse range of climates, Argentina’s temperature is approximately the same across the nation, as its range of altitudes compensates for the nation’s broad latitude span—resulting in similar viticultural environments across the country, and a far more uniform wine production.
Viticulture was first introduced to Argentina by Spanish colonisers, its presence and significance later cemented by Christian missionaries, who established the first commercial vineyard at Santiago del Estero in 1557. Vineyards were initially centred around the country’s westernmost mountain ranges, sustained by the melting glaciers of the Andes. However, since most of the country’s population at the time lived in the eastern regions, the budding wine industry was hampered by the long journeys necessary to transport the wine to its potential customers, meaning that Argentine wine did not take of in any serious way until the XIX century and the advent of railway transport.
Above: the Transandine railway network, which transported wine from religious wineries in Mendoza to the cities in the eastern regions of Argentina.
Alongside railway transport, the 1800s also brought with them many expert European vintners, who had emigrated to the New World on account of the blights which plagued vineyards in Europe. Argentina suddenly had both a reliable and efficient means of transporting wine around the country, and some new and advanced viticultural methodologies which made for superior wine production, and by 1920 was the eighth richest nation in the world, with a wealthy domestic clientele financing national developments in wine. Argentine wine was poised to take the world by storm when disaster struck—first, the impact of the Great Depression worldwide dramatically reduced financial investment in Argentina and its wine, and then the Revolución Argentina and subsequent years under military dictatorship effectively stunted viticultural development, with a national focus amongst vintners on quantity over quality.
Above: the wine museum at Graffigna, San Juan.
By the 1990s, Argentina was following in Chile’s footsteps and looking to appeal to the export market through an increased emphasis on the quality and innovation of Argentine wine. Vintners from flourishing global wine regions such as France and California were called upon to share their expertise in modern winemaking techniques such as barrel ageing, and Argentina focused on the promotion of Malbec as the nation’s signature grape variety, pushing aside the native Criolla Chica variety which had previously been the backbone of low-quality domestic table wine production. At the turn of the new millennium, Argentina was exporting over 10 million litres of wine to the US, with smaller custom in Europe, particularly in the UK—and the popularity of Argentine wine continues to grow today, with the nation remaining the largest wine-producing nation in South America and a significant portion of its economy now relying on wine tourism.
The Mendoza wine region produces over 60% of all Argentine wine and well over 75% of exports, with its gradually-increasing altitudes and cooler climate making for delicately fragrant wines. Other major wine regions in Argentina include La Rioja and San Juan, both renowned for their agricultural focus and expertise. Argentine vines rarely suffer the same issues of insects and disease as those of other regions, allowing vintners to develop organic wine production with greater ease and pace than anywhere else in the world.
Argentina is home to many unique grape varieties rarely planted elsewhere: the national signature, Malbec, is nowadays uncommon in its French homeland, and other varieties such as the red Bonarda and fragrant white Torrontés are almost exclusive to Argentina with their origins somewhat obscured. Today, international varieties such as Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon are also widely planted on Argentine soil, but the country continues to cultivate its regional specialities and national varieties with a sense of pride.
My recommendation: Bodega Catena Zapata “Angelica Zapata Alta” Malbec 2017.
• The Fresh New Face of Argentine Wine
• Argentine Wines — R.R. D’Ave
• How Argentina Conquered Malbec
Above: a kangaroo in a vineyard—can it get much more Australian than this?
Australia has had its place on the international stage long enough for a certain perception of Australian wine to come about, but did you know that a huge proportion of Australian wine is never exported? Australians drink bottle after bottle of home-produced wine, meaning that some of the most diverse and interesting Australian wines are rarely tasted elsewhere.
In comparison with other New World wine regions, the Australian wine industry is relatively young, having only truly established itself as recently as the early XIX century. Previous attempts to produce wine on Australian soil had failed, but in 1822, vintner Gregory Baxland became both the first Australian wine exporter and the first Australian to win an award for his wines. After this, though, winemaking took off in a big way in Australia, and within a decade, hectares upon hectares of the Hunter Valley were under vine. Free settlers from Europe later brought Old World winemaking experience and European vines to Australia, establishing further wine regions in Barossa and Geelong, but faced difficulties when it came to the unfamiliar Australian climate.
Above: Thomas Angove, proud Australian and inventor of boxed wine.
Nevertheless, initial hurdles were overcome and Australian wine was quick to win praise and prizes at international tastings. Throughout the XX century, a steady flow of immigration made for steady advances in viticulture as both traditional winemaking methods and foreign grape varieties were brought into Australia, with immigrants firmly establishing the European tradition of wine accompanying meals and pursuing viticulture in cooler areas of the country, such as the Yarra Valley, where the climate more closely mimicked that of Europe. As new techniques were developed and Australian vintners forged an innovative signature style, domestic consumption of table wine rose and by the 1970s, wine was popularly served both alone and alongside meals in homes, restaurants, and dedicated wine bars. The rapid rise of Australian wine also meant that the nation had to quickly drive innovation in many ways outside strict viticulture, and such modern approaches to containment as the classic boxed wine and the nation’s signature screw-top bottle closures further boosted the economy. Throughout the late XX century and entering the new millennium, Australian vines have often suffered from gluts and subsequent overproduction, which only served to further drive incentive for mass-production and an increased emphasis on quantity over quality.
Today, after over two centuries of remarkably rapid development, Australia’s wine industry could be said to be somewhat stagnant. The export market is growing steadily and domestic wine consumption remains at an all-time high, but customer interest both at home and internationally lies firmly with inexpensive and reliable table labels such as Yellow Tail and 19 Crimes, meaning that both artisanal new-generation vintners and heritage vineyards are forced to take a back seat. The future of Australian wine is largely assured for as long as mass tastes favour it (and there looks to be promise in trade with China), but many œnologists are hoping for a viticultural revolution of some sort.
Above: the sun beats down on the Barossa Valley.
Australia is an enormous country but its main wine regions are centred almost exclusively in the southwest, with only the Margaret River, known for its cooler climate and lean wine styles that echo the Old World, being a significant wine region of western Australia. Of all Australia’s wine regions, the Barossa Valley, near Adelaide, is perhaps the most famous, but other notable regions include the Hunter Valley, Clare Valley, Eden Valley, and McLaren Vale. Typically, each region has some ‘standard’ grape varieties (for example, the Hunter Valley is often associated with the white grape Sémillon, and the Barossa Valley with red Shiraz/Syrah), but some interesting wines can also be found outside these parameters; for example, the Margaret River, generally known best for its Pinot Noirs, also produces an Old World-style Shiraz close to a light Bordeaux red wine.
My recommendation: Penfolds St. Henri Shiraz 2013.
• Australian Wine Encyclopædia — J. Halliday
• The State of Australia’s Wine Industry
Above: one of China's most celebrated wines, the Rothschild-owned Hu Yue.
So I’ll confess: I’ve been most excited to write about Chinese wine throughout this guide. Wine culture in China is utterly fascinating from every single angle and, despite China’s being by far the most recently-established region on this list, she’s already made a huge name for herself, producing around 800 million litres of grape wine annually and possessing the second-largest area of land under vine in the world. That must have taken some serious work to progress to such dizzying heights in under a decade!
China is at once both the oldest and the newest wine-producing country in the world; the earliest fermented “wines”, produced from grains such as rice and sorghum, can be traced back to China, and even grape wine production in China has been attested by archæologists to date back as far as 7000 BC.
Above: Château Changyu, China’s first winery.
Nevertheless, China’s first “modern” winery, Changyu, was established in 1892, and it wasn’t until the 1980s, over a century later, that French and Chinese vintners set up a joint venture to develop Chinese wine standards and production methods. For the first two decades of this new wine industry, the bulk of Chinese wine was exported abroad, as it wasn’t until the new millennium and its subsequent economic boom that Chinese customers had enough disposable income to buy domestic wine. This coincided with a sudden interest amongst China’s wealthiest in French wine, considered at the time to be the height of chic and good taste, and as such, Chinese vintners began to attempt to mimic classic Bordeaux wines, and to great success; Chinese wine began to appear on the shelves of Western supermarkets, and critics took note of the serious potential of the industry’s newest region.
Today, Chinese vintners continue to mimic and innovate in their wine production, continuously producing better and better quality wines, and receiving more and more praise and financial investment; the Rothschild-owned Lafite winery has begun to invest in and partner with Chinese wine production, and many œnologists predict that Chinese wine will rival that of French in as little as 50 years’ time. It’s a bright future ahead for China, and I’m hugely looking forward to their upcoming vintages.
China’s richly varied climate has made for many wine-producing regions across the country, with the two largest and most notable being Yantai-Penglai, which boasts a long history of excellent agriculture as well as its being the location of the Changyu winery; and Xinjiang, which, as the homeland of the Uyghurs, has its own native winemaking traditions which have further developed the national industry. Two more regions of note, which have scooped the greatest praise and awards at international tastings, are Ningxia and Shanxi, both of which won out over Bordeaux wines at a 2011 international wine tasting held in Beijing, and which currently demonstrate the most promise for China’s wine industry.
Above: the mountain ranges of Ningxia provide a perfect environment for China’s premium wine region.
The main wine grapes presently grown in China are Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, the China-exclusive Cabernet Gernischt, and what looks to be the most likely signature variety, Marselan. It’s still too early to say as to a general characterisation of Chinese wine, but what has been produced so far has been comparatively sweet and fruit-forward with a fairly high acidity, leaning into domestic trends over an international preference for drier and more tannic wines. China’s current wine production strongly favours red wines, as both the national and international preference, and few, if any vineyards and vintners are presently seriously pursuing the prospect of Chinese white wine.
My recommendation: Copower Jade Premium Reserve Marselan 2018.
• Can Wine Transform China’s Countryside?
• The Chinese Wine Renaissance — J.Z. Wang
• These are the Women Leading China’s Wine Revolution
Above: stunning landscapes producing stunning wine in South Africa.
South Africa is arguably the oldest grape wine producer of the New World but, despite this, her wines are often overlooked both domestically and by the international market. Perhaps it’s due to perceptions of South Africa as a nation which arose during the Apartheid era, or the fact that South African vintners have made innovative strides only in the last 30 years, but whatever the reason, it’s undeserved; today, South Africa is producing some of the most consistently dynamic and exciting wines on the market, and deserves far more press and custom than is presently given.
South Africa’s viticultural history began with the Dutch East India Company. Does that name ring a bell? It ought to, even if you didn’t listen in your History classes! I mentioned in several previous posts that it was the expeditions of the Dutch East India Company which drove developments in wine production, particularly in Old World fortified wines—but they also established wine in the New World, with a supply station being set up in Cape Town in the XVII century. Wine began to be produced as a means of warding off scurvy amongst Dutch sailors, and in 1659, the first grapes were harvested in South Africa. However, by the time the century turned and exploration had slowed, viticulture fell out of favour in South Africa and many former vintners chose to pursue other, more lucrative industries.
The vintners who chose to continue with wine production began to plant high-yield grape varieties, such as Cinsault, which, combined with a national disinterest in wine, led to mass overproduction and by the 1900s wine was being poured into lakes and rivers by the barrel. The South African government at the time attempted to enforce a co-operative model and strict policies regarding yield and prices, but international boycotts in protest against the Apartheid system meant that the XX century South African wine industry received minimal attention and investment. Despite these centuries of stagnation, though, the post-Apartheid wine renaissance in the 1990s rapidly spurred on new-generation vintners in their production and winemaking technologies, and many foreign vintners came to reside in South Africa for its budding potential and ‘blank slate’ status, bringing with them international grape varieties and expertise. The former state-controlled co-operative system was reorganised into a private organisation in 1997, and new freedom in regulation meant that vintners were free to focus on the production of quality wine instead of giving over their grapes for distillation. Today, South Africa’s grapes are almost exclusively processed into wine instead of brandy and other spirits, and wine continues to grow as a significant contribution to the nation’s economy.
Above: the principal wine regions of South Africa.
South African wine production takes place almost entirely on the Western Cape and even today remains concentrated around Cape Town. Major wine production centres include Constantia (noted for its Sauvignon Blanc), Paarl (historically the most prominent wine region in South Africa, and producing notable fortified wines today), Stellenbosch (perhaps the most well-known of the regions today, with a focus on the nation’s signature grape variety, Pinotage) and Worcester—the country’s largest wine region and producing mostly sweet dessert wines.
My recommendation: Beeslaar Pinotage 2015.
• The Mystery of South Africa’s Missing Wine Market
• Platter’s South African Wine Guide
• Exploring South Africa’s Black Wine Scene
• New World Wines: The Complete Guide — J. Arkell
• The South America Wine Guide — A. Barnes
In the next installment of this series, we’ll be leaving wine regions for a while and turning instead to their grape varieties in further depth, discussing their characteristics and production. As ever, send any questions or suggestions my way!
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