Learn About Wine
Wine Regions
Below is a listing of all the wine regions by country. In the sidebar you can quickly jump to any of the regions in a particular country.
Argentina
Patagonia
Australia
Adelaide Hills
This is one of the country's few genuinely cool climates. If you have ever spent an Autumn night outside your friend's night in Crafers, you would know what I mean. Chilly. This is where Adelaide families once kept a home to retire to in summer and escape the dry, hot days. Now they just drain the power grid with massive air conditioners. The Adelaide Hills District is in the Mount Lofty Ranges and that means altitude. This area offers good acid retention and a longer, slower ripening season.
Although grapes were planted as early as 1839, it was not until 1979 that viticulture was revived in the Adelaide Hills. Over the last three decades the Adelaide Hills has built a reputation as one of Australia's most exciting cool climate regions producing distinctive, refined and elegant wines. Today there are more than 95 producers and over 4000 hectares of vineyards.
Located in the Mt Lofty Ranges thirty minutes drive from Adelaide, the Adelaide Hills forms a narrow corridor 70 kilometres long and 30 kilometres wide. The undulating topography offers a wide diversity of vineyard sites. The elevation varies from around 400 metres at Macclesfield, to 600 metres at Piccadilly and 700 metres at Mt Lofty. This region is strikingly beautiful with its patchwork of vineyards, forests, beef and dairy farms, apple and pear orchards.
The Adelaide Hills is bordered to the north by the Barossa and Eden Valleys with McLaren Vale to the South. Due to its altitude, the Adelaide Hills is significantly cooler than these more traditional regions - on average 4°C cooler during the day and 8°C at night. The cool, dry summer and autumn ripening conditions produces grapes with ideal fruit composition, in terms of concentration, spectrum of flavour and natural acidity.
Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay are particularly well suited to the cool conditions of the region and produce some of Australia's finest examples. Shiraz, Riesling and Pinot Noir are equally impressive, but careful site selection and yield management are essential.
Heathcote
A unique microclimate in Victoria, Australia.
The Greenstone vineyard in Heathcote is located about two-thirds of the way up the region, where temperatures are warmer, rainfall lower (500mm) and access to supplementary irrigation is close by.
It is positioned on the ridge of old Cambrian soil that runs through the eastern side of the Mount Camel range. This narrow strip, running, north from Lancefield towards Rochester, is unique, not only to vine growing in Victoria but in Australia.
The soils are the oldest known in the country, originating over 550 million years ago. Most soils of volcanic origin in Australia, such as those around Melbourne and Western Victoria, are young and highly acidic whereas these ancient Cambrian soils are near neutral in pH. The Mount Camel range itself is a result of a rift in the sea floor, from which molten rock arose, encapsulating limestone into the lava. The resulting soil is deep, red-coloured, mottled with lime and impart low vigour to the vines growing in it.
The Heathcote ‘greenstone’, a form of copper-infused basalt, is an integral part of the soil and gives the vineyard its name.
Further down the slope to the east, the soils become darker, heavier and contain little lime. They are the result of gradual erosion and movement either under the original sea which covered most of central Victoria and southern New South Wales during that period, or erosion by wind and rain since sea levels receded.
The Greenstone vineyard, situated high on the Cambrian Ridge, is where the red soils are most uniform. On a more micro scale, our soils are also of a moderate and uniform depth which is critical in growing vines of similar vigour producing similar crop loads.
Austria
Canada
Chile
Maipo Valley
Maipo Valley is in the area of Santa Eugenia de Chocalán, near the town of Melipilla. Afternoon cool Pacific breezes create contrasting temperatures from the day and night, allowing for an excellent slow maturation of the fruit. The estate is free from frost and is approximately 35 kilometers from the sea. 30% of the plantation is on the hillside slopes with North-West sun exposure, while 70% of the plantation is on piedmont. Amphitheatrically shaped plantation gives various lots different sun exposures, with 300 sunny days annually. Prior to planting, the land on the estate had not been cultivated for more than 20 years. The soil from the hillside slopes is chalky, well drained, poor and has suffered considerably from a natural erosion process.
Situated in a stretch of pristine land wedged between the Andes and Coastal mountain ranges, 7 kilometers from the town of Melipilla, Viña Chocalán's untouched 340 hectares (of which 102 hectares are planted) of countryside benefit from a unique microclimate made up of contrasting luminosity, altitude, Pacific influence, varied soil types and sharp temperature fluctuations. Paired with masterful winemaking and careful nurturing for each vine, these are the ingredients of our winery's success.
France
Gascony
In south west France (south of Bordeaux), Gascony is the home of foie gras, d’Artagnan and The Three Musketeers. Here, the climate is cool enough to produce white wines which are streaked with refreshing acidity and sparkle with zesty aromatics.
Gigondas
Gigondas is a French wine Appellation d'Origine Controlee (AOC) in the southern Rhone wine region of France. It is solely a Red wine region with a small amount of rosé wine produced. Considered the little brother of prestigious Chateauneuf-du-Pape, the wines from Gigondas provide incredible value for money, the vineyards yielding beautiful results when treated with care. The name of the appellation is of roman origin. As early as 1894 the wines from the region won a gold medal at the agricultural fair in Paris. However, until the beginning of World War II, the wines were used as reinforcement to thin Burgundies. In 1956, a bitter winter caused the production of wine to experience a renaissance, as the olive trees had died from the cold. In 1971 the appellation left the other Côtes du Rhône-Villages behind, and became a proper appellation in its own right Gigondas, along with the rest of Southern Rhône has a Mediterranean climate. The main geographical feature in Gigondas is the Dentelles de Montmirail, a small range of mountains that divide the appellation into two distinct areas – one with a cooler climate and one with a hotter. But height is also an important factor, as wine is being harvested as high as 600 meters.
Italy
Chianti
Franciacorta
Franciacorta is a DOCG region in Lombardy, located on a series of hilly townships to the south of Lake Iseo in the Province of Brescia. The region was awarded DOC status in 1967, the designation including red and white still wines as well as the regions famous sparkling wines.
Since 1995 the DOCG classification has applied exclusively to the area's sparkling wines, which are produced in the traditional "Champagne method".
New Zealand
Portugal
South Africa
Walker Bay
The soil of the Hemel-en-Aarde Valley, Walker Bay is predominantly Malmesbury Shale (a duplex structure). The top layer consists of a mixture of clay (15-30%) and gravel (ironstone and granite particles) and the lower layer is clay shale, which secures a source of moisture.
Vines are planted on gentle slopes in a north-south direction, which takes advantage of the daily travel of sunlight from east to west and ensures equitable sunlight exposure. Vineyard practices are in keeping with planting and trellising methods of the most respected French wine-producing areas, with vine density exceeding 9000 vines per hectare. More than 50% of the vineyard is dedicated to Pinot Noir.
The climate of Walker Bay is largely influenced by the nearby, cold Atlantic Ocean rendering it one of the coolest wine growing areas in the Cape. The valley is surrounded and sheltered by a mountain barrier, formed by Galpin Peak (810 meters) and the Tower of Babel (1200 meters), which traps the cloud cover and moisture brought in from the sea by the prevailing wind. Summer conditions are consequently warm rather than hot, and winter conditions are mild and frost-free. The sea breezes work to keep vines cool thereby encouraging slow ripening and flavour-rich grapes.
Spain
USA
Sonoma Coast
Walla Walla Valley
Established 1984
- Grape growing began in the Walla Walla Valley in the 1850s by Italian immigrants.
- Nearly 100 wineries and more than 1,600 acres (648 hectares) of vineyards.
- Cabernet Sauvignon is the leading varietal while Merlot, Chardonnay and Syrah are other predominant varieties. Gewurztraminer, Cabernet Franc, Sangiovese, Grenache, Malbec, Petit Verdot, Tempranillo, Pinot Gris, Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, Semillion, and Viognier are also grown.
- Loess derived soils which are essentially unconsolidated, unstratified calcareous silt.
- Growing season of 190 to 220 days, with annual rainfall averaging 12.5 inches (32 cm) per year.