Wine Producers Of The World

Wine is often described as coming from ‘new world’ or ‘old world’ producers.

New world wine producers include:

• Australia;
• USA;
• South Africa;
• Chile;
• New Zealand.

 

Old world producers include:

• France;
• Italy;
• Spain;
• Germany.

Wine Regions

Many wine-producing countries have distinct regions that specialise in the production of different types of wines with different qualities and flavours. Some of the major producers together with their important wine producing regions are described below:

New World Producers

Australia:

• New South Wales.

 

USA:

• California (Napa Valley).
• Pacific Northwest.

 

South Africa:

• Distributed throughout the country.

 

Chile:

• Maipo Valley.

 

New Zealand:

• 10 main regions located mainly along the coast.

Old World Producers

France:

• Burgundy;
• Bordeaux;
• Beaujolais;
• Rhone;
• Loire;
• Alsace;
• Champagne.

 

Italy:

• Piedmont;
• Valle D’Aosta;
• Alto Adige;
• Veneto;
• Tuscany.

 

Spain:

• Rioja;
• Catalonia;
• Jerez.

 

Germany:

• Mosel;
• Rheingau.

Wine Terminology

French

Brut – dry (Champagne)
Cru – wine from a high quality vineyard
Sec – dry
Demi-sec – off dry (fairly sweet for Champagne)
Doux – sweet

Italian

Secco – dry
Semisecco – medium dry
Dolce – sweet

Spanish

Seco – dry
Semi-seco – medium dry

German

Trocken – dry
Halbtrocken – off dry
(If not stated, German wines tend to be slightly sweet.)

Many UK supermarkets use simple guidelines to help describe their wines to customers. White wines are numbered 1 to 9 to describe the dryness to sweetness range, with 1 being the driest and 9 being the sweetest. Red wines are displayed with the letters A to E, representing light-bodied through to full-bodied wines.

Wine Classifications

Old world producers use well-established wine classifications to denote the quality of their wines. The table below shows the main wine classifications for each of the main producers:

France	None specific	AC/AOC	Vin de pays	Vin de table
Italy	DOCG	DOC	IGT	Vino da tavola
Spain	DOC	DO	Vino de Tierra or Vino comarcal	Vino de mesa
Germany	QmP	QbA or VDQS	Landwein	Tafelwein

The USA classification system, American Viticultural Area (AVA), guarantees the geographical region of the wine but not the quality, and similar systems have been adopted by other new world producers.