Argentina Argentina is the world's fifth biggest wine producer though it has traditionally had a high domestic consumption (in 2006, Argentines averaged over 40 litres per capita in one year). It has a long tradition of winemaking under the Spanish, going back to 1557, but the industry has been influenced by more recent immigrants, notably Italians and also Germans. Exports increased during the mid-1990s following the success of their neighbours in Chile, and accelerated after the
economic crisis of 2002. The long history of viticulture in Argentina has brought forth the evolution of many local varieties, but perhaps the most typically Argentine grape is the
Torrontés, which makes an aromatic white wine. However, Argentines love red wine to go with their famous steaks.
Malbec has proven to be the most successful variety in export markets, with
Barbera and "
Bonarda" (now known to be Corbeau, a minor variety from
Savoie) being blended into more affordable wines. The
Mendoza Province, which is Argentina's main producer, has also gained recognition from the
wine tourism business due to important investments in new wineries and hotel accommodations. Other producing areas include
San Juan,
Salta,
La Rioja,
Catamarca,
Rio Negro and the
Buenos Aires wine region.
Australia Vine cuttings from South Africa were brought on the
First Fleet (1788), and though the settlers took time to adapt to the new conditions, wine exports began in 1822. As mentioned above, by the 1880s Australian wines were winning prizes in Europe. Phylloxera struck in eastern winegrowing regions from the 1870s, leading to the destruction of many vineyards. With South Australia free from Phylloxera it contains some of the
oldest continuously harvested vineyards on earth.
Penfolds Grange and others led the revival of interest in table wines, which culminated in 2000, when Australia sold more wine to the United Kingdom than did France. While some Australian wines, their Chardonnays in particular, have previously been criticized for being over-oaked and over-ripe, Australian winemaking is now some of the most sophisticated in the world, with vineyards increasingly planted in cooler climates, such as
Pinot noir in
Tasmania, and
unoaked wines becoming popular. Several regional specialities have emerged, notably
Shiraz in the
Barossa Valley,
Cabernet Sauvignon in
Coonawarra,
Riesling in the
Eden Valley and
Clare Valley, and
Hunter Valley Sémillon.
Rutherglen Muscats are perhaps the finest
fortified wines of the New World.
Brazil Brazil is the third-largest producer of wine in
Latin America, behind
Argentina and
Chile. Better-quality wines () are produced from the European grapevine. In 2003, only some were planted with such vines.
Canada in British Columbia Canada followed a similar path to the eastern United Statesearly attempts to grow
Vitis vinifera failed, leading to a significant export industry based on
Vitis labrusca and
Vitis riparia, fortified to disguise the 'foxy' aromas. The country had its own version of
Prohibition until 1927, and after it ended red tape inhibited the industry until 1974. In the following years improved viticulture and grape varieties allowed a substantial expansion of the industry in the 1990s, centered around the parts of
Southern Ontario warmed by the Great Lakes, and in the
Okanagan Valley of southern
British Columbia. While there has been some progress with red wines from the Bordeaux varieties and
Pinot noir, Canada's most successful wines are
ice wines made from grapes such as
Riesling,
Vidal, and even
Cabernet Franc.
Chile Chilean viticulture dates back to the
Conquistadores. The Bordeaux varieties arrived in the mid-19th century, although for a long time many of the vines thought to be
Merlot were in fact
Carménère, and the latter has become something of a signature grape. It is the seventh biggest producer of wine in the world; traditionally quantity was favored over quality, and red tape discouraged improvement. Under the Pinochet reforms of the 1980s, investments were made in wineries and vineyards, and exports began in earnest in the mid-1990s. Traditionally Chilean vineyards were in semi-arid areas
irrigated by water from the Andes, but there has been increasing interest in cooler areas such as the Leyda Valley (becoming known for its
Pinot noir) and the
Bío-Bío Valley, which suits
Riesling and
Gewürztraminer. Chile is notable for being one of the few vine-growing regions to be free of
phylloxera.
Colombia The wine history of
Colombia was different from other countries in the region. Wine was mainly produced for religious reasons by Catholic priests in monasteries across the country. Due to the restrictions in allowing European immigrants to enter the country after the independence from Spain, the wine industry did not develop like in other South American countries.
Beer and
aguardiente became more popular drinks than wine. There are a few areas in Colombia that produce fine wine of excellent quality, but the majority of the wine is consumed locally.
Villa de Leyva is a small region, north of
Bogotá, which is known for its
Mediterranean climate and the wine produced in these areas is of very high international standards. El
Valle del Cauca, south of Bogotá, is also a well known winery area. Wines in Colombia tend to be sweeter due to the climate of the Andes, hot weather and constant rain.
Japan , Japan Although
viticulture and the cultivation of grapes for
table consumption has a long history in Japan, domestic wine production using locally-produced grapes only really began with the adoption of
Western culture during the
Meiji restoration in the second half of the 19th century. The Agency states the share of Japanese wine, as defined as domestically-produced wine from domestically-grown grapes, as only 4% of total domestic consumption, or 14,988 kiloliters. Only 58 kiloliters of Japanese wine was exported overseas.
Mexico , Mexico
Mexico is the oldest wine-making region in the
Americas. In 1549, Spanish explorers and settlers came across a fertile valley in the present-day state of
Coahuila where they encountered native vines and founded the Mission of Santa María de las Parras or "Holy Mary of the Vines". In 1597, the Hacienda de San Lorenzo was established by the Spanish settler Don Lorenzo García, where he founded, along with other Spanish missionaries,
Casa Maderothe oldest winery house in the Americas. Many of the vines from
Parras de la Fuente,
Coahuila and other places in Mexico were the first to be exported and cultivated in what is now
California, as well as other provinces in Northern
New Spain and other Spanish colonies in South America. In 1699, the King of Spainalarmed by competition from the New Worldprohibited wine production in New Spain, with the exception of wines for the church. The prohibition lasted until the Mexico's independence from Spain in 1810. As of the 2013, about 90% of Mexican wine is produced in the northwestern state of
Baja California, neighboring the wine-producing region of California in the U.S., particularly in the
Valley of Guadalupe,
Ensenada Municipality.
New Zealand The New Zealand viticulture industry was started in a small way by
Croatian immigrants at the end of the 19th century, but it was not until the 1970s that it began to flourish. Several factors came together at that time - Britain's entry into the
European Economic Community in 1973 ended favourable terms of agricultural trade, while New Zealanders themselves developed a taste for wine as local alcohol licensing laws changed and cheap air travel exposed them to different cultures. Various grapes were tried in the early years, but it was in the 1980s that New Zealand developed the distinctive style of
Sauvignon blanc that became its trademark. Since then the Burgundy grapes of
Chardonnay and
Pinot noir have been developed in cooler, more southerly vineyards, with considerable success. More recently there has been increasing popularity for the 'aromatic' white varieties such as
Gewürztraminer and
Riesling, with
Auslese styles also being attempted.
Peru The first
grapevines were brought to Peru shortly after its
conquest by Spain. Spanish
chroniclers from the time note that the first
vinification in South America took place in the
hacienda Marcahuasi of
Cuzco. However, the largest and most prominent vineyards of the 16th and 17th century Americas were established in the
Ica valley of south-central Peru. In the 1540s, Bartolomé de Terrazas and Francisco de Carabantes began vineyards in Peru. The latter established vineyards in Ica, which Spaniards from
Andalucia and
Extremadura used to introduce grapevines into Chile. Most vineyards are located on the central coast, around
Pisco and
Ica, where most of Peru's winemaking and distillation takes place.
South Africa Wine was first produced in South Africa by the founder of Cape Town in 1659, and by the late 18th century
Constantia, made from Muscat de Frontignan (
Muscat Blanc à Petits Grains), was popular among European royalty. However the vineyards were decimated by
phylloxera and the
KWV cooperative that ran most of the industry since 1918 gave little encouragement to produce quality wine. The end of apartheid sparked a wave of investment and innovation in the vineyards of the Cape, although there remains large areas of undistinguished grape varieties such as
Colombard.
Stellenbosch and
Paarl can produce world-class wines from the Bordeaux varieties,
Shiraz and also from
Pinotage, a variety bred locally from
Pinot noir and
Cinsaut. South Africa is also the second home of
Chenin blanc, known until the mid-20th century as Steen;
Muscat Blanc à Petits Grains is known locally as red and white Muscadel, and is once again being used to make Constantia.
United States Although wine is made throughout the United States, 90% of it comes from
California. The Gallo Winery runs an industrial facility in Modesto, California that produces the majority of the state's wine exports. Most of the rest is split between the states of
Washington and
New York, followed by
Oregon. California's earliest grape vines were imported from
New Spain, or
Mexico, which in turn were brought by Spanish explorers and settlers. North America has several native species of
Vitis, from which wine has been made for a long time in the east of the country, although the 'foxy' aromas of wines produced from these species are not to everyone's taste. The
Catawba variety led the way for winemaking from native species, first in Ohio and later in the
Finger Lakes area of
New York. California followed a path similar to Latin American countries, with Spanish missionaries starting the first vineyard of
vinifera vines in 1769, and later immigrants from Bordeaux and Italy bringing their native grapes with them. Soon a thriving industry developed, particularly in the
Napa Valley, which was stopped in its tracks by
phylloxera and, uniquely,
Prohibition (1920–1933). One interesting consequence of Prohibition was that vineyards were replanted with lower quality grapes such as
Alicante Bouschet that could survive transportation to home winemakers, and this tradition of home winemaking changed taste preferences from a dry style before Prohibition to a much sweeter style. In general Prohibition had a devastating effect on commercial winemaking in the country, which only started to recover in the late 1960s and 1970s under major industry pioneers such as
Ernest and
Julio Gallo,
Robert Mondavi and the world-class viticultural scientists at the
University of California, Davis. The latter institution has played a leading role in the recovery of wine in the United States, in particular identifying just what vines were actually planted (notably California's signature grape, the robust red
Zinfandel, which was found to be Croatia's Crljenak Kaštelanski), and encouraging the use of better clones of the traditional European varieties. In the 1970s, geographical
appellations were designated as
American Viticultural Areas. In the years after Prohibition, the domestic market demanded cheap 'jug wines' and sweet fortified wines. These tastes led to local styles such as
White Zinfandel (a sweet
rosé) and "
bum wines". Interest in traditional European varieties increased after Mondavi reinvented
Sauvignon blanc in a dry, heavily oaked style called
Fumé Blanc, leading to the innovations that triumphed so spectacularly in Paris in 1976. While California is known for its
Cabernet Sauvignon,
Zinfandel and
Chardonnay in particular, it produces such a massive amount of wine that just about every grape variety ends up being grown there to a greater or lesser extent. For instance, the "Rhone Rangers" have raised awareness of the Rhone varieties, notably
Viognier, and there has been speculation that climate change will force California to look further south in Europe for grape varieties. The Northwest states of Oregon and Washington are known for their
Pinot noirs and
Rieslings while New York continues to produce wine mostly from
Vitis labrusca varieties and hybrids. ==See also==