As regions throughout the world discover, and sometimes rediscover, their winemaking traditions, more bottles compete every day in the United States for shelf and wine list space. In addition to the constant rise of Australia and South Africa, Eastern Europe and South America, along with Asia, are producing wines that can face off with the best Villages-this and Sonoma-that.

“The great trend is the opening up of new vineyards around the world, in areas we hadn’t dreamed of, such as northern India, the foothills of the Himalayas, the Yang Tse Valley,” Ron Ciavolino, ICE®’s resident sommelier and director of wine studies, said. “This is due to the shift of climate, changes in regions. In Germany, the cherry trees blossom twice now, in the spring and in the fall.”

Rich Cartiere, editor and publisher of the Wine Market Report, the largest wine trade newsletter in the world, lived in India for a year and a half and explained that the grapes grown on the sides of the Himalayas are at an altitude of at least 1000 feet, and that even though India has not been an important wine producer until recently, the premium grapes planted on the Himalayas could certainly compete on an international basis with the best of their kinds.

China is also growing its wine presence. James T. Lapsey, adjunct associate professor in the viticulture and enology department at University of California-Davis, said that according to the Organisation internationale de la vigne et du vin, in 2002 China was the sixth largest wine producer in the world.

In Europe, the east and the south are the happening regions. Romania is beginning to develop its once famous vineyards, while the popularity of Hungary’s tokay wine is constantly increasing, Ciavolino said. Even lesser-known countries like Croatia are starting to make their mark on the wine map.

A region of special interest to Ciavolino is southern Italy, “the first frontier of the ancient world.” He explained that the Greeks brought their own grapes when they captured southern Italy, which then became favorites of Roman emperors. But as the Roman Empire declined so did the grapes, which are sometimes secretly blended in other parts of Italy in bad years, because of their heavy alcohol content. They are only now waking up from a sleep that lasted two thousand years. “With the aid of modern winemaking techniques these wines promise to be even superior to the great Roman emperors’ wines,” Ciavolino asserted.

Michael Preis, brand manager at Palm Bay Imports, confirmed that Sicily, Sardinia, Puglia and Campania are regions that are gaining ground on the wine market, along with Chile, Argentina, Germany, South Africa and New Zealand. He added that Australia recently supplanted Italy as the largest importer of wine into the United States.

“ Virtually all of the New World and most of the Old World wine producers receive a massive amount of subsidies in the form of cash payment to growers, wineries, or trade associations,” explained Cartiere. “This is to do two things. One, to better market themselves overseas, and two to reinvent the industry by planting more popular grapes or to reinvent their processes.”

The U.S. government, by contrast, only gives away a small amount of research money, Cartiere continued, which is used mainly to help develop pest protections that serve a wide range of products in addition to wine.

While Pinot Grigio and Sauvignon Blanc are still among the most popular white grapes and Syrah/Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir and Merlot the preferred choices in red wines, Preis said that Riesling, Aglianico from southern Italy, Malbec from South America and Grenache from the Languedoc-Roussillon in France are becoming increasingly popular and will only continue to grow in the years to come.

In this country, all 50 states now produce wines. California still produces well over 90 percent of all wine by volume, said Lapsley. Washington and Oregon come behind California, while New York wines come in fourth position.

“ Among younger people,” said Cartiere, “New York State is recognized as a great place, even though these producers hardly do any publicity outside of the state.”

Cartiere and Lapsey both said that the cost of an acre of land suitable for wine in either France or California was not the motivating factor for producers to seek other regions. Cheap land still exists in California, and when done intelligently wine can be produced there at a lower cost than anywhere else in the world, Cartiere suggested, while Lapsey said that “the potential to make quality wine and diversify their operations” enticed companies like Gallo to invest in other countries.

“ Gallo 10 years ago did not import a single bottle of wine,” said Cartiere. “It was almost 99.9 percent domestic, and the rest was the bottom of the barrel. But the past five years they have transformed and are now the largest importers of Italian wines [in the US].” He predicted that Gallo’s Red Bicyclette, a newly launched and heavily hyped wine priced between $10 and $12, would become the top French wine sold in this country within five years.

Ever-expanding wine lists perfectly illustrate the abundance of choices consumers face, which often complicates what can already be a daunting experience for wine amateurs. “It becomes a very complex world,” said Ciavolino. “It like having a piano and adding keys on both sides.

“ A wine drinker at Maxim’s in the nineteenth century would have been presented with a great, but shorter wine list. At [Restaurant] Daniel today, the wine list is as large as a telephone book.”

Preis agreed that consumers can choose from more wines than ever before, which is true in both wine stores and restaurants. Wines that sell for $9.99 and less receive much coverage and are indeed a strong growth area, but Preis said that luxury brands, priced at $20 and above, are in high demand as well.

“ One trend that is undoubtedly true is that there is an incredible amount of competition for shelf space in the off-premise sector and on restaurant wine lists in the on-premise category,” Preis added. “What this means is that consumers will have a far greater selection of wines from more countries at better price points than ever before.”

Taking wine classes and reading some of the countless wine books and periodicals that are available today can help one navigate throughout all these offerings. “Even to take pleasure necessitates a certain amount of education and training,” said Ciavolino. “The more you can bring in terms of geographical and cultural knowledge, the more you bring to wine. The reason I love wine so much is that it exposes you to such a great world. It gives you a cultural background, exposes you to regions you don’t know about.

Ultimately though, Preis believes that increased choices are an advantage for wine drinkers: “Greater competition on a global basis puts a downward pressure on pricing, leading to greater value for consumers.”

-Anne E. McBride
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