World Wine Industry Flashcards
Country with the largest vineyard acreage in the world
Spain
Top three wine-producing countries, worldwide
France, Italy, Spain (the exact order varies year to year)
PDO
Protected designation of origin
PGI
Protected geographical indication
EU labeling laws: If a protected place name is used on a PDO wine, what % must be from said place?
100%
EU labeling laws: If a protected place name is used on a PGI wine, what minimum % must be from said place?
85%
EU labeling laws: If a vintage date is used on a wine label, what minimum % must be from said vintage?
85%
EU labeling laws: If a single grape variety is used on a wine label, what minimum % must be the stated grape?
85%
EU labeling term for sparkling wine made via second fermentation in the bottle (subject to lees aging and disgorgement)
Quality sparkling wine
EU labeling term for sparkling wine made via carbonation
Aerated sparkling wine
Minimum atm of pressure for EU sparkling wine
Min. 3 atm
What is the approximate percentage of the wine industry located in Europe
56% of the global vineyard
Year the European Union was created
1993
Date the EU’s “Umbrella Frameworks” of revised wine regulations took effect
August 1, 2009
The EU permits continuing use of preexisting wine designations, if they were already in place by this date
December 31, 2011
How far back does the use of fermented grapes into an alcoholic beverage date back to?
7000 BCE
Where did wine produced from vinifera first make its appearance?
Caucasus Mountains in western Asia – spreading from there into eastern Europe and the Middle East
Who became an early stronghold of wine, prior to the expansion caused by the Romans?
Greece
Where did the Romans spread wine to?
Their conquered lands – the inland areas of Spain, France, Germany, and the Balkans
Who took up the torch when the Romans fell into disarray?
Catholic Church
Why was wine important to the Catholic Church?
They used it to consecrate the religious ceremony of the Mass – so monks and clergyman maintained vineyards and made wine continuously
What did the Catholic Church do for wine?
Located prime growing areas, selected top-performing vines for further propagation, and refined winemaking techniques
Why did wine grow in demand as an everyday beverage in urban areas?
Because poor sanitation led to problems of insufficient fresh water and widespread disease – wine was free of germs due to its alcoholic content
Why were vineyards initially established in so many places?
Because wine could only be transported short distances across land, because of its wait and the ease of spoilage if exposed to the elements so wineries were established multiple places to serve local populations
What led to wine in Asia, Africa, and Oceania?
European trading colonies and settlements once Europe began exploring lands across the Atlantic
Were wine grapes already present in Asia, Africa, and Oceania?
No, outside of North America, they did not exist
Who brought wine to Latin America?
Spanish Catholic missionaries who planted grapes to produce wine for religious use in the New World
Where was the greatest degree of success achieved in the New World initially?
The British and Dutch outposts of South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand
When were vinifera vines planted in the Americas?
Mid-19th century by immigrants from Europe – especially Italians, Germans, and Eastern Europeans
What crisis occurred in the 1860s?
Phylloxera
What part of the United States is phylloxera native to?
Eastern United States
Where was phylloxera first an issue?
France, followed by the rest of Europe and much of the rest of the world
What was the solution to phylloxera?
Grafting on indigenous North American rootstock
Why was phylloxera a good thing for the wine world?
Because winemakers from France and other European countries travelled to other parts of the world after the loss of their vineyards – dispersing winemaking expertise and raising the quality of the wine around the world
What happened in 1920 that had a big impact on the wine industry?
Prohibition
How did Prohibition affect the wine industry?
Wine trade suffered as demand for wine plummeted in the New World
When did Prohibition end?
1933
Did the United States recover immediately from Prohibition?
No, it took decades
What marked the turning point for wine in the United States?
The Judgement of Paris in 1976
What happened in the Judgement of Paris?
California wines were awarded first place over French wines in a major head-to-head, revealing the New World’s quality level
What country is the world’s largest wine market?
United States
What part of the world is defined as Old World?
Europe with a small portion of western Asia
Where does the term “New World” come from?
European immigrants who viewed the New World countries as “lands of opportunity” that weren’t defined by strict traditions so a spirit of experimentation and freedom came to be expressed hence New World
Where is wine less customary/accepted?
Long band of territory from Morocco across northern Africa and central Asia as far as Indonesia
Equatorial and polar regions – where viticulture is difficult or impossible and even storing wine is hard
Why is wine less customary in the northern part of Africa and some parts of central Asia?
These regions are dominated by religions that forbid alcohol
Approximately how much wine was produced in 2018?
292 million hectoliters or 3.2 billion cases up 17% from 2017 of 250 million hectoliters
What is the average amount of wine produced each year?
260 to 270 million hectoliters
Where is the majority of wine produced?
Europe (around 65% as of 2018)
Top 3 countries of vineyard acreage
Spain
China
France
Top 3 countries for wine production
Italy
France
Spain
Top 3 countries for wine consumption
United States
France
Italy
Top 3 countries for wine exports (by volume)
Spain
Italy
France
Top 3 countries for wine imports (by volume)
Germany
United Kingdom
United States
Why will the trade in bulk wine and juice increase?
Suppliers looking to cut cost and reduce carbon emissions by avoiding shipping wine in heavy glass bottles
What is a net exporter of wine?
Country that produces much more wine than they can consume, and thus need to find markets in other countries
Ex. Australia, Chile
How are wine regions generally delineated?
On either political or viticultural foundations
What are political regions?
administrative districts of various sizes, such as nations, states, provinces, counties, towns, and communes, which are defined for government purposes
Why are political regions not a good way to define regions?
Their boundaries may be relatively weak predictors of wine style
What are viticultural regions based on?
Environmental features that define an area (terroir) or – occasionally, in the Old World – on traditional winemaking techniques
Why did boundaries become necessary for regions?
To protect the reputation of the wines from misuse by imposters
Officially sanctioned wine regions are generically known as?
Appellations Geographic Indications (GIs)
Are larger or smaller appellations more predictive of a wine’s characteristics?
Smaller
What should a small appellation based on terroir have?
Relatively uniform climate, topography, and soil structure – so wines conform to a certain standard
Can more than one appellation exist for any given place?
Yes, and the producer can choose which depending on the situation
Why are the protections of an official appellation a good thing?
They restrict the use of a place-name to the actual site, preventing anyone else in another location from profiting from or damaging the reputation of the appellation’s wines
Why are the protections of an official appellation a challenge?
The laws put certain restrictions on what producers within the designated region can do, forcing them to meet certain requirements
Examples of requirements that may need to be met within an appellation for labeling?
Yield per acre
Alcohol level
Grape varieties used
Are New World appellations more or less restrictive?
Generally less, just stipulation the geographical origin and defining its boundaries with no restrictions on grape varieties or wine style
Name for defined wine regions in Australia
Geographical Indication
Name for defined wine regions in France
Appellation d’Origine Controlee
Name for defined wine regions in Germany
Qualitatswein, Pradikatswein
Name for defined wine regions in Greece
Onomasia Proelefseos Anoteras Poiotitos, Topikos Oinos
Name for defined wine regions in Italy
Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita
Indicazione Geografica Tipica
Name for defined wine region in Portugal
Denominacao de Origem Controlada
Name for defined wine region in South Africa
Wine of Origin
Name for defined wine region in Spain
Denominacion de Origen
Vino de Pago
Name for defined wine region in the United States
American Viticultural Area
Why were grapes planted in areas that were more challenging in Europe?
Because winemaking predated improvements in transportation so grapes were grown close to the markets to allow the wine to reach customers before it spoiled
What three things were growers in the Old World trying to balance to produce a quality wine?
Grape Variety
Vineyard Site
Viticultural Techniques
How did improvements in transportation benefit the New World of wine?
Vineyards could be planted further from markets, where conditions were optimal for grape growing and good harvests were guaranteed year after year
New World Wine Profile
Bolder flavors Emphasis on Fruit and Grape Variety More Alcohol Less Acidity Highlight style or skill of winemaker
Old World Wine Profile
More Subtlety Lower Alcohol Higher Acidity Earthier Flavors Less Winemaker Intervention Highlight the terroir of where they are grown
Are there any global wine laws?
No – just reciprocal agreements among countries that govern how one nation will treat the wines of another
When was the European Union created?
1993
What is the goal of the European Union?
To coordinate activities among all of its member states to help them compete with larger economies in the global marketplace through elimination of trade barriers and protectionism within the EU while creating a more unified from for dealing with the rest of the world
2 French wine quality designations
Appellation d’origine controlee (AOC)
Vin delimite de qualite superieure (VDQS)
VDQS
Vin delimite de qualite superieure – minor secondary grouping of appellations that had not yet quite demonstrated AOC standards
2 Italian wine quality designations
Denominazione di Origine Controllata (DOC)
Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita (DOCG) – higher level DOCs can work towards
What were Germany and Greece’s quality systems based on?
Ripeness and Sweetness levels
Did the EU replace previous designations?
No, instead they designed an umbrella framework that defined various terms and set certain standards, yet allowed each country to mold its own system to the EU framework
When did the EU regulations take effect?
August 1, 2009
EU designations from highest quality to lowest
Protected Designation of Origin (PDO)
Protected Geographical Indication (PGI)
Wine
Former name of PDO prior to 2009
Quality Wine Produced in a Specified Region (QWPSR)
What wines make up the PGI tier?
All of the wines that were previously table wines with a geographic indication
What wines make up the “Wine” tier?
Table wines that do not carry a geographical indication more specific than a single country
Requirements for PDO designation
Wine must be made entirely from grapes grown in the clearly defined region after which they are named, and must be produced within a given area
How do PGIs differ from PDOs?
PGIs are larger and generally more heterogeneous
What designation is IGT equivalent to?
PGI
What designation is Vinho Regional (Portugal) equivalent to?
PGI
What is required for a PGI wine to be labeled with grape variety or vintage?
minimum of 85% must be of the named variety or vintage
If two or more varieties are named – wine must be produced entirely from those varieties in descending order of proportion
What changed in terms of the “Wine” designation versus the previous allowances for the category?
The wines can now carry vintages and/or variety labeling as long as 85% is from that vintage or variety
What does the allowing of vintage/variety on “Wine” bottlings allow for?
Competition more directly with varietally-labeled New World wines
What is the minimum required on the label within the EU?
Wine’s category
Place of origin (as permitted)
Quality Sparkling Wine requirements
Wines with CO2 produced wholly by a secondary fermentation in the bottle that are subject to disgorgement, and with a minimum of 9 months aging on the lees
How long do Quality Sparkling Wines have to be aged on the lees?
9 months
Sparkling Wine requirements
Must contain a minimum of 3 atm of pressure, carbon dioxide can come from a first or second fermentation but may not be injected
Aerated Sparkling Wine
Wines whose “sparkle” is derived from the addition of CO2
