New World and Old World Wines and which is better? Jul 02, 2013 10:16:19 AM Dear Friends,
In continuation with the educational wine post - todays topic is "New World and Old World Wines and which is better?"
Wines are broadly classified in two regions, the "Old World" and the "New World". The old world consist of wine growing regions from France, Italy, Germany, Portugal, and Spain. The wine making in some these countries dates back to almost 11th century when monks from the monasteries used to make wines. Many of the grape varietals were originated in these regions. To cite few examples - the Riesling white grape varietal originated from Germany, while the famous Chardonnay white grape varietal originated from the Chablis region in France, 200 kms south of Paris. Similarly the King of red grapes Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot were first planted in the worlds most famous wine growing region of Bordeaux in France where as the Sangiovese red grape varietal comes from the beautiful wine region of Tuscany in Italy which makes the famous Chianti wines.
On the other hand "New World" consist of wine growing regions of USA, Australia, Chile, Argentina, New Zealand, South Africa etc. The wines of these regions have received international acceptance/success in the late 19th century. But the fact is many of these regions have been also making wines for centuries. As an example South Africa's first winery dates back to 16th century and similarly Australia's early wineries dates back to 18th century. Many of these countries are also responsible for making individual grape varietals famous than their old world counterparts where these grapes originated. Let's take New Zealand for instance, today it make the best Sauvignon Blanc's in the world and has surpassed Sancerre region in Loire Valley, France where the Sauvignon Blanc was originated. On the other hand Australia has achieved critical success and fame for it fantastic Shiraz. Australia was responsible to make the Shiraz grape famous with the masses with its excellent price to quality ratio. Again the origin of Shiraz comes from the Rhone Valley, France. The wines from these regions are just fantastic, but the question is can you really afford them? Many people are under the impression/myth that old world makes better wines than new world, which according to me is load of bull! Today fantastic wines are made all across the world whether its from old world or new. Old world nodoubt makes great wines, but new world is giving them a run for their money due to great quality/price ratio and simple easy to understand labeling which is based on "grape varietal" rather than "wine regions" followed by old world wineries.
In the wine world experimentation is the key and is the only way you can learn, so don't be safe...be adventurous. At least at the end you will have a story to tell-good, bad or ugly!
Cheers, Vishal Kadakia.
Winekart Blog