Sunday, April 17, 2011

The "universalization" of the grape

What this means has nothing to do with the so called globalization, which explains the ability of wine makers, from any part of the world, to make wines in the same style and flavor than wines from other regions. Good examples are the wines made by Mondavi in Italy and Chile, where the wines display a similar character of those made in Napa Valley. Now, “universalization” of the grape means that many grapes are being grown in countries that don’t have a history of viticulture. The wines from these countries are known by some experts as the "new latitude" wines, those produced outside the traditional geographical heartlands of the wine country.
The result may be a real shock to those who did not believe for a long time that good wines could not be made outside the Old World countries, or between latitudes 30 and 50, some of those like India, Thailand, Brazil, Colombia, even England, just to mention a few.