Expert Guides

Germany

Jonathan Eichholz — Mon, 17 Aug 2026 13:18:02 GMT

Current Revision posted to Expert Guides by Jonathan Eichholz on 8/17/2026 1:18:02 PM

In the public eye, the story of German wine usually begins and ends with Riesling.

Setting the Stage
Origin of the 1971 Germany Wine Law
The 1971 German Wine Law Today
The VDP
The Grapes of Germany
Winegrowing Regions of Germany

Sommeliers and wine critics, well acquainted with its charms and severity, perpetually fight its underdog status, waging a long information campaign to educate casual wine drinkers that not all German Riesling is sweet. It’s a versatile grape in terms of sugar: Riesling offers a little or a lot of sweetness—or lacks it completely. We announce its purity, its effortless expression of terroir, its usefulness as a foil for many styles of cuisine, its ability to age magnificently in the cellar. Certainly no country in the world is more tied to the fortunes of Riesling than Germany, which grows almost half of the world’s total supply. But even as the variety finally ascended to become the Germans’ most planted grape in the last days of the 20th century, the country has a richer field of varieties than the stereotype suggests—and the Germans love drinking dry wines! (From 1985 to 2015, the percentage of total German wines vinified dry shot up from 16 to 46%.) Today, a sommelier well-versed in Germany’s offerings should understand its trocken styles, its noble sweet wines, everything in between, red wines, Silvaner, Pinot Blanc, and other grape varieties coming from a diverse set of growing regions and soils, wrapped up in tradition, reclaimed by modern voices, defined in wine law but often exemplified in extralegal categories, rendered obscure by the fearsome constructs of its own language, and… Ah, well. Achtung!

Setting the Stage

Vitis vinifera arrived in Germany with the Romans, whose legionnaires crossed the Alps over 2,000 years ago and extended their eastern frontier to the Rhine River, far from the traditional bases of viticulture in their Mediterranean homeland. Germanic tribes adopted the culture of the vine, Charlemagne’s Franks spread viticulture east of the Rhine in the late 8th century, and monastic orders of the church acted as its custodians through the medieval period and into the modern age. Just as in Burgundy, many of Germany’s greatest vineyards were first devised and planted by monks, and the Cistercians introduced the cultivation of Riesling and Pinot Noir, Germany’s most important modern grape varieties. The vine’s strongholds in Germany shrunk considerably by the 16th and 17th centuries, whittled down by war, a suddenly cooling climate, and the social and religious upheavals of the day. Germany’s wine culture reemerged in the 18th century, controlled by clerics and princes, and Riesling shot forward as a premier variety. Vineyard ownership migrated to the private sector completely in the aftermath of the French Revolution, which inspired liquidation of church holdings in Germany by the early 1800s, and a golden era for German wine dawned. Rare, noble sweet wines arrived as a currency for the fine wine traders of London, and the great sweet wines of the Middle Rhine region fetched greater prices than the best reds of Bordeaux by the end of the century. “Hock,” already in regular English usage by the 1800s to indicate wines from the Middle Rhine, expanded to become a generic term for German wines. A classic British list of the day may have offered Claret, Port, Sherry, Hock, and eventually Moselle—by the end of the 1800s, fruity and crisp white wines from the Mosel River region evolved as a category distinct from generic Hock.

But dark times were ahead. The arrival of American-born grapevine diseases and the annual struggle with a reliably cold climate spurred interest in viticultural science and the development of hardy new varieties. New research stations sprouted throughout Germany, and with them came new grape crossings—varieties obtained for reasons other than wine quality—which would multiply and spread throughout Germany by the mid-20th century. Phylloxera, present since 1872, spread in force after the First World War, clearing the way for the adoption of Müller-Thurgau and its contemporaries.

The two world wars scarred and transformed the German wine landscape. In the First World War, French regions saw more actual battle than German winegrowing areas, but German workers were at the front, not in the vineyard. After the abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II in 1918 and the subsequent loss of political privilege for the German nobility, many of the old aristocratic wine estates entered a period of slow decline. Exports plummeted after the war as the French and British boycotted German products, Hock included. Meanwhile, the lucrative Russian and American markets closed due to revolution and prohibition, respectively. In the period between the wars, Germany’s wine industry turned inward. Weinpropaganda appeared in the 1920s, featuring German soldiers touting white German wines, and a 1930 wine law limited the importation of foreign wines. But all would pale to the impact of World War II. The Nazis drove out the Jews, who accounted for 60 to 70% of the wine merchant trade, and ended the wine auctions that had long been a primary sales mechanism for quality wines. The Nazis took the best (and sweetest) wines for themselves. As the tide turned against Germany, workers died and vineyards sustained bombing raids. At the end of World War II, international boycotts commenced, the country was cleaved in two, and the German vineyard had shrunk to fewer than 50,000 hectares of vines.

But times change. In the 1950s, the German agricultural sector rebounded. New grape crossings appeared. New winery technologies took hold and electricity appeared in cellars. German wine became synonymous with sweet and cheap. To English-speaking countries, Liebfraumilch became the most recognizable—and reliably sweet tasting—German wine category. (The Blue Nun brand, originating with a 1921 vintage of H. Sichel Söhne Liebfraumilch, was created by a Jewish merchant family who fled the Nazis in 1938 and returned at the war’s end.) In the post-war period, the Flurbereinigung campaign geared up to consolidate parcels of land divided by successive generations of inheritance and to physically restructure vineyards. By rearranging steep and otherwise inaccessible vineyards, workers could employ machines and increase production. Flurbereinigung eliminated many of the centuries-old terraces critical to winegrowing on some of Germany’s most vertical slopes. In the Rheingau, for instance, workers leveled uneven vineyards with construction waste from the Autobahn A3, which runs through Frankfurt. But, progress. Müller-Thurgau was ascendant; the vineyard was expanding again. And new wine legislation, marking the beginning of the modern age of German viticulture, was near.

Origin of the 1971 German Wine Law

The struggle is real! Nothing strikes fear in the hearts of non-German-speaking sommeliers quite like the uphill climb of German wine law. It is small comfort that the 1971 Deutsches Weingesetz, Germany’s fifth and most current wine law, is perhaps reviled equally by new students who seek to understand it and the producers who have to adhere to it. Rare is the German wine critic who has not pronounced it misguided, yet the system established in 1971 still holds, albeit with plenty of modifications. However flawed it may be, its architects sought to address rampant problems in a rapidly modernizing industry that was emerging from the wreckage of war, with the past, lustrous glory days of Hock and Moselle a dimming memory. Germany’s 1971 wine law attempted to impose new standards of quality and simplify label language, yet it was also enacted in response to external pressure. Europe’s recent bloody past convinced many of the necessity of alliance and economic integration, and in 1957, the European Economic Community (EEC), the predecessor to the EU, was born. West Germany, France, and Italy were its principal founders. Their shared goal of economic integration soon extended to the agricultural sector, and by 1970, to wine.

The Goldkapsule

In the Mosel and Rheingau, regions famous for noble sweet wines, producers lost an informal means of classifying Spätlesen and Auslesen of extreme richness and sweetness with the passage of the 1971 wine law. The law banned the use of familiar terms like feine, feinste, and hochfeine, historically added to indicate reserve wines within a larger category, so some producers turned to a bit of code. To indicate a higher level of sweetness and distinction beyond a wine’s labeled Prädikat, vintners added a golden capsule. In some cases, an even longer golden capsule (lange Goldkapsule) indicates an even rarer and special selection. The capsule is also linked to the level of botrytis; for instance, a wine that reached Beerenauslese in the eyes of the law may be "declassified" to Auslese with a Goldkapsule because it showed more pure varietal character than the higher Prädikat would typically demonstrate. Apart from the color of the capsule, the only means to discern that such a wine is a separate (and more expensive) bottling is to note its unique A.P. number.

In the Mosel, producers developed a second code to distinguish among different tiers of wine within a Prädikat and from the same vineyard: the star system. To indicate reserve bottlings, producers may apply one to three stars (*, **, ***), sometimes in conjunction with a Goldkapsule.

After World War II, rapidly compounding sets of style qualifiers, vineyard names, and village names began appearing on even the most ordinary wines, creating confusion. Where only the most famous vineyard sites once merited a mention on the label, now any piece of land, no matter how average, made an appearance. Style qualifiers, from Cabinet to hochfeine Auslese to Natur to Nikolauswein and so on, further muddied understanding because they did not have clearly regulated meanings but just conventional applications. At the dawn of the 20th century, most German wines were likely dry in style, and only a very few merited designations implying sweetness, like Spätlese or Auslese. By the 1950s, however, new technologies such as sterile filtration allowed the production of sweet wines with ease, and terms formerly reserved for specialized wines became commonplace. If sweetness was suddenly easy to achieve, the German answer in 1971 was to modify the requirements for Spätlese and its brethren, shifting the obligation from sugar remaining to sugar occurring naturally in the grape. Before the law was put into place, other terms in regular usage, such as Natur, could imply one thing—the wine should be completely natural, i.e., free of all additives, including Süssreserve and sulfur—but mean another: in this case, that the wine did not undergo chaptalization. The law’s authors wanted to restore simplicity and precision to German labels that had become full of cumbersome terminology that seemed, increasingly, to lack clear meaning. They redefined some classic label terms and eliminated others. In effect, anything not expressly authorized by the law was prohibited.

In retrospect, the most damaging aspect of the 1971 wine law was to annihilate or aggregate many of the country’s Einzellagen (individual vineyard sites). The law compacted the number of recognized single vineyards from 30,000 to around 2,700. As a reaction to the seemingly limitless procession of vineyards appearing on even ordinary wine labels by the 1960s, Germany desired simplification. The law set a minimum five-hectare size for single vineyards, enlarging some sites to include lesser surrounding plots while eliminating others. Additionally, the law created a new category, Grosslagen, to identify “collective” vineyard sites. As a catch-all category, the Grosslagen subsumed many preexisting, lesser sites, but the law provided no clarity for the consumer in labeling. Piesporter Goldtröpfchen (an acclaimed Einzellage in the village of Piesport) and Piesporter Michelsberg (a Grosslage site covering a huge band of vineyards around the town) appear to provide a choice between apples and apples to a consumer without intimate knowledge of the region. Instead of simplifying the label, the creation of Grosslagen and the aggregation of Einzellagen added confusion and eroded the distinctiveness of Germany’s grandest vineyards.

As (West) Germany strove to improve truth in labeling and clarity of labels, the country concurrently needed to integrate its own traditions and laws with the EEC’s Common Market Organization for Wine, which was finalized in 1970. The EEC policy, modeled on the similar systems of France and Italy (its two largest wine-producing countries), created two tiers of wines: Quality Wines Produced in a Specific Region (QWPSR) and Table Wines, prohibiting any mention of place. In Germany, there was a long history of the celebration of certain sites, but no legal mandate for appellations. That changed in 1971, with the formal delimitation of 11 Anbaugebiete, Germany’s winegrowing regions. Legally, the Anbaugebiete were equivalent to French AOCs or Italian DOCs, and wines labeled with an Anbaugebiet—meaning they were produced from grapes grown in a single winegrowing region—could comply with the new European standards for QWPSR.

So with the 1971 wine law, Germany adopted the EEC model, creating the two categories of Qualitätswein bestimmter Anbaugebiet (literally, “quality wine from a growing region”) and Tafelwein (“table wine”). However, given Germany’s special circumstances, the 1971 law added a third tier, Qualitätswein mit Prädikat (QmP), as a subset within Qualitätswein bestimmter Anbaugebiet (QbA). This category, indicating quality wines with a special attribute, allowed Germany to retain some of its traditional terms—Spätlese, Auslese, and so on—within the framework of the new European system. The special attributes, as defined in the 1971 law, were minimum levels of must weight. As ripeness at harvest became the apparent mark of quality for these categories of wine, chaptalization was banned for Qualitätswein mit Prädikat, but the law continued to permit its use in the broader category of Qualitätswein bestimmter Anbaugebiet. Unfortunately, the widespread adoption of early ripening grape crossings like Müller-Thurgau in the 1950s and 1960s allowed producers to reach Prädikat levels of ripeness with newfound ease; the law intended to protect terms like Kabinett by attaching a definition of minimum ripeness but instead stripped them of any rarity or reserve. And, as sweetness no longer mattered in the eyes of the law, the 1971 law permitted the addition of Süssreserve (“sweet reserve,” or sterilized fresh grape must) for wines of any category, at up to 15% of the total volume of the wine. While a small adjustment with Süssreserve after fermentation can allow a producer to fine-tune final sugar levels, this adjustment further purged the Prädikate of the original meaning—residual sugar.

Regulation of producers to ensure compliance has remained the same since the passage of the 1971 law. To qualify as Qualitätswein or Prädikatswein, wines must pass a chemical and sensory analysis. Upon successful result, the wine is awarded a unique Amtliche Prüfungsnummer (the “official exam number,” or A.P. number), a new certification that debuted with the 1971 wine law. Each A.P. number consists of five sets of digits. The digits, in order, indicate the following: (1) the location of the examination board, (2) the village in which the wine was produced, (3) the producer, (4) the unique number of the bottling, and (5) the year in which the wine was tested, typically one calendar year after the vintage. All Qualitätswein and Prädikatswein must carry an A.P. number, theoretically ensuring that quality remains strict. However, in the modern German wine industry, nearly 98% of the entire volume of production falls into these categories—so does an A.P. number really ensure quality wine?

The 1971 German Wine Law Today

Classic and Selection: By the Numbers

Classic wines are considered “harmoniously dry,” with a maximum residual sugar content of 15 g/l, and Selection wines are “superior dry” with a maximum residual sugar content of 9 g/l (12 g/l allowed for Riesling). Wines labeled “Classic” are single varietal wines and omit any mention of a vineyard on the label. They show a superior minimum alcohol content of 12% (11.5% in the Mosel). Selection wines are single vineyard wines from a single variety. Yields are restricted to 60 hl/ha. Must weight for Selection wines must be equivalent to Auslese, and vineyards are hand-harvested. The wines may not be released prior to September 1 of the year following harvest.

The 1971 wine law is still on the books, with several modifications. A 1982 update introduced the category of Landwein and designated Eiswein as an independent Prädikat level. Some famous vineyards, such as Forster Kirchenstück in the Pfalz, Bernkasteler Doctor in the Middle Mosel, and Kiedricher Turmberg in the Rheingau, escaped the minimum five-hectare mandate for single vineyards. Minimum Öchsle levels for Prädikat categories have been raised over time. New legally sanctioned terms debuted in 2000, including “Classic” and “Selection,” which were intended to replace halbtrocken and trocken, respectively. (Neither really caught on.) Erstes Gewächs got formal approval for use on the labels of dry wines from specific sites in the Rheingau. And while the law technically prohibits any label language not expressly defined, at least one informal term—feinherb, indicating a slightly off-dry style—persisted and replaced halbtrocken on most labels.

Under the EU-wide CMO reforms on wine passed in the late 2000s, Germany’s 13 Anbaugebiete (after the country's reunification, 2 were added to the original 11) formally became PDOs. In German, a protected designation of origin is known, cumbersomely, as a geschützte Ursprungsbezeichnung (gU). QbA and QmP became traditional terms under the eyes of the law, and Germany took the opportunity to (mercifully) shorten the category names to Qualitätswein and Prädikatswein. Tafelwein evolved into Wein.

Prädikatswein Minimum Must Weight Ranges

All weights in degrees Öchsle

Kabinett: 70-85°
Spätlese: 76-95°
Auslese: 83-105°
Beerenauslese: 110-128°
Eiswein: 110-128°
Trockenbeerenauslese: 150-154°

Note: The above values are not absolute ranges—minimum must requirements vary by region and variety. For instance, Riesling requires a minimum 80° in the Mosel for Spätlese, but it must achieve 90° for that category in the Pfalz. There is no maximum level for each Prädikat, meaning that declassification is possible, and common in hotter years.

Therefore, the four German categories of wine today are the following:

Wein: Formerly Tafelwein, this category carries no geographic designation, although wines may be labeled as Deutscher Wein if produced from German grapes. Variety and vintage are permitted on the label.
Landwein: An IGP category including trocken and halbtrocken wines produced from any of 26 winegrowing regions, known as Landweingebiete.
Qualitätswein: A PDO category, encompassing most of the country’s top dry wines. This category, inclusive of Prädikatswein, covers 96% of German wine production and almost all exports. In light of the low alcohol levels classically achieved by some of Germany’s finest sweet wines, this category requires wines to acquire a minimum 7% alcohol content, rather than the minimum 8.5% mandated by European law.
Prädikatswein: A PDO category and a subset of Qualitätswein, encompassing all of the country’s best sweet wines. The lower Prädikate require a minimum 7% acquired alcohol; from Beerenauslese on up, the minimum is reduced to 5.5%.

The law survives, but in order to fully understand the modern German label, one must look beyond it to the work of the VDP, an organization representing many of Germany’s best producers that has worked to return emphasis to the vineyard.

The VDP

The Verband Deutscher Prädikatsweingüter, or VDP, is an association of 202 (as of the close of 2022) German producers dedicated to high quality, the preservation of a sense of place, and those grape varieties traditionally cultivated within each winegrowing region. The VDP is a national entity comprising 11 regional associations; today, the organization counts members from all 13 German Anbaugebiete among its ranks. Membership requires a commitment to the VDP’s classification system as well the observance of higher minimum must weights and lower maximum yields than permitted by German law. All wines must be estate grown. Hand-harvesting is required for all single vineyard wines and for any Prädikat wines of Auslese level or above. In their vineyards, members must cultivate a minimum 80% of traditional grape varieties, from selections drawn by each regional association—lists that generally exclude crossings developed for hardiness in the vineyard and high, reliable yields. Additionally, in an effort to restore individualism and impact to the vineyard names of Germany, the VDP prohibits its members from using the loathed Grosslagen of 1971 on their labels. (Out with Grosslagen; long live Grosse Lage.) Member estates are identified by the mandatory presence off the VDP’s logo, the Traubenadler, on bottle capsules.

The VDP was founded in 1910 as the VDNV, or Verband Deutscher Naturweinversteigerer, an assembly of four regional winegrowers’ associations that promoted the sale of Natur (unchaptalized) wines at auction. The organization survived the turmoil of two world wars but faced ruin in 1971, when the newly enacted wine law banned the use of the term Natur. (Echoing concerns of the modern natural wine movement, the German Wine Institute would no longer allow the term’s traditional use, indicating wines without chaptalization, as the wines could contain other additives, like sulfur and Süssreserve.) Facing dissolution, the core members rebranded their association as the VDP and refocused on the promotion of more stringent requirements for wine quality than the new law demanded. In 1984, the VDP started work on its own vineyard classification, using old tax registries and Napoleonic maps to rediscover parcels gerrymandered out of existence with the new law and Flurbereinigung. A focus on terroir expression as an indivisible part of superior wine quality took hold in the 1990s. In 2002, the project culminated with the launch of a formal, yet extralegal, three-tier vineyard classification system. In 2012, the VDP refined the existing system, establishing the final framework that remains in place today.

From the 2011 vintage forward, VDP members may produce wines in four different categories of origin. Emulating Burgundy, the VDP system includes a regional tier (Gutswein), a village tier (Ortswein), premier cru vineyards (Erste Lage), and grand cru vineyards (Grosse Lage). Typically, the only statement of origin provided for Gutswein is the name of the Anbaugebiet, often accompanied by a fantasy name. Ortswein is the product of multiple vineyards in a single village and is typically labeled with the village name and/or a statement of soil, such as Kalkstein (limestone), Blauen Schiefer (blue slate), or Buntsandstein (red sandstone). Erste Lage and Grosse Lage wines are single-vineyard selections, and producers are strictly limited in their choice of varieties for both categories. The Erste Lage category is often labeled in traditional fashion, with the vineyard preceded by the village name—e.g., Iphöfer Kronsberg—while the Grosse Lage sites are labeled solely with the vineyard name, in true grand cru fashion: Goldtröpfchen, Rothenberg, Hermannshöhle. Many Grosse Lage and Erste Lage sites may share names with official Einzellagen, yet they are often defined more narrowly in size. Others resurrect the old names of pre-1971 sites engulfed by adjacent vineyards.

The name of the category for each individual wine may appear on the capsule alongside the VDP logo, but producers often omit this mention for the Gutswein and Ortswein tiers.

Producers may release wines of any sweetness level at any tier of the new hierarchy. However, in an effort to restore the historical meanings connoted by Prädikate, VDP producers must limit their use to sweet wines. Therefore, Spätlese trocken, Auslese trocken, and the like no longer appear on dry wine labels of VDP producers. Absent the mention of a Prädikat, the term trocken continues to signify dry wines at the Erste Lage level or below. For the Grosse Lage category, however, it is replaced by the grander term Grosses Gewächs, or “Great Growth.” A Grosses Gewächs wine is therefore a dry wine from a Grosse Lage vineyard, identified by the appearance of the trademarked acronym “GG” on the label. Grosses Gewächs white wines may not be released until September 1 of the year after harvest. For red wines, the category requires an additional year of aging and at least 12 months in wood. Prädikatswein Grosse Lage wines may be released as early as May 1 of the year after harvest. Remember that all VDP dry wines, including the very expensive Grosses Gewächs bottlings, are simply Qualitätswein in the eyes of the law. Chaptalization is therefore legally possible—and routinely practiced with Spätburgunder—despite the VDP’s original mission of promoting Natur wines.

The maximum yield for each category is as follows:

Gutswein: 75 hl/ha
Ortswein: 75 hl/ha
Erste Lage: 60 hl/ha
Grosse Lage: 50 hl/ha

While the VDP generally requires its membership to adhere to the current system, there are countless exceptions and exemptions to the rules. Remember that the national organization is composed of 10 regional bodies, each with their own traditions. Some estates, with long histories of marketing alternative terms, still use their own label language in place of Grosse Lage and Erste Lage; for example, Bürklin-Wolf continues to label its top single-vineyard wines as “GC” and “PC.” Schloss Johannisberg continues to label their “Silberlack” Grosses Lage Riesling as Trocken, even as Koehler-Ruprecht was forbidden from retaining its traditional Prädikat declarations on dry wines—a move that led the producer to leave the association in 2014. The rules are not for everyone—in the Mosel, for instance, producers make Grosse Lage Kabinett at yields of 60 to 70 hectoliters per hectare, a violation tolerated by the VDP because the higher yields are more suitable for that style of wine. Because the VDP’s classification system is not a legal construction, it does not always behave predictably. Trying to understand the system by flagging its inconsistencies is to slide headlong into confusion and despair.

The Grapes of Germany

Today, Germany maintains 102,000 hectares of vines. In 2017, it was the world’s 14th largest grower, behind Greece and South Africa.

Germany emphasizes varietal expressions over blended wines, and the variety is often a more prominent feature on the label than region. The country adheres to the EU minimum of 85% for varietal labeling.

All statistics courtesy of the German Wine Institute.

Riesling (24,410 ha, 2022): In the late 1990s, Riesling, Germany’s most distinguished grape variety, surpassed Müller-Thurgau to become the country’s most planted grape. Riesling is the most planted variety in 7 of Germany’s 13 Anbaugebiete, and the country maintains just under 40% of the world’s nearly 64,000 hectares of the vine. Whether the grape originated in Alsace or Germany is unknown; monks cultivated Riesslaner in the Rheingau vineyards of Kloster Eberbach by 1435, and in a 1552 Latin book of herbs, Hieronymus Bock logged Riesling in the modern-day regions of the Mosel, Rheingau, and Rheinhessen. Forces both noble and clerical mandated its cultivation throughout Germany’s emergent fine-wine regions from the late 17th century on. Riesling became synonymous with the Rheingau, a region that was dominated by red wine in the Middle Ages. Indeed, the Benedictine monks of Johannisberg insistent on its propagation were immortalized in the nickname Johannisberger, used throughout the 20th-century New World to refer to the grape.

Naturally floral and aromatic, high in acidity, and capable of making age-worthy dry and sweet wines, Riesling is a sommelier secret weapon and Germany’s best and most transparent indicator of terroir. Winemaking is not one-size-fits-all, beginning even before harvest. The decision to make a dry or sweet wine impacts yield: lower yields—and the increased concentration they afford—are necessary for great dry wines, but the sweeter styles often benefit from higher yields as they gain concentration from residual sugar. Some wines undergo cold, pre-fermentation skin contact to extract phenolic content and naturally raise pH; others are whole-bunch pressed for cleaner, purer must. German Riesling producers are divided on the subject of spontaneous (ambient) versus inoculated fermentations; a spontaneous ferment is more unpredictable and requires more oxygen, producing a wilder array of earthy, sulfide-driven flavors, while inoculated ferments are simpler to maintain and can deliver fruit forwardness and cleaner flavors. Fermentation and aging may occur in stainless steel or large oak containers. (Classic German vessels include the Stück, a 1,200-liter oval cask, and its variants, the Doppelstück and Halbstück, 2,400 liters and 600 liters respectively.) Malolactic fermentation is usually stopped, by naturally low pH or by design, although some producers resort to the process in spectacularly acidic, lean years. Perhaps counterintuitively, top dry wines can be leesy and rich, with weight that recalls Chardonnay, while great sweet wines can seem light and delicate, despite intense residual sugar. Germany excels at both ends of the sugar spectrum with Riesling, and despite lingering stereotypes, quantities of the trocken bottlings outpaced sweeter styles by the mid-2000s. Even so, legally dry Riesling in Germany often has a pinch of residual sugar to balance the naturally high acidity the grape achieves in these northerly growing regions.

Müller-Thurgau (10,970 ha, 2022): Müller-Thurgau, a Riesling and Madeleine Royale crossing first obtained by the Swiss Dr. Hermann Müller at the Geisenheim Grape Breeding Institute in 1882, became an incredibly important variety in Germany after World War II. Early ripening and high yielding, the variety became such an important component of mass-made Liebfraumilch wines and other low-end products that it quickly emerged as Germany’s leading grape variety in 1969, a position it maintained until Riesling usurped it 30 years later. German consumers during the period loved off-dry Müller-Thurgau for its muscat-like taste, but the variety is less acidic and less aromatic than Riesling and is not considered a quality grape in Germany today. It remains the second most planted variety in the country, but acreage continues to diminish; acreage in 2014 was about half of what it was in 1995.

Spätburgunder/Pinot Noir (11,512 ha, 2022): Germany is the world’s third-largest producer of Pinot Noir, trailing only France and the United States. Baden, where Pinot Noir first appeared in the late 800s, leads the way with nearly half of the country’s supply, followed by the Pfalz and the Rheinhessen. From 1964, when Pinot Noir claimed less than 2,000 hectares, the grape’s popularity has soared. It is a beneficiary of climate change and maturing German tastes for fine red wine, and the grape’s ascendance is in line with the overall advancement of red grapes in Germany.

Frühburgunder, a natural mutation genetically identical to Pinot Noir, is a rare specialty of Germany. As of 2017, there were 246 hectares in the country. Thicker skinned than Pinot Noir, the grape also ripens about two weeks earlier in the season. Resultant wines are darker in color and fruit expression, with lower acidity. In France, the grape is known as Pinot Noir Précoce or, historically, Pinot Madeleine.

Dornfelder (6,812 ha, 2022): Germany’s second most planted red grape variety, Dornfelder, is a cross of Helfensteiner and Heroldrebe developed by August Herold in 1956 and named after a founder of the Weinsberg viticulture school, August Dornfeld. The thick-skinned grape produces a darker, fuller style of wine than Spätburgunder but is highly vigorous in the vineyard. Its current popularity in Germany's domestic market stems from the common belief among consumers that color equals quality in reds.

Grauburgunder/Pinot Gris (8,094 ha, 2022): Grauburgunder has been cultivated in Germany since the Middle Ages and shows the most potential in the southern region of Baden, across the Rhine River from Alsace. Germany is actually the world’s second-largest grower of Pinot Gris, trailing Italy in total acreage. Here the wines are typically dry, with more power and richness than Italian Pinot Grigio but less outright funk than in Alsace. Occasionally, sweet botrytized wines are produced, labeled as Ruländer.

Weissburgunder/Pinot Blanc (6,181 ha, 2022): Germany is the world’s leading grower of Pinot Blanc, and the grape appears throughout Germany’s Anbaugebiete. Strongholds are Baden and the Pfalz. Weissburgunder in Germany can be simple, innocuous, and aromatically neutral, but at the top end, it has emerged as Germany’s leading textural white grape. Acidity typically rates higher than in Grauburgunder but lower than in Riesling. Great Weissburgunder is subject to many of the same treatments in the winery as good white Burgundy.

Silvaner (4,419 ha, 2022): Once the most planted variety in Germany, Silvaner lost its top billing to Müller-Thurgau in 1969 and has been sliding ever since. Today, it makes up just under 5% of the total German vineyard, yet in 2015, Silvaner finally gained a little ground, halting 50 years of decline in the vineyard. A Traminer and Österreichisch-Weiss (“Austrian white”) crossing, Silvaner is Austrian in origin and first arrived in Franken, its natural home in Germany, during the mid-17th century. In comparison to Riesling, it is lower in acid, less aromatic, less fruit driven, and prone to higher levels of alcohol. (If anything, Grüner Veltliner may be a better comparison for style.) Silvaner ripens earlier than Riesling, which led many 18th- and 19th-century growers to interplant it as a form of insurance, a tradition mirrored by grape breeders, who used Silvaner as a parent stock for crossings like Bacchus, Morio-Muskat, and Rieslaner. There are four broad types of the variety: Grüner, Blauer, Roter, and Gelber—green, blue, red, and yellow. By the 20th century, grape breeders isolated the most popular clones of the grape from the Grüner Silvaner sub-variety, which developed a thicker skin, generating greater resistance to rot and mildew but also a higher degree of bitterness and green character in the wines. Today, the newest clones developed at the Würzburg grape-breeding institute in Franken are typically of the Grüner or Gelber Silvaner sub-varieties, exhibiting looser clusters, smaller berries, less susceptibility to botrytis, and heightened aromatics and acid structure.

Lemberger/Blaufränkisch (1,929 ha, 2022): German renditions of the Austrian Blaufränkisch variety are beginning to show modest success, and many consider Lemberger to be the second highest quality red grape in Germany. It is cultivated primarily in Württemberg.

Scheurebe (1,483 ha, 2022): Named for the grape breeder Georg Scheu, who obtained this cross of Riesling and Bukettrebe at Alzey in 1916, Scheurebe is held as one of the few German crossings that can achieve high quality in the glass. Like Riesling, it can over-deliver in both dry and sweet versions, and it offers some of the pungently aromatic, thiol-based aromas of Sauvignon Blanc: grapefruit, cassis, cat pee. It is most successful in the Rheinhessen and the Pfalz.

Like Müller-Thurgau, Scheurebe was originally recorded as a cross of Riesling and Silvaner, an error corrected one century after its birth.

Other Varieties: It is international white varieties that are advancing most suddenly in the German vineyard. Chardonnay, ubiquitous elsewhere, was unknown in Germany prior to the 1990s, yet there are nearly 2,000 hectares today, much of it vinified as Sekt. Since 1995, Sauvignon Blanc made its debut and amassed over 1,100 hectares. White German grape crossings are all on the decline in the vineyard. Kerner maintains almost 2,600 hectares under vine, although over 4,500 hectares have been ripped out since 1995. Bacchus, Ortega, and others are similarly on the decline. Important German red grapes beyond those detailed above include Schwarzriesling (Pinot Meunier) and Trollinger (Schiava). Both are around 2,000 hectares in acreage and grow almost exclusively in Württemberg. Regent, an early-ripening red hybrid first authorized for planting in 1996, has actually spread to cover about 1,800 hectares, but this is not a grape for quality German red wines of the future.

German Sekt

Germans are the biggest sparkling wine consumers per capita, and Germany is the third-largest producer of sparkling wines in the world.

The country's history of sparkling wine production is long. The first German to make sparkling wine was Florenz-Ludwig Heidsieck, in 1785 in Champagne. The first sparkling wine made in Germany was in Württemberg, in 1826. Sparkling wine quickly became so popular that Kaiser Wilhelm set a Sekt tax in 1902 in order to finance his navy. It remains today: 1.02 Euro per bottle.

Around 85% of the output comes from the seven largest companies, including Henkell, Rotkäppchen, and Söhnlein-Brillant. These are companies that buy base wines from all over Europe and make fizz with the tank method. Ever wonder where all the Airen goes? Well, here is the answer! But that's another story.

Since growers now know how to make great Riesling and Pinot Noir, they are keen to improve sparkling wine quality. The leader of this movement is Volker Raumland from Rheinhessen, who founded Germany's first winery focusing only on sparkling wines. He started with a service business, to make Sekt for other wineries, since many lack the special bottling machines and other equipment required. However, he makes outstanding sparkling wines himself and makes base wine solely for this purpose—not too ripe, hand-harvested, using the free-run juice.

Ten years ago, when growers had mediocre wine in the cellar, they said, “Oh, let’s make Sekt out of it, put a lot of dosage on top, and sell it.” Those days are almost over! Raumland and many other growers are making very good base wines. Some of these are fermented and aged in oak. A few growers are even making single-vineyard Sekt.

Half of the premium Sekt is made from Riesling. For basic Riesling Sekt, long lees ageing is not required, since the lees aromas would overwhelm the aromatic Riesling character. Raumland and other producers like Matthieu Kaufmann (former cellar master at Bollinger) of Reichsrat von Buhl make profound Riesling Sekt. They do some malolactic fermentation and leave the Sekt longer on the lees, resulting in more autolytic character but with the Riesling fruit still shining through. Theirs is a unique and special sparkling wine style.

One-third of premium Sekt is made of Pinot varieties, with Pinot Blanc playing an important role. The remaining one-fifth of premium Sekt is made with aromatic varieties. Scheurebe and Gewürztraminer are specialties.

Most Sekt is Brut, with a handful of producers making very balanced Brut Nature styles.

– Romana Echensperger, MW

Rheingau

The Rheingau is the classic site of Rhenish Riesling cultivation
-H.W. Dahlen, General Secretary of the German Wine-Growers Association, 1894

The Rhine River, one of Western Europe’s key routes for transport and trade, flows northward from its headwaters in Switzerland to the North Sea without deviation, save for one short turn to the west. Between the cities of Mainz and Wiesbaden, the Rhine’s wide path collides with the rise of the western Taunus range, and it swerves westward past the town of Rüdesheim am Rhein before turning north again. On this 30-kilometer stretch of river, the central Rheingau rises from the river’s north bank—a massive south-facing slope that climbs, unhurriedly, from 75 meters at the water’s edge to over 300 meters in elevation. Here, where some believe the Riesling vine first sprung from a seed, Germany’s international reputation for world-class wines was forged.

The central Rheingau includes most of the region’s vineyards and its most renowned winegrowing villages. Between the outskirts of Wiesbaden on its eastern edge and the village of Rüdesheim in the west are Walluf, Martinsthal, Rauenthal, Eltville, Kiedrich, Erbach, Hallgarten, Hattenheim, Oestrich, Winkel, and Johannisberg. Geisenheim, home to Germany’s top enological school and grape-breeding institute, sits at the river’s edge, downslope and just west of Johannisberg. (Johannisberg itself is technically part of the larger Geisenheim municipality.) From Walluf to the town of Geisenheim, the Rhine River is broad, the hillside sprawling and less abrupt. Soils feature a mixture of slate, quartzite, and sandstone, with layers of loess and clay on the lower slopes and stonier, more eroded soils on the upper slopes, with a higher proportion of slate. West of Geisenheim, the river narrows before bending northward, and the Rheingau hillside becomes more dramatic. Many of the central Rheingau’s vineyards exhibit a leisurely incline, but at its edge, Rüdesheim claims the region’s steepest slopes, which reach a 70% grade in the Grosse Lage site Berg Schlossberg.

The classic English nickname for Rhine wines, Hock, is derived from the name of Hochheim.

There are two other, smaller areas within the Rheingau Anbaugebiet. The second sector is the Western Rheingau, which extends from the red-wine commune of Assmannshausen northward to Lorchhausen on the right bank of the river, at the entrance to the Rhine Gorge and the Mittelrhein Anbaugebiet. Conditions are more in line with the Mittelrhein than the central Rheingau; colder sites and purer slate soils are common. The third area, the Maingau, is not actually on the Rhine at all. Instead, this small enclave of vines is clustered around the village of Hochheim am Main, east of Wiesbaden in the valley of the Main River, a Rhine tributary. It is uncharacteristically warm, and soils here demonstrate a geological transition from the Rhenish Massif into the Mainz Basin, with loess-covered loams and marls replacing sandstone and slate. Slopes are gentler than on the Rhine itself and overall lower in elevation, rarely exceeding 120 meters above sea level. Despite what could have been a sensible division into two or three Bereiche, the 1971 wine law identifies only one: Johannisberg, named for the small village at the heart of the central Rheingau.

On the Rheingau hill, proud castles (Schloss) and former abbeys (Kloster) populate the landscape, signaling the historical importance of the church and aristocracy, the chief architects of viticulture in the Rheingau. As in the Mosel, advancing Roman legions introduced the vine here, but it was in the monastic era that winegrowing came to dominate this small region to a degree unmatched anywhere else in Germany. Benedictine monks founded a Kloster at Johannisberg in the early 12th century, and the Cistercians arrived from Burgundy to establish Kloster Eberbach in 1136. Like their contemporaries in the Côte d’Or, the Cistercians of Kloster Eberbach developed a massive network of vineyards, and by 1435, the monks’ records indicate the cultivation of Riesling. Kloster Eberbach began marking high-quality wines as Cabinet in 1712, and in 1775, Schloss Johannisberg announced the first planned Spätlese harvest of botrytis-affected fruit. Meanwhile, aristocrats secured massive Rheingau vineyard holdings as well. Schloss Schönborn, founded in 1349, Schloss Vollrads, Baron Langwerth von Simmern, Schloss Reinhartshausen, and other winegrowing estates that count centuries of noble lineage still populate the region. Schloss Schönborn and Schloss Johannisberg were among the first producers in Germany to introduce glass bottles, in the early 1700s.

The influence of both church and aristocracy would erode in the modern era. The Catholic Church lost many of its lands in Germany at the beginning of the 19th century, in a wave of secularization instigated by Napoleon. Schloss Johannisberg is now under corporate ownership, while the Eberbach Abbey and its famous walled Steinberg domaine are now the property of the Hessen State Winery, the largest single wine producer in Germany. And the stodgy approach of some of the elder aristocratic houses, steadfast in the belief that noble blood produces noble wines, started to prove otherwise. The height of German wine fame in the 19th century rested on the shoulders of Rheingau Riesling, but by the late 20th century, many of the region’s wines seemed less inspired. Today, the Rheingau is finally experiencing renewed vigor, amidst changes in philosophy and management at the old guard, propelled by the energy and imagination of newer producers who number their experience in years, not centuries. The best of the Rheingau today includes Peter Jakob Kühn, Josef Leitz, Eva Fricke, Georg Breuer, and Künstler—all newcomers or names unknown in the mid-20th century.

No region in Germany is as committed to Riesling as the Rheingau. It accounts for almost 2,500 of the region’s 3,160 total hectares under vine—8 out of every 10 vines in the Rheingau are Riesling. Almost exclusively, Riesling is grown in the best vineyard sites; many of Germany’s most legendary examples of the wine were produced here. As the first Spätlese and, subsequently, Auslese wines were fashioned from Rheingau grapes by the end of the 1700s, the region has a long history of success with noble sweet wines. Botrytis is a common occurrence near the broad Rhine, especially in vineyards nearest the river. (It's also common in the vineyards closest to the riverside villages, where buildings constrict the flow of wind and encourage rot.) Even as the 50th parallel runs directly through the Rheingau, the moderating impact of the Rhine on local temperatures allows Riesling to hang on the vine into the early autumn for the late harvests necessary for Prädikatswein. In most vintages, the Rheingau adds 40% or more of its production to the Prädikatswein category, even as some of it finishes dry. The modern focus is dry Riesling: around 80% of Rheingau Riesling has nine grams per liter or less of residual sugar.

A turn toward dry Riesling in the Rheingau, which would replace off-dry wines as the primary product of the region by the end of the 20th century, began with the founding of the Charta Association in 1984. The association strove to promote more stringent quality guidelines than the 1971 wine law provides, to better define the Rheingau’s great vineyard sites, and to elevate dry Riesling to its historical role as a top product of the region prior to the Second World War. (Its aims echo—and inform—those of the VDP.) Charta Riesling became a brand for its members. Wines in the dry style carried the association’s logo, an emblem of three Roman arches styled from the balcony of the historic Graue Haus hotel in Winkel. Bernhard Breuer of Rüdesheim’s Georg Breuer estate led the charge, and the conversation started by Charta would eventually extend beyond the Rheingau and ignite debate throughout Germany. Locally, producers in the Rheingau pushed for a legal classification of vineyard sites and a new legal designation for top dry wines of the Rheingau: Erstes Gewächs. This “first growth” category, permitted under German wine law for the 1999 vintage forward, applies to dry Riesling and Spätburgunder bottlings from selected Rheingau vineyards. The vineyard classification, based on an 1867 Rheingau map, represented the first site-based quality hierarchy accepted into law in the wake of the 1971 legislation. Unlike the Charta designation, or the coming Grosses Gewächs of the VDP, the Erstes Gewächs category is available to all producers who adhere to its requirements and have a share in the selected land—which amounts to almost one-third of the entire planted area of the Rheingau—resulting in a watered-down sense of “first growth” by anyone’s standards. Erstes Gewächs, now accompanied by the logo of three arches, is legally sanctioned and therefore spelled out in full on Rheingau labels.

Rheingau vineyards, whether classified by German law or considered Grosse Lage by the VDP, number as some of the most famous Riesling sites in Germany. Two monopoles of ecclesiastical origin exist: Schloss Johannisberg, planted to Riesling since 1720, and the Hattenheimer Steinberg vineyard of Kloster Eberbach, enclosed by a wall in 1760. There is also Hattenheimer Pfaffenberg, a monopole of Schloss Schönborn since the 1600s. Other great sites are of fragmented ownership, such as Kiedricher Gräfenberg, exemplified by Robert Weil; Hochheimer Hölle and Johannisberger Hölle, a shared name that indicates a rocky hill (not “hell,” the direct translation of hölle); and the trio of great vineyards at Rüdesheim, named Berg Rottland, Berg Roseneck, and Berg Schlossberg. At the small outpost for Spätburgunder at Assmannshausen, there is one great site, Höllenberg. August Kesseler is the preeminent producer.

Mosel

Traditionally, Riesling from the Rheingau was bottled in brown glass, while Riesling from the Mosel was bottled in green glass.

The valleys of the Mosel River and its tributaries, the Saar and Ruwer, together comprise one of Germany’s most picturesque, historic, and iconic wine regions. Cherished for the attributes of lightness and finesse it can imbue in its wines, the Mosel was for many years Europe’s largest cultivator of Riesling, until finally overtaken by the Pfalz in the mid-2000s. Talk of the Mosel conjures imagery of a winding river snaking its way across a landscape of small villages and precipitous slopes, covered in tiles of broken slate and draped with vines. Coursing between the Hunsrück hills and the Eifel Mountains, the Mosel River creates an idyllic backdrop for winegrowing, even as its best vineyards inhabit some of the most challenging terrain in the world for winegrowers.

The earliest evidence of winegrowing in Germany is in the Mosel. Imported by the Romans, who founded the city of Trier in 16 BCE as a provincial capital, viticulture here first prospered at the end of the third century CE, after Probus lifted the imperial prohibition on winegrowing in Rome’s provinces. Early medieval documents detailing vineyard ownership exist from the seventh century, and the church guided its development. The St. Maximin monastery and the Bishop of Trier both owned scores of vines by the late medieval period, and it was a powerful Archbishop of Trier, Clemens Wenceslaus, who in 1786 decreed a mandatory shift to Riesling throughout the vineyard.

In early modern times, the Mosel and the Rheingau became models for Riesling—they were the only two areas in Germany producing noble sweet wines with any regularity. Unlike the Rheingau, however, the Mosel began a tradition of producing lightly sweet, low-alcohol Riesling wines in the 19th century. Before the advent of sterile filtration, this could only be accomplished with a heavy dose of sulfur, and with it, the Mosel style of Kabinett Riesling was born, offering a clear alternative to the heavier dry styles of the Rheingau and elsewhere. The Mosel today produces thrilling, electric dry Riesling alongside wines with every degree of residual sugar, yet it is the light and delicate Kabinett Riesling that is its signature gift. Further, with ripeness more easily obtained in the modern era of climate change, this style is increasingly difficult to craft with a classic sense of balance.

The Mosel Single-Post System

The Mosel’s treacherously steep slopes often register grades of 50 to 80% and may even reach 100% or higher, spelling worry for life and limb despite advantages for the vine. Mosel growers traditionally employed their own system of vine training, the single-post system, to improve workers’ ability to traverse the dangerous hillsides. In the single-post system, growers train vines upright, without wires, employing either a vertical cordon or two canes, wrapped in a characteristic heart-shaped bow. Absent wires, vineyard workers have much more freedom of movement to navigate the difficult terrain. (Pulleys and cables are still required in some places to move machinery.) However, the system faces criticism. In order to improve airflow and reduce botrytis, leaf removal is necessary, but this increases sun exposure, which can lead to TDN-based flavors (petrol) in Riesling. Wire trellises appeared in the 20th century at larger properties, and in the post-Flurbereinigung world, the single-post system, once commonplace, has lost a lot of ground in the Mosel.

The Mosel River, at 545 kilometers in length, is the longest tributary of the Rhine River. It begins in the Vosges Mountains in France, home of the Moselle AOP, and forms Luxembourg’s border with Germany. It then carves a winding path for more than 200 kilometers through Germany to the city of Koblenz, where it converges with the Rhine. Vineyards follow its every twist and turn. The modern Anbaugebiet, known simply as the Mosel, includes six Bereiche, three of which lie on the river itself: Bernkastel (the Middle Mosel), followed by Burg Cochem (the Lower Mosel, or Terrassenmosel) and Obermosel (the Upper Mosel). Two Bereiche, the Ruwertal and Saar, mark the vineyards of its two main tributaries, and a sixth, Moseltor, covers a scant handful of vines in the Saarland, near Obermosel. The 50-kilometer-long Bernkastel Bereich, named for the township of Bernkastel-Kues at its heart, holds two-thirds of the Mosel’s vineyard area; its wine-producing villages are responsible for a significant share of the Mosel’s historical fame and current reputation.

Collectively, the Mosel’s six districts constitute one of Germany’s coolest climates for winegrowing, as the region crosses the 50th parallel. The moderating effect of the river and the orientation and aspect of its vineyard sites, altitude, and exposure to wind all impact growing season temperatures and the ability to produce quality wine. At this latitude, global warming notwithstanding, average annual temperatures hover right around 10° C (50° F), and the typical growing season is compressed to about 100 days. However, the tweaks and amplifications of climate that the Mosel offers can extend that period by 40 to 50 days in the best sites. The warmest vineyards in the entire valley are south- and southwest-facing slopes along the Mosel River itself, where sunlight and temperature are magnified, and such slopes produce the best wines. Rarely are north-facing slopes planted, even though viticulture expanded in the latter half of the 20th century to include flatter plains and side valleys, none of which offer enough warmth to produce high-quality Riesling. Vineyards in narrower sectors of the Mosel Valley and those at lower elevation are afforded more protection from wind, while forests cap the hillsides, acting as bulwarks against the cold air drafts that blow in from the Hunsrück and Eifel ranges. Proximity to the river helps to mitigate the danger of spring frosts, even as it creates frequent banks of autumn fog, signaling the arrival of botrytis.

Soil color and composition also play a role in ripening the vine. The thin, sandy topsoil of the Mosel is typically covered with tiles of broken slate, carried up the slopes and strewn about the vineyards year after year, to collect heat and prevent erosion of the soil beneath. The soil’s trademark element, Devonian slate, helps to defuse nighttime lows and limit diurnal variation by releasing heat stored throughout the day into the canopy. Devonian slate is found in both dark blue and red variations; the effect is intensified with dark-colored slate, the more common variation. The broken, weathered soil also affords excellent drainage. In the Mosel, rainfall varies from 650 to 900 millimeters annually (26.5 to 35.5 inches), and it is evenly distributed throughout the year. Without such dry, well-drained, heat-retaining soils, ripening would be delayed. Additionally, the slate soils of the Mosel have served to limit the incursion of phylloxera. The bug is present, but it cannot thrive, leaving a few pockets of centurion vines in the valley. (Nonetheless, most vines are grafted—it is usually illegal to plant otherwise.) Extremely weathered and nutrient poor, these old, acidic slate soils can lead to nitrogen deficiency in grape must and low wine pH. The combination of resulting sulfur-derived aromas and high acidity easily leads tasters into “mineral” territory.

Districts of the Mosel

Bernkastel

The Middle Mosel follows the winding path of the river from Trier north to Zell. One after another, the famous winegrowing villages of the region appear: Leiwen, Trittenheim, Piesport, Brauneberg, Bernkastel-Kues, Graach, Wehlen, Zeltingen, Ürzig, and Erden. This sector, spanning some 50 kilometers of river, claims three-quarters of the acreage of the entire Anbaugebiet and includes many of Germany’s most renowned Riesling sites: Bernkasteler Doctor, Piesporter Goldtröpfchen, Erdener Prälat, Graacher Himmelreich, Ürziger Würzgarten, and the famous sundial (Sonnenuhr) vineyards of Wehlen and Zeltingen. The classic identity of the Mosel was etched here, but quality can vary immensely. Common Grosslagen bottlings like Piesporter Michelsberg or lesser single vineyard wines have diminished the region’s reputation and the price of its best wines. One can even see this in the local architecture. Houses from a century ago, with their slate-tiled roofs, reflect past wealth, while modern construction evokes more modest means. Nonetheless, some of the Mosel’s greatest and most timeless wines emerge from this region, from benchmark producers like Joh. Jos. Prüm, Reinhold Haart, Reichsgraf von Kesselstatt, and Dr. Loosen; meanwhile, upstarts with more recent reputations, like Ansgar Clüsserath, Daniel Vollenweider, and Clemens-Busch, are revitalizing the Mosel’s image.

Burg Cochem

The Lower Mosel stretches from Zell northward through Cochem to Koblenz, at the border of the Mittelrhein Anbaugebiet where the Mosel River joins the Rhine. The slopes here are even more dizzyingly steep, with grades easily reaching 70% or more. The region, also known as the Terrassenmosel, still hides some old, narrow hillside terraces, originally built by Romans and painstakingly maintained through the centuries, but most of these relics were obliterated with the Flurbereinigung campaign, which leveled and widened hillsides to permit machines. Winningen is a key winegrowing village, home to star producer Heymann-Löwenstein and the premier vineyard site Uhlen. Reinhard Heymann-Löwenstein applied for Germany’s first three single-vineyard PDOs, for three separate parcels within Uhlen: Blaufüsser Lay, Roth Lay, and Laubach. These were approved by the EU in 2018. The outspoken intellectual also has a theory as to the Middle Mosel’s superiority over his more remote stretch of river: “The smart kids from Winningen went to the city (Koblenz). We were left with the stupid kids that made bad wine.”

Obermosel

The Upper Mosel bereiche occupies the right bank of the Mosel River from just south of Trier to the French border. (The left bank is in Luxembourg.) This sector of the Mosel sits, with Chablis and Champagne, within the Paris Basin, atop a calcareous soil makeup that replaces the Devonian slate of the Middle and Lower Mosel. Riesling takes a backseat in Obermosel to Elbling, an ancient white grape variety that produces simple, fruity whites and refreshing sparkling wines.

Ruwertal

The Ruwer is a small tributary of the Mosel River, a stream connecting to the Middle Mosel between Trier and Trittenheim. A slightly cooler region than the Middle Mosel, the Ruwertal has a similar slate soil composition and contains about 200 hectares of vines, mostly Riesling. The church’s historical connection to viticulture is clear here: the Benedictine St. Maximin monastery, so important to medieval viticulture in the Mosel, based its winemaking operations here, at (Maximin) Grünhaus, as early as the 900s. The estate, still in operation and now owned by the von Schubert family, is an Ortsteil and one of the Ruwer’s best wine producers. The other great estate of the Ruwertal, Karthäuserhof in Eitelsbach, also claims an ecclesiastical origin under the domaine of Carthusian monks.

Saar

A small region south of Trier, the Saar Bereich inhabits the banks of the Saar River, a Mosel tributary. The slate hills are steep and windswept here, but most vineyards do not line the river, which flows almost directly north. Despite its more southerly location, the Saar is therefore one of the coolest areas of the Mosel. Achieving ripeness can be a challenge in cool vintages and the wines—again, mostly Riesling—are often even more austere and acid-driven than those from the Middle Mosel. The best vineyards are the south-facing Saarburger Rausch, the neighboring Hörecker and Altenberg on the Saar River in Kanzem, and the legendary Scharzhofberg in Wiltingen. Scharzhofberg is likely the most famous site in the Mosel—or in all of Germany. Egon Müller is its most lauded producer.

Moseltor

Geologically connected to the Upper Mosel, with limestone rather than slate soils, Moseltor falls on the other side of a state boundary and is therefore considered a separate Bereich. There are only three winegrowing villages and a handful of vineyards.

Rheinhessen

Home to one-quarter of Germany’s land under vine, the Rheinhessen is the country’s biggest winegrowing region. The Anbaugebiet spans a large area south of the Rheingau and north of the Pfalz, with the Nahe on its western border and Hessische-Bergstrasse a few kilometers to the east. The distance from the city of Worms at its southern end to its northernmost point at Mainz, the Rheinland-Pfalz state capital, is nearly 50 kilometers. The Rhine River creates a natural border with the Rheingau as well as its eastern boundary, but for much of the region’s 30-kilometer-wide area, the river’s influence is not markedly felt. In such a large area, there is a great diversity of mesoclimates and soils, and no single climatic feature—a river’s moderating influence, or the aspect of a slope—can adequately explain prevailing conditions throughout the entire Anbaugebiet. As such, there is a diversity of grape varieties and no single Rheinhessen style, save for a self-inflicted image: Rheinhessen is known as the land of Liebfraumilch, a region committed to quantity over quality wine.

Liebfrau(en)milch

"Our Lady’s Milk" likely got its start as a real product of the Liebfrau monastery in Worms in the 18th century. From the 1950s to 1980s, however, it was Germany’s most famous wine brand in the English-speaking world. The 1971 wine law allowed Nahe, Pfalz, Rheingau, and Rheinhessen to produce it, requiring it to contain at least 70% of the following varieties: Riesling, Müller-Thurgau, Silvaner, and Kerner. The wines must contain at least 18 grams per liter of residual sugar, and varietal labeling is not allowed.

There is one area historically associated with quality winegrowing in the Rheinhessen: the Roter Hang, a “red hill” of clay and weathered red sandstone (Rotliegendes) on the left bank of the Rhine between the villages of Nierstein and Nackenheim. It lies within a larger span of eastern exposures, the Rheinterrasse, which extends south of Nierstein through the village of Oppenheim. Protected from the frost and winds that sweep through much of the Rheinhessen and home to the famed vineyards Pettenthal and Rothenberg, the Roter Hang is a slim, east-facing slope reaching 70 to 80% grade, but it is hardly representative of the entire Anbaugebiet. Riesling from the Roter Hang fetched prices in line with those of the Rheingau in the 19th century—in fact, the most expensive wine aboard the doomed Titanic was a Niersteiner Riesling—but the remainder of the Rheinhessen became better known in the 20th century as a reservoir of uninteresting crossings and unremarkable wines. By the 1970s, most Rheinhessen grapes were directed to off-dry-to-semi-sweet generic Liebfraumilch blends. Liebfraumilch, which originated as a specialty of Worms, became a sugary, bastardized product that debased Germany’s reputation as a wine producer. Additionally, the 1971 wine law appropriated the name of the small village of Nierstein for one of three Rheinhessen Bereiche, diminishing its value. (Niersteiner Gutes Domtal, a collective site introduced in 1971, came to markets in force.) The Rheinhessen name, including that of its most spectacular stretch of vineyards, was tarnished.

In the last two decades of the 20th century, however, a new spirit arose. In areas never seriously considered promising, new voices arrived on the scene. Klaus-Peter Keller and Philipp Wittmann, whose estates share access to several vineyards in the southern Wonnegau Bereich, led the charge. Their best vineyards, including several Grosse Lage sites, appear as gently undulating fields rather than dramatic slopes. (In the village of Westhofen they have neighboring parcels in Kirchspiel, Morstein, and Brunnenhäuschen; in Flörsheim-Dalsheim, Keller also maintains plots in Bürgel and Hubacker.) Bereft of the Rhine’s influence, the limestone plateaus and low valleys of the Rheinhessen interior have the potential to create world-class wines, amidst a nearly treeless patchwork of agricultural pursuits. The vineyards appear unspectacular, but some of the best dry Riesling wines in the world today come from the limestone and loess soils in the Bereich of Wonnegau. (Keller sources the most expensive dry Riesling produced in Germany, “G-Max,” from an undisclosed parcel in the region.) Rheinhessen’s third Bereich, Bingen, is named for the town at its northwestern corner and covers much of the western reaches of the Anbaugebiet. The region lacks the star power Wonnegau currently enjoys, but there are clusters of good sites in the villages of Bingen and Siefersheim, the latter anchored by the recent successes of Wagner-Stempel.

Keller, Wittmann, Wagner-Stempel, the biodynamic Kühling-Gillot in the Roter Hang, and a select few others represent an explosive new force in German Riesling. Typically, they focus on dry styles and promote spontaneous fermentation as a stylistic choice. They belong to Message in a Bottle, an organization of over two dozen young producers in the region committed to raising the region’s potential and image, internally and internationally. There are classicists with longer track records of quality wines, such as the Gunderloch estate, which owns three-quarters of Nackenheimer Rothenberg, but much of the energy and excitement today in Rheinhessen is with the experimenters and iconoclasts.

As Rheinhessen throws off its old image as a bulk producer, Riesling is not the only beneficiary. It asserted itself as the Rheinhessen’s most planted grape as recently as 2013—Rheinhessen held onto Müller-Thurgau as its chief variety longer than any other major Anbaugebiet—but it only accounts for 16% of the total vineyard. Dry Silvaner is a regional specialty, and the Rheinhessen has more Silvaner planted than any other region in the world, including Franken. Scheurebe, originally bred at Alzey in the Rheinhessen, maintains a presence and is currently undergoing a small revival of interest domestically. And despite the dangers of frost and wind, the Rheinhessen is a warmer region and it is experiencing a surge in interest for Spätburgunder and the white and grey Burgundy varieties. Blue Nun and Liebfraumilch cast a long shadow over the Rheinhessen, but today one is just as likely to find quality wines—from Germany's most diverse selection of varieties—here as anywhere else in the country.

Pfalz

With nearly one-quarter of Germany’s 102,000 hectares of vines, the Pfalz holds Germany’s second-largest cache of vineyards, second only to the Rheinhessen, and commands the country’s largest acreage of Riesling. There is more Riesling in the Pfalz than in Alsace, or in the whole country of Austria, or Australia, or the United States. In comparison to northerly regions like the Mosel, the Pfalz is warm and sunny, with a modern style of Riesling that is resoundingly dry, offering more body, weight, and alcohol than any other classic Riesling region in Germany. Unlike the Rheingau or Mosel, however, the Pfalz is multidimensional: Dornfelder, Müller-Thurgau, and Portugieser follow Riesling in sheer quantities, while the Pfalz’s great vineyards also find room for Spätburgunder, Grauburgunder, Weissburgunder, Scheurebe, and more. (Of these, three—Riesling, Spätburgunder, and Weissburgunder—are currently authorized for VDP Grosse Lage bottlings.) Like the Rheinhessen, this broad region once harbored only a sliver of renowned vineyards, but today good and great wines are made throughout it.

Geographically, the Pfalz lies between Rheinhessen and Alsace. (The region’s shifting political allegiance between France and Germany over the past 200 years actually leaves its southernmost vineyards just across the French border in the Alsatian town of Wissembourg.) The Pfalz Anbaugebiet is on the western side of the Upper Rhine Plain, with its best vineyard sites creeping up the Haardt hills—a northern, forest-capped extension of the Vosges Mountains. It is divided into two Bereiche: the Mittelhaardt-Deutsche Weinstrasse and the Südliche Weinstrasse, both of which take their name from the “wine route,” a road opened in 1935 to link the region’s picturesque villages and boost tourism. The northern sector, the Mittelhaardt, begins about 20 kilometers south of Worms and encompasses many of the Pfalz’s most historic and famous winegrowing villages, including Kallstadt, Ungestein, Forst, Deidesheim, Ruppertsberg, and Gimmeldingen. The Südliche (southern) Weinstrasse picks up just south of the city of Neustadt and extends through Schweigen at the Alsatian border.

In the Mittelhaardt, the landscape is reminiscent of the Côte d’Or. Small medieval villages, crowned by church steeples, dot the plain below the east-facing Haardt hills, where the best vineyards sit mid-slope and bask in morning sun, before they are enveloped in the long evening shadow of the Palatinate Forest treeline. Many of the Mittelhaardt’s modern Grosse Lage sites were mapped in the 1828 Bavarian Land Registry and have ecclesiastical origins in the 12th and 13th centuries. As in Burgundy, they are often clustered together; the greatest concentration of Grosse and Erste Lage sites occupies a small band of slope between Forst and Deidesheim. And just as the Côte d’Or’s ownership has fractured since the era of Napoleon, so to has the Pfalz witnessed a subdividing of vineyard parcels with every new generation—a trend the German government has attempted to curb by restructuring parcel ownership through its Flurbereinigung campaign, with more successes in the flatter, machine-worked vineyards of the Upper Rhine Plain than the premier sites of the Haardt hillsides. In fact, some of the best Einzellagen in the entire Pfalz region have maintained tight boundaries and tiny parcel ownership despite the 1971 wine law and reallocation under Flurbereinigung. The Grosse Lage vineyards Hohenmorgen in Deidesheim and Freundstück in Forst are both under five hectares in size. At 3.7 hectares, Forster Kirchenstück—the “Church parcel”—is the finest, warmest, and most uniform site in the Mittelhaardt, if not the entire Anbaugebiet. Shared by eight owners, enclosed by a small sandstone wall, and planted entirely to Riesling, the small vineyard was classified in 1828 as the Bavarian kingdom’s best and sits snugly above the village, nestled between the Grosse Lagen Freundstück, Jesuitengarten, and Ungeheur.

Other important sites of the Mittelhaardt include Königsbacher Idig and Gimmeldinger Mandelgarten, both south of Deidesheim, and Kallstadter Saumagen, an amphitheater-like suntrap and the finest site north of Forst. The great hillside vineyards of the Mittelhaardt, sun-drenched and protected from wind and rain by the Drachenfels and other low peaks of the Haardt hills, are rich in history and serve as modern redoubts for exemplary dry Riesling; meanwhile, in the flatter Upper Rhine Plain of the Mittelhaardt, the lion’s share of ordinary Pfalz wines are farmed.

As the Mittelhaardt has historically been the most important sector of the Pfalz, Mittelhaardt-based producers have long been regarded as standard-bearers for quality in the region. The “three Bs”—Reichsrat von Buhl, Bürklin-Wolf, and Bassermann-Jordan—have important legacies and continue to produce significant quantities of fine wine. (One can compare them side by side only in one vineyard: Kirchenstück.) Koehler-Ruprecht has single-handedly manufactured the reputation of Saumagen, and Müller-Catoir in the village of Haardt continues to prove that classically sweet wines have their place in the Pfalz, producing Riesling, Scheurebe, and Rieslaner in a lusher style. Weingut von Winning is a modern superstar, even as the estate draws criticism for adding new barriques and tonneaux to a Riesling cellar. Yet several of the Pfalz’s most important producers today hail from an unlikely location: the south.

Until recently, the Südliche Weinstrasse was a region in decline. The warm, sunny southern sector of the Pfalz was a cheap source of bulk wines prior to the passage of the 1971 wine law, and much of its output wound up in Mosel négociant blends. The idea of Qualitätswein from a single region sunk its fortunes, and vineyards fell into disrepair or were abandoned outright. A small series of serious producers, including Ökonomierat Rebholz, Dr. Wehrheim, and Friedrich Becker, resurrected the region’s fortunes by the mid-2000s. The rediscovery of sites of great potential, like the Birkweiler Kastanienbusch, an 86-hectare, south-facing slope hidden among the Haardt hills, gave new hope to the region. Less tied to tradition than the Mittelhaardt, the southern Pfalz has provided a more diverse vineyard, with some of Germany’s best examples of Weissburgunder and Spätburgunder appearing in vineyards like Siebeldinger im Sonnenschein and Schweiger Kammerberg. In the Südliche Weinstrasse, exposures are more varied, and the best vineyards are frequently steeper than those of the Mittelhaardt. Here, the winegrowing villages are tucked into the hills, rather than aligned neatly along their flank.

Pfalz Soil and Geology

As in Alsace, one of the most intriguing aspects of the Pfalz for winegrowers is in its complex geology and soil patterns. Neighboring parcels may have entirely different soil compositions; large vineyards may show multiple, distinct geological underpinnings. It’s complicated, and the result of many long years of geological activity and upheaval. Some 250 million years ago, primordial rivers swept alluvial sediment—sand, clay, and silt—into the vast plain that would one day become the Pfalz. Compacted over eons and colored by iron oxide, red sandstone today provides the foundation for the Palatinate forest and the Haardt hills. Additionally, volcanic activity pushed magma to the surface of the earth’s crust, resulting in layers of basalt, and some 50 million years ago, tectonic activity and the rise of the Alps caused the Rhine basin to collapse. The Haardt hills on the west and the mountains of the Odenwald on the east rose sharply as the land between them sunk and filled with seawater. Over time, the area dried up again, but traces of the sea remained: calcareous deposits from this period of submersion formed limestone (Kalkstein) and shell-limestone (Muschelkalk). As millions of years passed slowly by, water, erosion, and wind filled the Rhine basin with sand, gravel, and loess—the latter is the Pfalz’s youngest soil, arriving after the last ice age. During that glacial age, rivers of ice advanced into Europe, grinding primary rock beneath them into pulverized, fine grains. As the glaciers retreated with warming temperatures, this dusty combination of pulverized rock and other small sediments—loess—was unleashed upon the winds, and much of the soil settled beneath the Palatinate Forest in Pfalz. Once covered by vegetation, the loess held firmly in place; today, it is one of the few truly arable soil types still cherished for wine production.

Franken

The modern Anbaugebiet of Franken lies within the federal state of Bavaria, a region better known for beer than wine. (This is, after all, the part of Germany that produced the Reinheitsgebot in the 16th century.) Today, it ranks sixth among Germany’s Anbaugebiete in terms of total vineyard acreage. Franken lies on the Main River, a small Rhine tributary, some 130 kilometers east of the Rheingau. With its inland location, absent the moderating force of a major river, Franken’s climate is the most sharply continental of all of Germany’s southwestern regions, with very clearly defined seasons, short and hot summers, and bitterly cold winters. As in Washington State, winter’s severity threatens to kill vines, and spring frosts are an annual plague on productivity. Franken’s climate has never been particularly kind to Riesling, which occupies only 4% of its 6,100 planted hectares and needs the warmest south-facing slopes to thrive. Winter-hardy crossings are popular in the region. The most traditional variety associated with the region, is the mid-ripening Silvaner, which migrated from Austria to Franken during a period of deep, unsettling cold in Europe. Today, it is Franken’s most planted grape, however, at 25% of the region's plantings.

Franken Silvaner is bottled in the traditional, squat Bocksbeutel.

The Franken white wine style has traditionally been oriented toward the production of bone dry, austere wines. Silvaner is the most important quality grape, followed by a trickle of Riesling, Weissburgunder, and the occasional compelling red Spätburgunder or Frühburgunder. However, most basic “Frankenwein” is still nameless, blended from Müller-Thurgau, Bacchus, Kerner, and the like. Franken Silvaner, not unlike Austrian Grüner Veltliner, can produce lighter, slightly herbal, spicy wines in Franken’s more common sites and heavy, full-bodied wines in the premiere Grosse Lage vineyards—just as in Austria, however, the current trend is to limit alcohol to levels below the 14 to 15% mark in order to retain freshness in the top wines. While Silvaner is a grape that can easily lose varietal character with high yields, its classic hallmarks of phenolics, herbal notes, and subtle aromatics shine through with care and reduced crops. As with Riesling, new oak rarely factors into Franken Silvaner wines, but large barrels, concrete eggs, long lees aging, malolactic fermentation, and skin contact are all in play. Only the fashionable technique of spontaneous fermentation shows mixed results with Silvaner—Riesling has the acidity to taste dry if a wild ferment gets stuck at 6 or 7 grams per liter of residual sugar; Silvaner does not. Bottled in the traditional, squat Bocksbeutel—allegedly shaped like a Roman canteen or, yes, a sheep’s scrotum—Franken Silvaner is a difficult wine to perfect but a truly distinctive local specialty. First planted by Cistercian monks in Franken in 1659, the grape became the most important variety in Germany, eventually encompassing one-third of the entire national vineyard. It lost its top spot to Müller-Thurgau in 1969, yet Franken producers stubbornly hang on to this diminishing local treasure.

In Franken, there are three Bereiche: Mainviereck, Maindreieck, and Steigerwald. The westernmost reaches of the Anbaugebiet are in Mainviereck, or the “four-sided Main,” where the river’s flow approximates a rectangular shape. Soils here are typically composed of weathered red sandstone, and the climate is gentler than in areas further east. It has therefore emerged as the only natural home for Pinot Noir in Franken. The villages of Klingenberg and Bürgstadt have earned reputations for quality red wine, while marking the earliest known episodes of winegrowing in Franken, which date back to the 8th century. Bürgstadt’s Rudolf Fürst is the top name for Spätburgunder in Franken. In the center of Franken, the Main River’s course appears to form a triangle—this is the Maindreieck, or “three-sided Main.” With the city of Würzburg on its western edge, Maindreieck produces almost three-quarters of Franken’s wine, from shell-limestone soils.

Würzburg itself has always been the commercial center of the region, and its famous Stein vineyard, even at 85 hectares in size, has captivated wine drinkers for centuries. A warm, south-facing limestone and loess slope overlooking the Main, Würzburger Stein is planted primarily to Riesling and Silvaner; it produces some of Franken’s top examples of both grapes with a touch of trademark smokiness but, like other massive grand cru-styled vineyards, its parcels vary dramatically in intrinsic worth. (It also showcases the German willingness to manipulate terrain: the soils here have been replenished and replaced over the course of hundreds of years.) The most important landholders of Stein are Juliusspital, Franken’s largest producer, and Bürgerspital—both charitable hospital (Spital) foundations financed by large winemaking operations.

The last Bereich, Steigerwald, is located on the eastern end of Franken. Its vineyards are often removed from the immediate environs of the Main River and less subject to humidity and botrytis. With vineyards on the edge of the Steigerwald mountain forest, reaching almost 400 meters in elevation, this is the highest and coolest district in Franken. However, the region’s black, gypsum-laced Keuper soils mitigate low temperatures by warming the vines at night—so much so that vines can often produce quality wines even on north-facing slopes. Castell, where Silvaner first appeared in Germany, and Iphofen are the most important villages of the Steigerwald.

The Main River has a tributary, the Tauber River, which converges with it just west of Homburg. The 1971 wine law divided vineyards in the Taubertal, despite sharing similar climate and soil profiles, among three Anbaugebiete: Franken, Baden, and Württemberg. Thus, Baden has a Tauberfranken Bereich, Württemberg has a small slice of the Taubertal near the village of Bad Mergentheim, and a portion of the region remains in the Maindreieck. Baden and Franken producers from the region have the right to bottle in a Bocksbeutel; Württemberg producers do not. A historic region, around 1,000 hectares of vineyards exist, but the climate here is quite marginal for quality grapes, while sunlight hours are fewer here than in any of the three neighboring regions. Silvaner and Riesling are popular varieties, produced in the image of Franken.

Nahe

The Nahe region, a rolling landscape of vineyards, orchards, meadows, and farms, lies west of Rheinhessen and south of the Rheingau, with the narrow Hünsruck Hochwald highland forest forming its natural western border and separating it from the Mosel Valley. The Nahe is at a geological crossroads, positioned at the intersection of the Mainz and Saar-Nahe Basins and the Rhenish Massif, which comprises the slate Hunsrück hills of the Mosel Valley and the low Taunus and Eifel Mountains of the Rheingau and Ahr. With great variation in topography, soils, and geology, it is not a region from which to expect homogeneity in landscape or wine. The region also falls in a transitional zone between maritime and continental climatic influences. Protected from wind and weather on the north and west by wooded mountains, the region’s climate remains mild and dry—average annual rainfall is around 500 millimeters (about 20 inches), making the Nahe Germany’s driest winegrowing climate. Most precipitation occurs in the summer months rather than over harvest, and frosts are rare. The region itself is named for the Nahe River, a tributary of the Rhine, and most Nahe vineyards are cultivated in the handful of river valleys that intersect the region. The best vineyards are generally located along the course of the Nahe River, but there are hidden pockets of good and even great vineyards in the smaller transverse valleys of its northern tributaries, like the Gräfenbach and Trollbach streams. In the southern Nahe, viticulture occurs sporadically in the Glan and Alsenz river valleys, but memories of these once-important winegrowing regions have dimmed.

The Nahe took its modern shape with the 1971 wine law and now harbors a scattered collection of vines—about 4,200 hectares in total, making the Nahe Germany’s seventh-largest winegrowing region in terms of acreage. As in much of Germany, white grapes are dominant, comprising about 85% of the total area under vine, and Riesling is the star. In the 1960s, the inclination to plant any number of crossings, from Bacchus to Scheurebe to Müller-Thurgau, diversified the Nahe vineyard, even as it lowered its potential. Today, however, Riesling is the only variety permitted by the VDP for Grosse Lage wines. Once-popular Müller-Thurgau and Silvaner have been steadily diminishing in recent years, at the expense of Riesling and red grapes like Dornfelder and Spätburgunder. With refocused attention on Riesling, the best Nahe producers prefer to explore the region’s great geological diversity through the lens of a single variety.

There is only one Bereich in Nahe—Nahetal—but the region consists of at least three distinct, classic subregions renowned for quality Riesling along the Nahe River itself: the Upper, Middle, and Lower Nahe. (The vineyards surrounding Bad Kreuznach, which divides the Middle and Lower Nahe, are sometimes considered a separate subregion.) In the Upper and Middle Nahe sectors, the river meanders eastward for 25 kilometers, with vineyards generally planted on dramatic, south-facing slopes along its northern bank. In proximity to the Hunsrück hills, climate tends to be slightly cooler than in the Lower Nahe. The Upper Nahe sector extends from the villages of Monzingen and Martinstein at the far western end of the Anbaugebiet to the small town of Schlossböckelheim. At Monzingen, the Nahe River Valley is wider and slightly warmer, and there are good sites for Riesling. (Unfortunately, its best and most historic site, Frühlingsplätzchen, was expanded from less than 8 hectares to 64 with the 1971 wine law, and it can no longer be considered exemplary in its entirety.) Emrich-Schönleber, based in Monzingen, is the preeminent producer of the Upper Nahe, and in the 21st century, the Shäfer-Fröhlich estate of Bockenau, a village in the Upper Nahe’s hinterlands nearest the Hünsruck hills, rapidly ascended into the ranks of Nahe nobility.

The Middle Nahe follows the course of the river eastward for 15 kilometers from Schlossböckelheim to Bad Kreuznach, the Nahe’s largest town and the commercial center of the region’s wine trade. The river narrows and the valley cools just west of Schlossböckelheim, flowing by Oberhausen, Niederhausen (where the Nahe widens briefly again at a hydroelectric dam), Norheim, and the massive, sheer Rotenfels porphyry cliffs of Traisen before turning sharply northward at Bad Münster am Stein, a spa town (bad means bath) and southern suburb of Bad Kreuznach. The towns of the Middle Nahe are the most famous winegrowing villages of the Nahe, with numerous Grosse Lage sites, including Niederhauser Hermannshöhle, Schlossböckelheimer Kupfergrube, Schlossböckelheimer Felsenberg, Norheimer Dellchen, Traiser Bastei, and Oberhauser Brücke, the last of these a monopole of Nahe’s foremost producer, Weingut Dönnhoff. Situated on weathered volcanic soils, slate, limestone, and schist, these great vineyards were recognized and classified according to property tax valuations as early as 1901, in a map depicting the vineyard areas in the district of Koblenz. The state winery of Niederhausen-Schlossböckelheim, now known as Gut Hermannsberg, shepherded the reputation of many of these sites through a difficult 20th century, yet it is Dönnhoff who provides the clearest emblem of uncompromising wine quality today. From these vineyards, sweeter Riesling wines can be pure and slim, recalling the Mosel, and top dry examples show concentration without corpulence.

Just north of Bad Kreuznach, the soil composition becomes heavier with clay and loess, and the Lower Nahe stretches from the town’s northern limits to the river’s confluence with the Rhine at Bingen, marking the tripoint of the Rheinhessen, the Rheingau, and the Nahe Anbaugebiete. The Lower Nahe is a warmer region than either the Upper or Middle Nahe, with more climatic similarity to the neighboring Rheinhessen than the cooler Hunsrück hills to the west. Riesling styles from the Lower Nahe share the fuller body and more opulent style of the Rheinhessen, and Spätburgunder performs best in the Lower Nahe, even as it is still excluded from Grosse Lage vineyards. From the village of Laubenheim northward, the soil mixture shifts from deeper clay and loess to the slate and quartzite more common across the Rhine. The Lower Nahe’s most renowned winegrowing villages lie in this northern sector: Münster-Sarmsheim, Dorsheim, and Laubenheim itself. Schlossgut Diel, encamped in the nearby town of Burg Layen at a partially ruined castle (the sort that affords rich aristocrats seemingly greater prestige when unrepaired) is the reigning producer of the Lower Nahe. At a recent visit to the estate, Armin Diel summed up the Nahe’s progress nicely, explaining, “Twenty-five years ago, there was no real idea of what the Nahe style was. Today, that has changed.”

Baden

The winegrowing region of Baden, Germany’s third-largest Anbaugebiet, lines the eastern half of the Upper Rhine Valley and runs parallel to Alsace and the Pfalz, between the Rhine River and the Black Forest. Baden extends for nearly 400 kilometers and is divided into nine diverse Bereiche, scattered from the shores of Lake Constance, which separates Germany and Switzerland, to the edge of the Odenwald hills in Hessische-Bergstrasse and the Tauber River Valley, near Würzburg in Franken. So while it is difficult to generalize about the region’s wines, its greatest successes have been with varieties rooted in Burgundy: Weissburgunder, Grauburgunder, and above all, Spätburgunder. The trio accounts for three of Baden’s four most planted grapes, and Spätburgunder alone makes up over one-third of Baden’s almost 16,000 hectares under vine. White grapes still account for a slim majority overall, however. In the northerly Bereiche of Tauberfranken, Badische Bergstrasse, and Kraichgau, and in the Bodensee (the German name for Lake Constance) Bereich in the south, Müller-Thurgau still reigns as the top variety, making it the second most planted variety overall in Baden. (On the Swiss side of Lake Constance is the small winegrowing canton of Thurgau, where the grape’s breeder Hermann Müller was born.) Reinforcing its proximity to Switzerland, more than 1,000 hectares of Gutedel (Chasselas) remain in Baden. In Germany, the Swiss grape is cultivated almost exclusively in the Markgräferland Bereiche at Baden’s southernmost point, where the Anbaugebiet meets the Swiss city of Basel and the French border.

Pinot Noir allegedly arrived in Baden in the escort of Carolingian Emperor Charles the Fat, who planted it on the north shores of Lake Constance in 884. In over a thousand years, the center of German Pinot Noir production didn’t move far, landing in four Baden Bereiche between the city of Freiburg and the Black Forest bath town of Baden-Baden. From north to south, they are Ortenau, Breisgau, Kaiserstuhl, and Tuniberg. As in Alsace, these areas have dynamic soil profiles, with various granitic, volcanic, calcareous, and loess formations. On weathered limestone, with their backs against the Black Forest, 20 kilometers or more from the Rhine, the vineyards of Breisgau can produce an almost Côte de Nuits-like style of Pinot Noir. (See the wines of the late Bernhard Huber in Malterdingen.) In the Kaiserstuhl, however, the weather warms, the wines become more muscular, and the vines lie nearly within reach of the river’s banks. The compact district, which occupies a chain of hills rising steeply above the river west of Freiburg, supplies some of the Upper Rhine Valley’s most splendid, dramatic scenery—and the Kaiserstuhl is likewise Baden’s most celebrated zone for Spätburgunder. The Kaiserstuhl hills crown an extinct volcano, draped in varying layers of loess. The district experiences Germany’s warmest and sunniest winegrowing climate—in warm vintages, Spätburgunder passing the 15% mark is not unheard of—and it is protected from wet weather by the rain shadow of the Vosges Mountains. Kaiserstuhl’s best Spätburgunder sites are often its steepest, with purer volcanic soils rather than windblown loess, such as Achkarrer Schlossberg and Ihringer Winklerberg, Germany’s hottest vineyard. If anything, Kaiserstuhl’s greatest viticultural liability is one sommeliers don’t usually associate with Germany: too much sun, too much heat, too much potential alcohol. Kaiserstuhl has a subregion of sorts, the Tuniberg Bereich, which formally separated from Kaiserstuhl in 1991. Situated on calcareous rather than volcanic subsoil, Tuniberg has a more thorough distribution of loess and loess-loam topsoils, but its wines have not achieved the same fame as those of Kaiserstuhl.

Overall, the Baden style of Spätburgunder, exemplified by the Kaiserstuhl wines, is ripe and robust. These wines are richer in body and lower in acidity than Ahr examples. Chaptalization is still practiced, even as Baden is the only German Anbaugebiet that enters the EU’s Climate Zone B, with lower limits on the amount of sugar that may be added to bolster alcohol. In the warmer climate, partial whole-cluster fermentations are not uncommon. Luxurious treatment in new oak is a frequent feature for the best wines—often it is French in origin, but Baden oak from the Black Forest is a common sight in cellars as well (which, after all, is essentially Vosges oak, save for a national boundary). In the Baden vineyard, an important reconsideration involves the adoption of Dijon clones, once thought essential to success in the Burgundy model. As in Russian River, Baden is just too warm for these grapes, and producers are starting to take a fresh look at Swiss Mariafeld clones and some new German clones, newly selected for quality rather than yield.

Alongside Spätburgunder, the VDP permits the production of Weissburgunder, Grauburgunder, Riesling, and Chardonnay as Grosse Lage wines throughout Baden. Weissburgunder is produced in nearly as a wide a range of styles as Chardonnay. Basic examples are usually fresh and fairly neutral while top Grosse Lage wines gain weight, incurring malolactic fermentation and new oak aging. Some are oxidative in style and some are more reductive, in the manner of top white Burgundy. The barrique-fermented, richer style of Weissburgunder is especially prevalent among producers in Kaiserstuhl, where the grape comprises about 10% of the total production. Grauburgunder, which has achieved more success in Baden than elsewhere in Germany, is typically dry and golden in color. Skin contact, drawing out Pinot Gris’ coppery tones, is routine. Grosse Lage Grauburgunder is rarely produced outside of Baden, and here it is almost always dry. (Sweeter styles, when made, are usually labeled under the synonym Ruländer.) Finally, great full-bodied Riesling can be produced in Baden, particularly in Ortenau and Kraichgau, recalling the short distance to Alsace. But there is little viticultural exchange; as one Baden winemaker confides, vintners on either side of the border rarely cross the river.

Württemberg

Württemberg, one of Germany’s largest growing regions, is also largely undiscovered by international audiences. As Baden’s neighbor, the southerly Anbaugebiet of Württemberg specializes in red wines to a degree exceeded by none other than the tiny Ahr. It represents Germany’s fourth-largest collection of vineyards, with over 11,000 hectares of vines, and 70% of its total acreage is devoted to red grapes. But thus far, the only real international success for German red wine to date has been Pinot Noir, which Baden and the Ahr have rallied behind. Not so with Württemberg: the second most planted grape in this diverse region is Trollinger, better known as Schiava in Italy. Popular domestically, Trollinger is unlikely to win international audiences over. The region contains a significant amount of Lemberger (Blaufränkisch), which critics admit is far likelier than Dornfelder to achieve greatness, but it is subject to marketing woes—its German name is unknown, leaving producers to vacillate over promoting its local moniker or supporting the more well-known Austrian name. Schwarzriesling (Meunier) is a local specialty; German cultivation of the Champagne grape is almost exclusive to Württemberg, where it typically produces light, fruity, quaffable wines. Riesling is the most planted white grape in the region and most planted grape overall.

Schillerwein, a specialized style of rosé wine, is unique to the Württemberg region. Alongside pink Champagne, it is one of the few styles of European rosés for which blending is permitted. For Schillerwein, it is the rule. Historically, the pale pink wine was composed of a field blend of red and white grapes, crushed and fermented together. Today, the red and white lots are blended prior to fermentation to achieve the wine’s bright rosy color—its name derives from the German verb schillern, which means to shimmer or scintillate. They are typically light, trocken or halbtrocken in style, and contain 11 to 12.5% finished alcohol. In Württemberg, where per capita drinking is highest in all of Germany, the wine is gulped rather than sipped, traditionally from stemless glass mugs common in the region’s wine taverns.

Like Baden, Württemberg is divided into far-flung sectors. It contains a cluster of northern Bereiche situated around the cities of Stuttgart and Heilbronn, and a small set of vineyards along the north shores of Lake Constance. In the north, vines are cultivated along the Neckar River and its tributaries, such as the Kocher, Jagst, Tauber, and Rems. (The Neckar itself is a major tributary of the Rhine; the rivers meet just south of Worms.) Württemberg’s largest concentration of vineyards is in the Württembergisch Unterland Bereich between the capital city of Stuttgart and Heilbronn, and, due to its proximity to the population, there is an up-and-coming set of independent, quality-minded projects in the Remstal-Stuttgart Bereich, just east of the capital. Nearly three-quarters of the production, however, is still concentrated in the hands of regional cooperatives. One of Württemberg’s most famous estate producers is Weingut Graf Neipperg of Schwaigern. Owner Karl Neipperg is the latest in a long line of lords whose presence in Württemberg can be traced to the 12th century; however, his brother, Stephan von Neipperg of Saint-Émilion, is easily the more widely recognized figure in the wine world today.

Ahr

One of Germany’s smallest and most northerly winegrowing regions, the Ahr Valley has nonetheless earned a reputation as one of the country’s best spots for Spätburgunder. The grape, along with its early-ripening mutation Frühburgunder, accounts for almost 70% of the Ahr’s planted acreage. (In contrast, Riesling accounts for only 8% of the total Ahr vineyard.) The region may be tiny, but the Pinot Noir grape maintains a tighter grip on vineyards here than anywhere else in Germany. And it has come a long way. In his 1988 book Life After Liebfraumilch: Understanding German Fine Wine, Stuart Pigott denuded Ahr reds, labeling the category as “presumptuous rosés” in a “puddle of mediocrity.” Robert Parker was even less charitable, writing off German Spätburgunder entirely as “abortive.” (Nice, Bob.) Today, top Ahr Spätburgunder from the estates of Jean Stodden, Meyer-Näkel, J.J. Adeneuer, and others experiences great domestic and international demand, commanding high prices and acclaim. The terroir is distinctive: Ahr Spätburgunder is a rare example of slate-grown Pinot Noir, and its admirers attribute a smoky undertone to this unique union of grape and soil.

The Ahr River is really more of a creek, meandering 25 kilometers eastward from Altenahr at the region’s western edge through Ahrweiler, Walporzeim, and Bad Neuenahr, finally meeting the Rhine near Heimersheim. Its vineyards span about 125 meters in elevation. The slopes here can be just as steep—reaching 60 to 70% grade or more—and slate-covered as those in the Mosel, but the river is too small and removed from the vineyards to have any great impact on vineyard temperature and vine. For ease of comparison, growers divide the valley into the Upper Ahr west of Walporzheim and the Lower Ahr, spanning the remaining distance to the river’s confluence with the Rhine. The Lower Ahr Valley is more densely planted, with more basalt-derived clay and sand atop dark slate. It is also warmer, with harvests occurring on average 10 days earlier than in the Upper Ahr Valley. Because of this, Lower Ahr wines exhibit a more opulent character. Some of the most ancient vineyards, however, are further west. In the nearly pure slate soils of the Upper Ahr Valley, phylloxera is nonexistent, and there are a few century-old vineyards, still trained in the single-post system.

The region’s full turn toward red wine production began in earnest in the 1980s, with Meyer-Näkel in the village of Dernau leading the charge. In that era, many Ahr wines, as Pigott rightly criticized, were essentially rosés—and not infrequently off-dry, either. Blauer Portugieser was a popular grape alongside Pinot Noir. Following a generational change, Meyer-Näkel pivoted its gaze toward Burgundy and began emphasizing dryness, abandoning thermovinification, employing longer macerations, and aging in French oak barrels. Others took notice, and a revolution in style began. Guyot training replaced the traditional single-post system in serious vineyards, providing more sun exposure in the Ahr’s northerly climate. Dijon clones of Pinot Noir and new clones from Geisenheim, selected for quality, began to appear alongside the Swiss Mariafeld clones and German clones more often selected for high yields and cold hardiness. Today, Ahr Spätburgunder is among Germany’s finest, even as its output is still miniscule in comparison to more massive regions like Baden and Pfalz.

How has a region north of the 50th parallel managed such success when areas to its south, like the Mosel, have trouble reliably ripening red grapes? Aided by its east-west orientation, the Ahr Valley benefits from the moderating influence of the Gulf Stream, and the growing season here is longer than in nearby regions like Mittelrhein or the Mosel. The whole region is a canyon, protected from wind and rain amidst the low Eifel Mountains. In this rain shadow, sunlight hours are correspondingly higher, and the region experiences fewer bouts of botrytis than the Mosel. But it is still a cool climate winegrowing region, with an average annual temperature of only 9.8° C (49.5° F). The dark slate soils of Ahr vineyards store heat for chilly evenings, and south-facing aspects are essential. All of the Ahr’s best vineyards and Grosse Lage sites are on steep slopes above the river’s northern banks. Despite the threat of erosion, almost all Ahr vineyard rows run down the slopes (north-south) in order to maximize sun exposure. Whole-cluster fermentations are essentially unknown since stems remain green, and chaptalization is common. “We can’t be Öchsle fetishists,” retorts Jean Stodden. “We need ripeness, not sugar. We are so far north; you can always add sugar.”

Frühburgunder, known in France as Pinot Noir Precocé, has replaced Portugieser as the second most planted red variety in the Ahr. (It is genetically the same variety, but producers in the Ahr traditionally treat it as distinct.) Frühburgunder is a troublesome grape to get right. It is ready for harvest about two weeks before Spätburgunder—a period in which it is the only ripe fruit or berry in the region, making it a prime target for wasps and birds (and tourists...) and necessitating netting. It’s also a ready victim of millerandage. Frühburgunder develops thicker skins than Spätburgunder, with more color and less acidity in the glass. Fruit flavors become concentrated and liqueur-like, and the wine often has more richness and immediate approachability than Ahr Spätburgunder.

Mittelrhein

With less than 500 hectares of vines, Mittelrhein is one of Germany’s smallest Anbaugebiete. Adjacent to the Rheingau, the Mittelrhein winegrowing region follows the course of the Rhine River 120 kilometers northward from Bacharach to Bonn. The city of Koblenz, where the Mosel and Rhine rivers meet, is located in Mittelrhein, as is the confluence of the Ahr and Rhine. As the Rhine River resumes its northward course after a shift west in the Rheingau, it enters a narrow, spectacular gorge. Majestic medieval castles stud its banks and slopes. This is the “Middle Rhine,” a UNESCO World Heritage Site and an important historical crossroads of culture and trade. The Mittelrhein marked a past divide between areas of French influence and Prussian control, as the narrow, restrictive gorge created an ideal boundary. Its many ruined castles suggest the ease with which local rulers could extract tolls from commercial vessels on this stretch of the river.

Two Bereiche, Loreley and Siebengebirge, neatly divide the slim Mittelrhein region into southern and northern sectors. The vast majority of the Mittelrhein’s vineyards and all of its Grosse Lage sites are located within the southern Bereich of Loreley, which stretches from Bacharach past Koblenz to the village of Unkel. In an old dialect, Loreley roughly translates to “murmuring rock,” referring to a massive slate promontory jutting sharply upward from the Rhine’s right bank, spawning old legends of siren songs plaguing boatmen below. Siebengebirge, the northernmost winegrowing area in western Germany, is a cluster of uplifted hills of volcanic origin southeast of Bonn. (There are 40, not sieben.) It is a much less significant winegrowing district, and fewer than two dozen hectares of vines remain under cultivation.

In Loreley and throughout Mittelrhein, Riesling is the most planted variety—the grape accounts for almost 70% of the total acreage. With the steep slopes of the Rhine gorge and its Devonian slate soils, conditions are similar to those in the Mosel, but the south-facing orientations essential to producing great Riesling are much rarer in the Mittelrhein. A couple of superior, south-facing sites (Bopparder Hamm, Oberweseler Ölsberg) are perched along sharp bends in the Rhine, but most of the Mittelrhein’s best vineyards are secluded in side valleys in Bacharach and Oberwesel. Stylistically, Riesling producers in Mittelrhein have more interest in trocken and halbtrocken styles of wine than those in the Mosel—for the 2014 vintage, 65% of Mittelrhein’s production was recorded as dry or off-dry, while the majority of Mosel wines were still clocking in at lieblich (medium sweet) or süss.

Hessische-Bergstrasse

Hessische-Bergstrasse is one of the smallest Anbaugebiete in Germany, both in physical sizes and hectares planted to the vine. It’s 50 kilometers due south of the city of Frankfurt and aligned in latitude with the southern Rheinhessen, 30 kilometers to its west. Historically, the Bergstrasse’s vineyards constituted a sort of satellite region for the Rheingau, as they were once among the thousands of hectares tended by the Cistercian monks of Kloster Eberbach. Today, less than 500 hectares remain along the “Hessen Mountain Road,” gently sloping downward from the Odenwald hills into the valley of the Rhine River. Most are clustered around the village of Heppenheim in the Starkenburg Bereich, but there is a small “island” of vineyards further north, nearer to the Main River and separated from the remainder, which comprises the Umstadt Bereich. Prior to 1971, the Bergstrasse region included an additional swath of land past its current southern border, but the new wine law cleaved it in two. The new Anbaugebiet remained within the borders of the federal state of Hessen, while vineyards to the south were annexed by Baden to become Bereich Badische-Bergstrasse.

The region is colloquially known as the “spring garden,” signaling a transition in phase from the cooler areas to its immediate north to the warmer growing region of Baden directly south of it. Riesling is still the region’s most planted grape variety, accounting for 45% of the total acreage, but the wines rarely achieve the same tense acidity as those produced in the Rheingau. Not that many have the opportunity to find out—Hessische-Bergstrasse wines are usually consumed locally and infrequently exported. Over half of the region’s acreage is under the control of the Bergstrasse Winzer eG cooperative, located in the village of Heppenheim. One reminder of the region’s past link to the Rheingau remains: the largest vineyard holding (35 planted hectares) belongs to Kloster Eberbach and the state winery, Hessische Staatsweingüter.

Sachsen and Saale-Unstrut

Following Germany’s 1990 reunification, the country’s total number of Anbaugebiete increased from 11 to 13 with the addition of two areas previously under East German rule, Saale-Unstrut and Sachsen (Saxony). At 51° N latitude, these are Germany’s northernmost winegrowing regions, far to the east of the country’s more renowned vineyards. Sachsen, which follows the course of the Elbe River through Dresden to Meissen, is near the Czech border; the namesake river valleys of Saale and Unstrut are about 150 kilometers west of Sachsen, near Leipzig. Both areas have supported viticulture for many centuries—Sachsen’s first documented vineyard appeared at a local bishop’s behest in 1161, and Benedictine monks were tending vines in Saale-Unstrut by the late 900s—but phylloxera and two world wars took a toll, reducing the thousands of hectares and proud histories in each region to a smattering of vines by the 1950s. The few remaining estates in Sachsen and Saale-Unstrut functioned as state-run cooperative wineries during the communist era; quality winemaking was not in the program. Today, however, each region is experiencing a minor renaissance. With almost 800 hectares in the ground in 2016, Saale-Unstrut is Germany’s fastest-growing region, and Sachsen, led by Schloss Proschwitz—the region’s largest estate and the first VDP member in Saxony—is making good wines, even if most of them never make it further afield than a Dresden tavern.

White grapes radically outnumber reds in both Sachsen and Saale-Unstrut. As a reminder of their cool continental climates, as well as both regions’ recent entries into the quality wine business, Müller-Thurgau remains the most planted variety in each region. (Riesling will likely soon overtake it in Sachsen.) Average must weights are lower here than in southwestern Germany. One local specialty claimed by Sachsen is Goldriesling, a grape crossing developed in 1893 at the Oberlin Institute in Alsace. The grape is not commercially farmed in Alsace and claims only about a dozen hectares in Sachsen. Several estates make dry to off-dry, lively, aromatic wines with the rare variety.

GuildSomm would like to thank Romana Echensperger, MW, for her help in reviewing this guide.

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Australia

Jonathan Eichholz — Sun, 16 Aug 2026 17:50:10 GMT

Current Revision posted to Expert Guides by Jonathan Eichholz on 8/16/2026 5:50:10 PM

Introduction to Australia
Wine Australia: The Label Integrity Program and Geographical Indications
Technology in Viticulture and Winemaking
South Australia
New South Wales
Victoria
Western Australia
Tasmania
Queensland

Introduction to Australia

In 1788 Captain Arthur Phillip landed the First Fleet, eleven ships whose passengers included British soldiers, convicts, and a few free settlers, along the coastline of Botany Bay, just eight miles south of the modern-day Sydney Central Business District. Captain Phillip founded the penal colony of New South Wales and its capital, the city of Sydney—Australia’s first permanent European settlement. Prior to landfall in Australia, the First Fleet stopped for supplies—including vine cuttings—at the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa, and the British planted vines near Sydney upon landing in 1788. This original vineyard bore fruit three years later but did not last. In its earliest days as a penal colony, Australia suffered from little winemaking expertise, and advances in viticulture were slow. Nonetheless, the vine (a non-native plant) spread from New South Wales to Tasmania in 1823, and from Tasmania to South Australia by 1837 and to Victoria in 1838. In the Swan River Colony of Western Australia, settlers planted the first vineyard in 1830. Free immigrants arrived in Australia throughout the 1830s and 1840s from all corners of Europe, and brought winemaking traditions with them. Some of today’s most famous names arose as small family-owned wineries in this period, including Lindeman’s (1843), Penfolds (1844), Orlando Wines (1847), and Yalumba (1849). In the 1850s, the promise of gold lured even greater droves of European immigrants to southeastern Australia, and interest in winemaking burgeoned.

Boom days for gold equaled boom days for wine, particularly in the gold-rich colony of Victoria, which asserted itself as Australia’s largest producer of wine by the 1870s. However, as the easily extractable surface and stream deposits of gold depleted, many prospectors followed, and domestic demand for wine fell. Lowered demand, coupled with restrictive state trade barriers, led some producers to export to survive, whereas others remained small and localized—a division that exists, in exacerbated form, to this day. Economic recession and phylloxera befell Australia in the latter half of the 19th century and further harmed the industry, but colonial officials took strict and immediate measures to combat the spread of phylloxera, confining it to Victoria and a small foothold near Sydney. The root louse ravaged the Victorian wine industry, yet its successful containment elsewhere rewarded modern Australia with some of the world’s oldest surviving vines and allowed South Australia to surge ahead of Victoria in production. South Australia’s position was further bolstered with the federation of six Australian colonies—South Australia, New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia, and Tasmania—as an independent commonwealth in 1901. Federation brought an end to restrictive interstate trade barriers and increased South Australia’s competitiveness in the larger urban markets of New South Wales and Victoria. In the early 1900s South Australia emerged as the top wine-producing state in Australia—a position it maintains to this day—and the center of the wine industry shifted to the Barossa and the newly irrigated areas surrounding the Murray and Murrumbidgee Rivers. Australia’s focus in these warmer regions turned to fortified wine production.

From the post-phylloxera period until the 1960s, approximately 80% of Australia’s production consisted of sweet, fortified wines. They remained in the majority until 1970, but momentum was building for dry table wines. Fortified wines slid to less than 40% of total wine production in 1972, and by 2011 they accounted for less than 0.02% of the total harvest. During that same period, total annual production increased fourfold, surpassing one billion liters of wine by the 2001 harvest. A surge in quality at the lowest level, coupled with the adoption of new technologies, changing consumer preferences, skyrocketing domestic consumption and new interest abroad, brought Australia to the forefront globally by the close of the last century. The new stars were Chardonnay and Shiraz (Syrah), a traditional variety which—despite the minor hiccup of a 1980s vine-pull scheme that saw many of Barossa’s oldest vineyards destroyed—easily and successfully transitioned into the new era of varietal wines. The value-priced Australian varietal wines of the last decades of the 20th century were fruity, soft, and technically sound at a time when many similarly priced bottlings from the Old World were poorly made, and they enjoyed great success in the UK and the US (two of Australia’s top export markets). By 2003 Australia’s gross annual wine sales reached 4.5 billion Australian dollars, a target the Australians had conservatively set for 2025. “Brand Australia” offered a friendly gateway into wine for new consumers in the 1990s and early 2000s, and the country rocketed forward to become the fourth-largest wine exporter in terms of volume (behind Italy, Spain, and France), surpassing three billion dollars in exports in 2007. As of 2022, over 20% of Australia's exports by value go to USA, making it Australia's largest export market by value. Whereas the UK is the largest export market by volume with 35% of volume.

Australia’s newfound successes were not restricted to the “cheap and cheerful” entry-level category. Back in the mid-century, when Australia was still churning out a majority of sweet, fortified wines, winemakers like Maurice O’Shea in Hunter Valley and Max Schubert in Adelaide had a different vision in mind. O’Shea founded Mt. Pleasant in Hunter in 1925 and produced some of Australia’s first wines labeled by variety during his three-decade tenure as winemaker, despite tepid local interest. Schubert worked from 1948 to 1975 as Chief Winemaker for Penfolds, with whom he introduced the Shiraz-based “Grange Hermitage” in the 1951 vintage. The wine was originally panned by both critics and the company’s own management, but its star rose. Known simply as “Grange” from 1990 forward, Schubert’s creation became Australia’s first truly collectible wine, and today stands shoulder-to-shoulder with the great wines of the world. Unlike many of its luxury-class peers, “Grange” is not the expression of a single site but rather a selection of the best grapes from a number of the company’s vineyards. This is a testament to the nature of the wine business in Australia, wherein production had become concentrated in the cellars of a few large wine companies, who could blend from vast resources across regions and state lines to create a consistent, desired wine style. For some, this philosophy remains congruous from the base level all the way to the top. But not every icon wine in Australia is the product of multi-regional blending; in fact, Australian wine at the highest level is more vineyard-focused now than at any point in the country’s history. Many single vineyard wines—such as “Hill of Grace” Shiraz, first produced by Henschke in 1958—have arisen to manifest venerable single sites left untouched by phylloxera. With breakout vintages in 1990, 1991, and 1998, “Grange” and “Hill of Grace” led the charge, racking up points and ratcheting up prices. Langton’s, Australia’s leading wine auction house, created its “Classification of Australian Wine” in 1991 to detail top-performing, investment-grade Australian wines. The classification, now in its eighth installment, includes 21 wines in its “First Classified” category and 79 in its "Classified" category.

With surging exports and domestic consumption, lavish critical praise, a strong base of quality and efficiency, and a bevy of varietal offerings, the future looked very bright indeed for Australian wines in the mid-2000s. However, problems for the industry loomed. Many of the country’s southeastern winemaking regions were gripped by severe, decade-long drought, affecting the 2003, 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2009 vintages and leading to questions about the long-term sustainability of vineyard irrigation in the driest climates. Only with 2010’s substantial rainfall did drought conditions, which began as early as 1995, cease for many winegrowing regions in Victoria and South Australia. Drought is cyclical in Australia, and lengthy periods of low rainfall have been recorded throughout the 19th and 20th centuries; however, the greater scale of the modern wine industry takes a heavy toll on finite water resources, and some question the role of climate change in the augmentation of drought severity. On the other side of the business, changing economic conditions have damaged exports, cleaving a third from Australia’s 2007 all-time high as total wine exports dropped below two billion dollars by 2011. (The per-liter price of exports fell even earlier, peaking in 2001.) The 2008 economic recession in the US and Europe hit Australian producers hard: the Australian dollar gained value against US and European currencies, driving export prices up and reducing Australian wineries’ ability to compete in the global market. In the face of the global financial crisis, interest in Australian super-premium wines abroad evaporated, with the rapidly expanding Chinese market offering the best hope for immediate recovery. In the long run, Australia’s troubles with drought may actually serve to regulate its oversupply, reigning in vineyard expansion and cutting down on the sudden excess of wine.

Just as worrying, however, is Australia’s damaged reputation—particularly in the US market. Australian labels still line US supermarket shelves, but American consumers appear less charmed by the innumerable “critter” labels birthed Down Under in the early 2000s. Movement at the top is suffering as well, as many of the cult stars of the late '90s are now struggling to recoup demand. Concentration—from old vines, from ripe fruit, from oak, and from winemaking treatment—seduced influential American critics in the 1990s, and many wineries seemed equally captivated by their suddenly extravagant scoring. Alcohol levels in Australia—and in the Barossa Valley in particular—rose to match critical infatuation with “power.” Wines were tailored to the formula, and were generously rewarded by critics. But tougher economic times, coupled with sommelier interest in lighter, more elegant styles, has left some of these abrupt stars abruptly gathering dust on US shelves. The truly iconic wines of Australia will continue to sell, and the backlash against yesteryear’s oversized, disproportionate wine styles has actually led to some soul-searching amongst the country’s winemakers. In many Australian regions, styles have shifted significantly in the span of the last decade, and—despite a beleaguered reputation—Australia is entering a new era of diversity, drinkability, and exciting wines.

Australia is currently the seventh-largest producer of wine in the world. Of the six states that compose the Commonwealth of Australia, three—South Australia, New South Wales, and Victoria—were responsible for about 97% of the crush in 2019. Western Australia produces most of the remainder, with Tasmania and Queensland accounting for less than 1% each. In 2019, the latter two combined states produced approximately nine million liters of wine, whereas South Australia alone produced over 500 million liters. The top five varieties in the country today, in order of planting, are: Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Merlot, and Semillon. Chardonnay, which roared to life in the last decades of the 20th century and fetched higher prices in the late 1980s than top red grapes, was Australia’s third-most planted variety, but it reached its apex of 32,000 hectares in 2007 and has slid significantly since then.

Note: In the export markets of Europe and the US, Australian vintage-dated wines always appear on shelves before Northern Hemisphere wines, as the harvest occurs six months earlier in the wine-producing countries of the Southern Hemisphere.

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Wine Australia: The Label Integrity Program and Geographical Indications

Wine Australia, a government authority established in 1981 as the Australia Wine and Brandy Corporation, maintains oversight over the wine industry, regulating its label language, defining geographical boundaries of wine regions, moderating exports and trade, and promoting the product at home and abroad. It introduced the Label Integrity Program for the 1990 vintage, requiring any wines labeled by variety, vintage, or region to contain a minimum 85% of the stated grape, year, or region, respectively. If multiple varieties are to be listed on the label (i.e., Grenache-Syrah-Mourvèdre) the grapes must be listed in order of proportion in the blend. All components making up a minimum 85% of the blend must appear on the label, and no listed grape may be in lower proportion than an unnamed variety.

In 1993 the Australian government signed an agreement with the EU to prohibit the use of European geographical names on Australian labels, and in turn Australian wine producers gained greater access to European markets. Some lesser-used geographical names, like Chianti and Madeira, were phased out by 1997; other more popular names, like Sherry and Tokay, were subject to further negotiations. In order to protect European place names, however, Australia first needed to devise a framework for their own appellations. Thus, the existing Wine and Brandy Corporation Act of 1980 was substantially amended to define Geographical Indications (GIs) and create a Geographical Indications Committee, responsible for determining which regions should be placed on a new Register of Protected Names. The Australian appellation system was born, and the first GIs rolled out in 1994. As in other New World countries, Australia’s GIs are purely geographic in scope, with no restrictions on grape varieties, yields, or other viticultural techniques. The broadest Geographical Indications—apart from the countrywide Australia GI itself—are states, followed by zones, regions, and sub-regions. Regions and sub-regions are defined by Wine Australia as single tracts of land, comprising at least five independently owned vineyards of at least five hectares apiece, with a minimum annual output of 500 tonnes of wine grapes. Regions are not necessarily contained within a single zone, nor are zones necessarily contained within a single state. In 1996 Wine Australia responded to EU laws requiring varietal wines to bear a specific region on the label by authorizing the multistate zone of South Eastern Australia, which encompasses all of Victoria, Tasmania, and New South Wales, along with the winegrowing areas of South Australia and Queensland. This huge zone became the GI of choice for many a mass-market varietal wine, and gave Australian producers a huge competitive advantage in European supermarkets in the era prior to EU table wine law reforms of 2009.

In 2008, the EU and Australia signed a new agreement establishing immediate legal protection for the most entrenched European Geographical Indications and Traditional Expressions in Australia. From 2011 onward Australian producers were barred from using European GIs like Burgundy, Champagne, Sherry, and Port; and Traditional Expressions like Claret and Amontillado. Shiraz could henceforth no longer be labeled as its traditional Australian synonym “Hermitage.” Some expressions, such as Tawny, Solera, and Icewine, were reaffirmed for use under the new agreement, but the hotly contested “Tokay,” used by Rutherglen producers for more than a century, will be finally phased out by 2020. The loss of old terms is a catalyst for replacements: Tokay becomes Topaque and Sherry becomes Apera, an all-too-Australian play on “aperitif.”

Map of Australian GI zones, courtesy of Wine Australia

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Technology in Viticulture and Winemaking

Technical proficiency has played a large role in Australia’s emergence as a mass-market wine powerhouse. The Australian Wine Research Institute (AWRI) and the Commonwealth Scientific & Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), both based in Adelaide, have contributed greatly to the nation’s scientific understanding of the grape, and the University of Adelaide has an acclaimed oenology program. Australian winemakers rose to the forefront of viticultural innovation, utilizing modern techniques of canopy management and high-tech soil mapping, and they have spread their winemaking acumen across the globe as “flying winemakers”—a term that originated in reference to Australians. Emphasis on winery hygiene has been paramount in modern Australian winemaking; indeed, in the battle against wine spoilage it was AWRI scientists who successfully sequenced the genome for Dekkera bruxellensis (Brettanomyces) in 2011. Teams from the same organization discovered the relationship between the sesquiterpene rotundone and the peppery smell of Syrah, and have contributed in many different areas of wine science, from deepening understanding of smoke taint—a major issue in wildfire-prone Australia—to the development of commercial yeast strains that produce undetectable levels of hydrogen sulfide. Of course, many of the same innovative technological advancements for which Australia can be proud also render it susceptible to criticisms that the country—which has so successfully exported its scientific understanding—bears some responsibility for the “globalization” of wine.

…build me that machine, and we’ll get to the stage of seeing how far we can go to eliminating labour in the vineyard.

– Bob Hollick, former Vineyard Director for Mildara Wines in Coonawarra, in a 2003 interview with Rob Linn (courtesy State Library of South Australia)

The Australian vineyard is a highly mechanized one. Lacking a large population and a source of cheap labor, Australia’s vintners adopted mechanical harvesting in the 1970s and have increasingly relied on it, with vineyards planted accordingly, on flat or gently sloping sites rather than unworkable hillsides. Mechanical harvests often occur at night to preserve freshness and acidity, and they are far more economical than manual harvests, which are generally reserved for top wines only. Tasks such as hedging, fruit thinning, and pruning are also often carried out by machine. Mechanical pruning saves a significant amount of time and money on a vineyard task that is generally second only to harvesting in cost. In fact, in the 1980s it became increasingly popular in Australia not to prune at all, really. The concept of minimal pruning, developed by CSIRO in the 1970s, relies on a vine’s natural self-discipline over time to keep its growth in check, and growers are essentially freed from winter pruning tasks. This technique gained widespread acceptance in many warmer areas, and in South Australia's Coonawarra region, where it has been more recently recast as a culpable party in lackluster wine quality.

As Australians have wholeheartedly adopted vineyard mechanization, they have also pioneered sophisticated techniques of irrigation. Irrigation in the extremely dry climates of Australia is usually essential, and viticulture in the country’s largest regions of production along the Murray and Murrumbidgee Rivers would never have been possible without it. Wasteful techniques of flood and spray irrigation were replaced by more efficient drip systems from the 1960s forward, and the Australians, ever adept at moisture management, developed the restrictive irrigation techniques of regulated deficit irrigation (RDI) and partial rootzone drying (PRD) for the grapevine in the '80s and '90s, improving berry quality while reducing water usage. RDI creates water stress during certain key periods of the vine’s development by lowering the total amount of applied irrigation water. By utilizing RDI after fruit set, vineyard managers could limit vegetative growth while enhancing fruit coloration and restricting berry size, and it is thus particularly useful for red wine grapes. However, water deficit may lower yield, and negatively impact the development of aromatic varieties by slowing the accumulation of monoterpenes in the ripening grapes. RDI provides only marginal water use savings, and lower water use efficiency. PRD, on the other hand, reduces total water use by up to 50% by alternating the application of drip irrigation from one side of a vine row to the other, keeping half of the rootzone irrigated and half dry. PRD may accomplish many of the same results in terms of heightened grape quality, but it does not greatly affect yield. In the driest inhabited continent on earth, where periods of drought seem increasingly debilitating, PRD is quickly becoming a favored means of significant water usage reduction, and it makes positive economic and qualitative sense. However, studies on both techniques continue, and the precise effects both techniques have on grape and wine quality is still a matter of robust debate.

In the winery, Australia has earned a reputation for producing clean, “correct” wines that emphasize varietal fruit in soft, supple frames. While any attempt to define a homogenous Australian style creates untenable generalizations, at the basic commercial level these attributes—clean, soft, fruit-forward—are positive achievements, and modern winemakers in Australia incorporate a wealth of winemaking knowledge and technique to create wines of such character. Fruit character is preserved through cool white wine fermentations (in the 50-60° F range) and moderate red wine fermentations (in the 70-80° F range). Cleanliness is maintained via judicious sulfur dioxide additions and sterile filtration. Oak chips are common at the basic level. Achieving sugar ripeness in Australia’s largest regions is never a worry, and chaptalization is illegal throughout the country. Acidification with tartaric acid, on the other hand, is legal and is assuredly incorporated at the basic level and generally practiced for premium warm climate wines, from Rutherglen Muscat to Barossa Shiraz. However, as Australian cool climate winemakers are moving pick dates forward and preserving natural acidity, the need for acidification in such regions is lessened, if not entirely abrogated. In general, tart fruit acidity is viewed as a virtue by Australian palates, and tartaric additions reflect this. Other winemaking techniques—cultured yeasts, micro-oxygenation, exogenous tannin must additions, deepened extraction via rotofermenters, alcohol reduction through reverse osmosis—are all in play, but for the sommelier interested in modern Australian wines with a sense of place, these techniques are no more (or less) common than in any other part of the wine world.

Lastly, Australia has led the way forward in wine packaging alternative technology: Australians developed bag-in-the-box technology in the 1960s, and they were early and avid proponents of the screwcap closure. The first truly premium wines to be released under screwcap anywhere in the world issued from a group of producers in Australia’s Clare Valley, in 2000. Australian wine critic, James Halliday, reported that in 2013 99% of all Australian white table wine (regardless of price) and 98.8% of its red table wines under $20 was closed under screwcap. Even Australia’s most ageworthy red wines—with the notable exception of “Grange”—are generally bottled under screwcap closures today, and winemakers and consumers alike have seemingly lost any sense of romance with cork. Only the importance of the Chinese export market, wherein consumers may outpace even Europeans in their disdain of alternative closures, keeps wine producers in Australia from abandoning natural cork completely.

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South Australia

Capital: Adelaide

South Australia (SA), a free colony, usurped Victoria’s position as the country’s center of wine production after phylloxera crippled the Victorian industry in the late 1800s. SA managed to avoid phylloxera despite ruin in neighboring Victoria’s vineyards by quickly implementing a total ban on imported vine material in 1874. South Australia cemented its role as the “wine state” following the cessation of interstate trade duties in 1901—which brought SA wines into the population centers of Victoria and New South Wales at competitive prices—and the development of irrigation districts in the Riverland region along the Murray River. In the late 1940s, SA produced more than three-quarters of Australia’s wine, although this figure has declined with the resurgence of the Victorian wine industry and the rise of other irrigated viticultural regions along the Murray in both Victoria and New South Wales. Today, South Australia remains completely phylloxera-free, and SA wine production hovers near 50% of the national total. Many of the country’s largest wine groups, such as Accolade Wines and Premium Wine Brands (Pernod Ricard), are headquartered in SA. The state is divided into eight zones, with production concentrated in the lower southeastern sector of the state. Much of the arid Far North zone, which covers the entire northern portion of the state, is not suitable for any kind of agriculture. Despite clustered viticultural activity in a relatively small sector of the state, the southeastern regions are homogenous in neither climate nor character, and a range of grapes and styles exists.

The Adelaide Super Zone: Barossa, Fleurieu, and Mount Lofty Ranges

The Adelaide Super Zone surrounds the coastal city of the same name, and includes warm plains along the Gulf of St. Vincent coastline, where summer water temperatures can be 7-8° F higher than those off the southern Victorian coast, and the cooler low mountains of the Mount Lofty Ranges further inland. It encompasses three zones, various climates and significant changes in elevation, so there is little to link its diverse fruit sources save for the marketing trick of labeling the wine as “Adelaide,” which rarely appears on labels anyway. But the numerous regions the super zone comprises represent the centerpiece of South Australian winemaking; with the exception of Coonawarra, all of the state’s most important premium winemaking GIs—Barossa Valley, Eden Valley, McLaren Vale, and Clare Valley—are within it.

Barossa Zone

Barossa is South Australia’s single most important winemaking zone. Named for a Spanish battlefield in the Napoleonic Wars, the Barossa was largely carved up among wealthy—and frequently teetotaler—English landowners in the 1830s, but populated in 1842 by German-speaking Prussian Lutherans fleeing religious persecution in their home country (and only too happy to plant vines). In 1842 Lutherans founded Bethany, the first European settlement in the valley, and in 1847 Bavarian immigrant Johann Gramp planted a vineyard along the banks of Jacob’s Creek in Rowland Flat, establishing Orlando Wines, the region’s first commercial winery and the company behind the modern “Jacob’s Creek” brand. The Barossa zone has over 100 ha of vines that are at least a century old, including the world’s oldest Syrah/Shiraz vines (Langmeil’s “Freedom” vineyard, planted in 1843), and what are presumably the world’s oldest Grenache and Mataro/Mourvèdre vines as well: Cirillo owns a three-hectare parcel of Grenache planted in 1850, and Hewitson produces Mataro from the Koch family’s “Old Garden” of vines dating to 1853. Australia’s oldest plot of Cabernet Sauvignon vines, Penfolds’ “Block 42,” lies in Kalimna in the northern Barossa Valley and dates to 1888. The wealth of phylloxera-free old vine resources in the Barossa is celebrated and codified in the Barossa Old Vine Charter, a self-regulated classification of vineyard age in the region. The charter, based on a model developed internally by Yalumba, introduced four age categories for vines: Old (at least 35 years of age), Survivor (at least 70 years of age), Centenarian (at least 100 years old), and Ancestor (at least 125 years old). Producers may use these designations on labels, provided vineyard sources meet the requisite age.

Barossa Valley GI

Zone: Barossa
Climate: Warm Continental
Degree Days (°C): 1710 (Region III)
Top Varieties: Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, Grenache
Secondary Varieties: Chardonnay, Semillon

The Barossa zone is divided into two parallel valleys, Barossa Valley GI and Eden Valley GI. The Barossa Valley GI is the country’s largest fine wine region, and it is the fourth-largest region overall, falling in line behind the volume-driven regions of Riverland, Riverina, and Murray Darling. Barossa Valley is lower in elevation (100-300 meters above sea level) and daytime temperatures are typically two to three degrees (Celsius) warmer than in Eden Valley. The hot, flat Barossa Valley floor has deep, loamy clay soils and a plentiful reserve of underground water to accommodate irrigation during the region’s dry summers. In the past, fortified wines drove production in the region—a legacy retained in the wines of Seppeltsfield, whose world-class “100 Year Old Para Liqueur” is a national treasure—but Barossa Shiraz is its most famous product today. The grape is cultivated in over 50% of the GI’s vineyards, and the valley has more land dedicated to the grape than any other single region in Australia. The classic picture of Australian Shiraz—intense flavors of chocolate, prune and date, wrapped in velvety tannins and emboldened by high, mentholated alcohol levels, often in excess of 15%—was painted here. The region continues to produce Australia’s hottest and heaviest styles of Shiraz, sometimes verging on port-like concentration, mouthfeel and alcohol. Plantings of the grape skyrocketed on the Barossa Valley floor during the style’s boom in the 1990s, and Penfolds “Grange,” Australia’s most collectible red wine, is based on Barossa Shiraz, along with fruit from other regions. Other top Shiraz bottlings from the valley include Elderton’s “the Command,” and Torbreck’s “RunRig” and “The Laird”—the latter a micro-production wine first released in 2005 with a price tag surpassing even “Grange.” Sommeliers and many wine drinkers may be looking for restraint, but much of Barossa moves relentlessly forward, headstrong.

Looking westward over the Barossa Valley.

Not all Shiraz is made as a still wine—modern sparkling renditions are growing in popularity domestically, and they recall the (grand?) Australian tradition of “Sparkling Burgundy,” a fizzy red style dating to the end of the 19th century. Edmund Mazure produced Australia’s first Sparkling Burgundy in the Adelaide Hills in 1888—and his wine likely included at least some Shiraz—but the Victorian producer Great Western popularized the style. Sparkling reds shifted back to Barossa in the early 1970s, when Orlando Wines joined the “Cold Duck” fad, flooding the market with cheap, sweet, carbonated red wines. Today, Barossa has a number of sparkling Shiraz producers, and the method of production is fairly similar throughout their ranks. A base Shiraz is fermented to dryness and aged in oak prior to undergoing a second fermentation in tank—only a very few sparkling Shiraz wines are produced in the traditional method. Typically, sweetness is added through a small dosage of Australian Tawny, and most examples are at least semi-sweet in style. Sparkling Shiraz rarely earns more than a shrug among US sommeliers, but it can be a delightful Christmastime wine in Adelaide, and it fares well at the breakfast table, particularly with bacon-and-egg rolls—an Aussie “brekkie” favorite. For good examples, Rockford and Peter Rumball (who sources fruit from Coonawarra) are reputable sources.

Barossa Shiraz is the star, but other red varieties suited to warmer climates can perform well in the region’s heat. Cabernet Sauvignon, the second-most planted variety in the GI, ripens easily on the valley floor, and Grenache and Mataro can produce exciting varietal wines and GSM-style blends. White varieties tend to struggle. Chardonnay rapidly increased in acreage during its heyday in the 1980s and 1990s, but most winemakers today concede that it is best left to cooler climes. Semillon, however, performs surprisingly well on the Barossa Valley floor. When picked early enough, it can produce a wine of piercing acidity, echoing the low-alcohol, austere styles of the Lower Hunter Valley. Peter Lehmann’s “Margaret,” sourced from a 1929 Semillon vineyard, is a top example in the category.

In 1847—the same year that Johann Gramp planted his vineyard at Jacob’s Creek—an Englishman named Joseph Gilbert planted his Pewsey Vale vineyard in the windswept Barossa Ranges east of the Barossa Valley, and winemaking arrived in Eden Valley. In comparison with Barossa Valley, Eden Valley is cooler, higher in elevation (400-600 meters above sea level) and more sparsely planted: its rolling hills contain approximately one-fifth of the vineyard acreage of Barossa Valley, and sheep grazing is a much more common endeavor than viticulture. Water scarcity (and salinity) makes expansion unlikely. A thin layer of red clay colors the hills of Eden, and granite outcrops are everywhere. Stuart Blackwell, senior winemaker at St. Hallett, neatly sums up the valley’s poor, rocky, rough soils: “It shouldn’t be called Eden—it’s not the Garden of Eden.” Shiraz sourced from amongst these cooler, exposed hills assumes a different character than on the Barossa Valley floor, showing more elegance, spice, and red fruit character. The valley’s most famous Shiraz vineyard—Henschke’s eight-hectare Hill of Grace, planted in 1860—is the source of Australia’s top single vineyard wine, providing a site-specific counterpoint to the philosophy behind “Grange.” Many Shiraz wines labeled “Barossa” rather than "Barossa Valley" (signifying the zone rather than the region) include a dash of Eden Valley fruit for lift and acidity.

While nearly nine of ten grapevines on the Barossa Valley floor are red, red wines slightly outnumber whites in Eden Valley, and Riesling occupies over one-quarter of its vineyard real estate. A reminder of the area’s German heritage, Eden Riesling sits among the country’s most thrilling efforts with the grape; it is classically dry, sharply acidic, and dripping with lime flavor. Generally, the best examples of Riesling (and other white grapes) are produced in the cooler southern sectors of the GI, while the better Shiraz vineyards, like Henschke’s Hill of Grace and the 100-year-old Mt. Edelstone, tend to be further north. At over 500 meters above sea level, the most elevated and southernmost point in Eden Valley is the sub-region of High Eden GI, an area first championed in the 1970s by Mountadam, one of Australia’s pioneering producers of Chardonnay.

Gnadenberg Church, Hill of Grace, Eden Valley

Fleurieu Zone

McLaren Vale GI

Zone: Fleurieu
Climate: Warm Mediterranean (with substantial variation)
Degree Days (°C): 1910 (Region III)
Top Varieties: Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, Grenache
Secondary Varieties: Chardonnay, Merlot

The McLaren Vale GI, bounded by the South Mt. Lofty Ranges to the east and the Gulf of St. Vincent to the west, is one of South Australia’s signature Shiraz growing regions and the most important region within the Fleurieu zone. First planted in 1838, the region—like all of South Australia—has remained phylloxera-free, and its windy, warm climate alleviates fungal disease pressure, allowing growers to freely pursue organic and biodynamic viticultural practices. Approximately one-quarter of the GI’s seven-dozen wineries are certified as organic, and approximately 40 of the producers participate in “Generational Farming,” a new sustainable farming initiative. Drought is the chief viticultural hazard in this dry climate, and water—the hidden but heavy environmental cost of wine production—is scarce. While a small percentage of vineyards are dry-farmed, many rely on recycled wastewater from the nearby suburbs of Adelaide for irrigation water, a pioneering program that serves as a conservationist model for other water-starved areas throughout Australia and the world.

McLaren Vale is predominantly a red wine area. Shiraz, planted in over half of the GI’s 7,100 hectares of wine grapes, is the appellation’s top variety, followed by Cabernet Sauvignon and Grenache. Shiraz in McLaren Vale is typically an intense experience, with brooding tannins, high alcohol levels (14-15%) and deep blue fruits, but there is metamorphosis: conscious of changing consumer tastes, some winemakers are starting to soften their touch, particularly in regards to the type and percentage of new oak used. French oak has steadily outpaced American barrels in both Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon production. The mighty, massive chocolate and prune flavors common in many Barossa examples of Shiraz are less dominant here, and tasters frequently ascribe iron notes to the wines of McLaren Vale—perhaps pointing underfoot, to the ironstone, or red sandstone, common in some areas of the appellation. Overall, determining a standard style of McLaren Shiraz can be complicated, as soil, geology, and climate are not uniform. Seven different underlying geological structures, or ‘terranes,’ exist, and the growing season steadily lengthens as one moves inland and upward in altitude from the coast. Shiraz from the coolest and most northeastern area, Clarendon, may be harvested a month after wines sourced from the heavier, richer soils of the valley floor west of the town of Willunga.

Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon are the most planted red grapes, but some of the most exciting, up-and-coming McLaren Vale wines are produced from Grenache. Grenache performs particularly well in the sandier areas of Blewitt Springs and Kangarilla, and is especially drought-resistant. John Davey of Shingleback Wines affirms the variety’s hardiness in McLaren Vale’s warm climate, “If there is a nuclear war, only two things will survive: cockroaches and Grenache vines.” Ultimately, McLaren Vale Grenache at its best reveals a warm climate’s counterpoint to Pinot Noir. Typically raised in old hogsheads and 500-liter puncheons rather than new barriques, the grape can take on Rhône-like savory tones to bolster its warm strawberry and mint character. Chardonnay is currently the most planted white variety, a result of past popularity rather than actual suitability to the region, as most winemakers concede that other Rhône and Southern Italian white grapes, such as Roussanne and Fiano, are more promising. These “alternative” varieties (as they are forever condemned to be called) comprise only a miniscule portion of the total vineyard area today.

With about 6,000 hectares of vines on the north side of Lake Alexandrina, Langhorne Creek GI is Fleurieu’s second-most significant winegrowing region. Vines first took root here in 1860, and Metala, the region’s longest-running producer, established their vineyards in 1890. The brand persists to this day, albeit under the Treasury Wine Estates umbrella. Wolf Blass arrived in 1967; Orlando Wines followed in 1995. Langhorne Creek is now a principal source for the latter’s “Jacob’s Creek” brand, and flat region is more associated with large-scale, machine-harvested operations than smaller, more premium wineries. Currency Creek GI is southwest of Langhorne Creek, adjacent to the western shoreline of Lake Alexandrina at the mouth of the Murray River. Viticulture in Currency Creek is a recent pursuit, and about a quarter of the 800-odd hectares of vines in the region are Shiraz; Cabernet Sauvignon reflects nearly as much with Chardonnay trailing just behind. Southern Fleurieu GI is due south of McLaren Vale, on the Fleurieu Peninsula, with only about 500 hectares under vine; it tends to be slightly warmer and drier than Currency Creek. Shiraz accounts for one-third of its vines; Cabernet Sauvignon and Sauvignon Blanc are the region’s second- and third-most important varieties. Kangaroo Island, separated from Cape Jervis on the Fleurieu Peninsula by the 8.4-mile wide Backstairs Passage, is the site of the Fleurieu zone’s smallest GI, with less than 150 hectares under vine. The island itself is the third-largest island off the coast of Australia, and it was the site of the first official European colonial settlement in South Australia, predating the founding of Adelaide by five months.

Mount Lofty Ranges Zone

Clare Valley GI is the Mount Lofty Ranges’ most heavily planted region, and it can be a rewarding source for some very different styles of wine, from steely Riesling to bold examples of Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon. Just under a two-hour drive north of Adelaide, Clare Valley is the northernmost GI within the Mount Lofty Ranges zone. It is less a single valley than a series of contoured, north-south ridges and the depressions and sub-valleys between them, with most vineyards located between the towns of Auburn and Clare itself. Viticulture in the region originated with the arrival of English settlers and the establishment of Hope Farm around 1840. Jesuits built the region’s first true winery, Sevenhill Cellars, as a source of sacramental wines (a tradition maintained by the producer today) on a plot of land purchased in 1851, and others soon followed. AP Birks Wendouree, makers of classically styled, ageworthy red wines, was founded in 1892. By the turn of the century there were over 500 hectares of vines in the ground in Clare Valley. Jim Barry arrived in the region in the 1940s, and founded Jim Barry Wines in 1959. Other top modern producers arrived on the scene later: Grosset began production in 1981 and Kilikanoon was established in 1997. Today, Clare Valley has nearly 5,000 hectares of vineyards, and its top producers enjoy a proven, worldwide reputation for their wines.

Clare Valley GI

Zone: Mount Lofty Ranges
Climate: Moderate-Warm Continental
Degree Days (°C): 1465-1767 (Region II-III)
Top Varieties: Shiraz, Riesling, Cabernet Sauvignon
Secondary Varieties: Merlot, Chardonnay

Clare Valley, a network of rural communities some 75 miles due north of Adelaide, may look warmer on paper than it actually is. Elevation (400-600 meters throughout Clare Valley) cools the vines, and the only official weather station currently recording climate data in the GI is located at one of its lowest points—Clare High School, and the town post office prior to that—and is surrounded by roadways, concrete, buildings: the machinery of heat. Dr. John Gladstones, Petaluma’s Brian Croser, and a 2005 report compiled by Davidson Viticultural Consulting have all concluded that the actual climate for many grapevines is cooler than official statistics lead one to believe. In the small Polish Hill River area, a hotspot for Riesling 9 miles southeast of Clare itself and 440 meters in elevation, heat degree days may number 200 or fewer than at Clare High School—Davidson measures 1767 for the school and 1465 (° Celsius) for the Polish Hill River, a shift downward from Region III to Region II. In addition, diurnal variation is significant in Clare. Spring frosts can be a danger, particularly in the cooler eastern and southern areas like Polish Hill River, Watervale, and Auburn; but insect pests and other disease pressures are not a major danger in Clare’s dry climate. Historically, low growing season rainfall (an average of fewer than 8 inches for the season) and little groundwater—which has difficulty penetrating the dense, low-porosity bedrock of the region—resulted in many dry-farmed vineyards, although drip irrigation has become more common today.

Shiraz is the region’s most planted variety, with Jim Barry’s “Armagh” vineyard Shiraz ranking among the top internationally recognized icons of the region. Shiraz from Clare Valley is typically rich and round in style, with slightly less weight and alcohol than one would encounter in Barossa Valley. Cabernet Sauvignon, the region’s second-most planted red variety, is sometimes blended with Shiraz but more often with Malbec, as seen in the classic Wendouree Cabernet-Malbec bottlings. Despite the generally high quality of Clare's reds, many sommeliers are more interested in the region's Riesling. Like those examples hailing from Eden Valley, Clare Valley Riesling tends to be extremely dry, with nearly excruciating acidity. Lime, flowers, and taut stone fruit flavors characterize the wines, which often finish in the neighborhood of 12.5-13% abv. In this birthplace of the modern Australian screwcap movement, Clare Riesling producers almost unanimously bottle under the closure, emphasizing reductive flavors in the wine's youth while gaining desirable toasty, honeyed notes through slow aging in bottle. The better examples of Riesling tend to emerge from the areas of Watervale and Polish Hill. The latter area, which lends its name to Grosset's top bottling, lies atop blue slate bedrock not dissimilar from the Devonian blue slate of the Mosel Valley in Germany.

The Adelaide Hills GI is directly south of Barossa and its vineyards are nestled between the ridges of the South Mount Lofty Ranges. At 727 meters above sea level, Mt. Lofty itself is one of the highest elevation spots in the appellation, as well as one of South Australia’s wettest points. Despite its location between Barossa and McLaren Vale, the appellation is surprisingly cool and nearly 70% of plantings are white grapes.

A selection of sparkling wines from the Adelaide Hills.

Chardonnay is dominant in the central sub-region of Piccadilly Valley GI, where Petaluma planted the Adelaide Hills’ first modern commercial vineyard in 1976. Sauvignon Blanc, the GI’s most planted variety, takes center stage in the Lenswood GI sub-region, where it produces a softer, less aromatic and pungent style than one finds in New Zealand. Pinot Noir and Shiraz are the top red varieties in “the Hills.” The region’s winemakers craft slightly riper styles of Pinot Noir than their counterparts in the Yarra Valley, and they coax softer, lighter—but not lean—melon-scented still wines from the Chardonnay grape. Both grapes also provide a base for the region’s robust sparkling wine industry. Some of Australia’s larger companies use Adelaide Hills fruit to give lift to regional blends, but the region is still tiny in comparison with its neighbors—the Hills produces about 2% of the Barossa’s grape tonnage each year. Local producers of note include Petaluma and Shaw + Smith (the region’s largest wineries), the Lane, Golding, Bird in Hand, and BK Wines—the latter is quickly becoming a sommelier favorite as the producer is making truly drinkable and energetic wines well-suited to the table.

The Adelaide Plains GI, north of the city itself, could not be less similar to the Hills: the Adelaide Hills is the coolest and rainiest region within the entire Adelaide Super Zone, whereas the Adelaide Plains is the warmest, and nearly its driest. In the former, average January temperatures remain in the mid-60s, whereas in the sunny Adelaide Plains they rise into the mid-70s. This hot coastal region is not highly regarded today for quality wine production, but Penfolds’ historic Magill Estate, where Max Schubert’s first experiments with "Grange" have since passed into the realm of legend, lies just a few miles outside of its borders. Adelaide’s suburban sprawl now completely encircles the once-rural “spiritual home of Grange,” and the small estate, with its five remaining hectares of Shiraz vineyards, is a showpiece for the company today.

Limestone Coast Zone

Coonawarra GI, in the Limestone Coast, considers itself Australia’s foremost region for Cabernet Sauvignon, and it is equally famous for its so-called terra rossa, or “red soil.” This thin, cigar-shaped band of friable clay loam, tinted vivid red by iron oxide, overlies soft limestone and is commonly considered the most suitable topsoil for the grape in Australia. Terra rossa, which is also found in La Mancha and other areas of Southern Europe, is at once highly permeable for a clay-based soil yet offers good water retention to support the vines’ roots through dry Coonawarra summers. Prof. Alex Maltman, a UK geologist specializing in vineyard soils, suggests: “terra rossa…is justly famous but the key to its quality is probably the drainage and storage offered by the underlying fissured limestone.” Overall, the region is fairly flat and featureless, and it experiences a cool Mediterranean climate, although winters turn cold through a lack of moderating maritime influence. Degree days in Coonawarra are fewer than in the Médoc, yet Coonawarra is drier than Bordeaux and experiences significantly greater sunlight hours during the growing season. With about 5,200 hectares under vine, Coonawarra promotes itself as “Australia’s Red Wine Centre”: Cabernet Sauvignon typically accounts for just over half of the annual harvest, and Cabernet, Shiraz and Merlot together produce over 85% of the region’s output. White grapes are an afterthought today. Winemakers from the region may show glimmers of excitement for Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling and Pinot Gris—despite the fact that Chardonnay is the most planted white variety—but public demand for “Australia’s Red Wine Centre” whites likely remains a long way off.

Coonawarra GI

Zone: Limestone Coast
Climate: Cool Mediterranean
Degree Days (°C): 1430 (Region II)
Top Varieties: Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz
Secondary Varieties: Merlot, Chardonnay

Like many Australian wine regions, Coonawarra has its origins in the 19th century, but its modern history of viticulture is really a much shorter tale. In 1861, a Scottish migrant named John Riddoch purchased a large estate near the town of Penola, and moved westward from Geelong, Victoria to Coonawarra. In 1891 he planted the region’s first grapevines on his sprawling property (the Penola Fruit Colony) and soon began construction of his limestone cellar and winery, Chateau Comaum. In 1897 tensions with the nearby township of Penola led Riddoch to rename his colony “Coonawarra”; most accounts suggest that the Aboriginal word means “honeysuckle ridge,” although other meanings, some more or less appropriate, have been suggested: “place of signal fires,” “black swan,” and (A native's practical joke?) “pile of excrement.” By that year, the third vintage for Riddoch’s “Coonawarra” wines, over 100 hectares of vines were in the ground. But this first foray into viticulture was not particularly successfully. Unsold wine multiplied, and the colony was eventually sold in parcels after Riddoch’s death in 1901. Bill Redman, a cellar-hand at Riddoch’s Chateau Comaum, acquired part of the Riddoch estate in 1908. Redman provided grapes and wine to the negociant firm Woodley’s from 1920, and he supervised the only table wine production in Coonawarra through the 1940s. (Until the 1950s, most wine produced on the original Riddoch property was sold as distillate, and the white Doradillo grape was among the district’s most common varieties.) Woodley’s purchased Chateau Comaum in 1946, and produced a famous series of Coonawarra “Treasure Chest” Clarets from 1949 to 1956 under Redman’s direction. In 1952 Bill and son Owen founded Rouge Homme, releasing several vintages of Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet-Shiraz blends before selling the label in 1956 to Lindemans (and founding the rather more straightforward-named Redman Wines a decade later). Mildara commissioned a vineyard planting in 1955, releasing its first Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon, “Peppermint Pattie,” in 1963; and Penfolds began developing vineyards in the region in 1960. However, it was the arrival of Samuel and David Wynn in 1951 that truly signaled a new beginning for the region. The Wynns purchased Chateau Comaum and Riddoch’s core property from Woodley’s, and immediately began production. From 1954 forward, the new Wynns Coonawarra Estate produced varietally labeled, estate-bottled Cabernet Sauvignon, trumpeting its place of origin in an era when multi-regional blending was commonplace. Unlike many of Australia’s most successful winegrowing regions today, Coonawarra is disconnected and distant; the nearest large market (Adelaide) is over 240 miles away. Wynns’ early successes in the 1950s led other companies to the isolated region, accelerating expansion in the 1960s and 1970s. Today Wynns owns about half of the entire region’s vineyards, and since 1982 the estate has produced one of Coonawarra’s top bottlings, the “John Riddoch” Cabernet Sauvignon, in honor of the region’s pioneer.

It is important to make four preliminary points about soils in the Coonawarra district. First, the soil types vary considerably. Second, considerable variation may be found across relatively small distances, even over a few yards. Within a single vineyard or paddock soil types can vary dramatically. Third, there are no comprehensive soil maps of the Coonawarra district. Fourth, while terra rossa remains prominent in advertising, wine journalism and popular consciousness, it has been abandoned as a classification by soil scientists.

–Gary Edmond, Adelaide Law Review Association, Volume 27, No. 1 (Disorder with Law: Determining the Geographical Indication for the Coonawarra Wine Region)

In the 1980s and '90s, the wine industry in Coonawarra rapidly expanded, and areas outside of the original band of terra rossa soils were planted with grapes. With the creation of the Register of Protected Names and the GIC in the early 1990s, the Coonawarra Vignerons Association and the Coonawarra Grape Growers’ Association recommended that only the original, defined band of terra rossa soil between Penola and Comaum qualify for the proposed Coonawarra GI. This determination coincided neatly with both organizations’ memberships, and set off an incredibly contentious, decade-long fight between those inside the proposed boundary and those excluded. Years of litigation diluted Coonawarra’s proposed boundaries. The core issue at hand—terra rossa soil profile—was thrown into doubt as a legally acceptable limit to the appellation, while other factors, such as similarities in climate and water catchment, upheld the argument for a larger region. Dr. Richard Smart and other viticulturalists testified as to the relative unimportance of soil on grape quality, and rendered claims linking terra rossa and wine quality unsubstantiated. A separate Penola GI was initially approved in 2000 and scrapped several years later. In 2003, following years of lawsuits, appeals, and ruined relationships, Coonawarra GI was formally established. To date, it is the last of Australia’s first-tier winegrowing regions to earn formal GI status.

Coonawarra wines have been criticized in the past for overt manipulation in the winery and lack of attention in the vineyard. Winemakers have responded: acidification is much more measured today and exogenous tannin additions have been greatly reduced. Oak usage, as in much of Australia, is changing. New oak levels are falling from absurd heights in the 1990s and early 2000s, and most producers are buying French rather than American barrels. In the vineyard, the overwhelming mechanization of the 1980s is slowly being reduced, a reversal made possible by a new wave of cheap migrant labor from Asia into this sparsely populated area. Once-popular but counter-productive viticultural practices like minimal pruning have been abandoned, and emphasis is building on single vineyard expressions. Sue Hodder, Senior Winemaker at Wynns Coonawarra Estate, sums up the region’s recent revolution: “Good Coonawarra winemaking in the past ten years has been made possible through immense quality improvement in the vineyards. In general, this has enabled a return to the styles of the 1960s: medium-bodied wines, with moderate alcohol levels (closer to 13% than 14%) and balanced oak.” Modern Cabernet in Coonawarra is resurgent, developing powerful yet polished tannins, and achieving ripeness without verging into imbalance.

Typical Coonawarra Cabernet showcases distinctive ripe red berry fruits alongside cassis, followed by sweet herb and dried mint secondary tones. “Mint” is an oft-proclaimed signature note for Australian reds in general, perhaps owing to the country’s omnipresent red gum eucalypts, as studies have shown that the highly aromatic monoterpene eucalyptol can be transferred from tree leaves to grapes through the air. The subject of “mintiness” stirs debate amongst Coonawarra producers. Peter Gambetta, Senior Winemaker for Yalumba’s Limestone Coast wines, ponders the origin of mint in Coonawarra Cabernet—airborne terroir, regional feature, or simply pyrazine-related greenness? “Some argue that it is ‘green fruit’ character and others argue that it is endemic to the region. We have measured eucalyptol in wines and can see a decrease as we move further from the patches of remnant red gums on our estate, though we also see a ‘mintiness’ that is not (derived from) eucalyptol in shaded grapes, so I believe it to be from (multiple) sources.”

With about 1,200 fewer hectares of vines than Coonawarra, Padthaway GI is a heavily cultivated, slightly warmer region inhabiting a five-mile-wide sliver of land along the Riddoch Highway north of the town of Naracoorte. The region extends for 38 miles from north to south, but most of the appellation’s 4,000 ha of vines inhabit a single, unbroken ten-mile-long stretch between the tiny villages of Keppoch and Padthaway. Several of Australia’s largest houses have set up shop in the area, including Seppelt (who planted Padthaway’s first vineyard in 1964), Lindemans, Hardys, Wynns, and Orlando Wines. Padthaway fruit often disappeared into multi-regional blends at the big houses, but there is a movement toward regional identity in the GI today, with Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz, and Chardonnay showing success. One in three vines in the region is Shiraz.

Wrattonbully GI is located between Padthaway and Coonawarra. Like Coonawarra, Wrattonbully is overwhelmingly a red wine-focused region, with Cabernet Sauvignon as its top variety. And like Padthaway, Wrattonbully is a young winegrowing region. 11 hectares of vines appeared in 1969, and the Koppamurra Vineyard, now under the ownership of star Wrattonbully producer Tapanappa, followed in 1974. Most grapevines in Wrattonbully are between 10 and 20 years old, as vineyard development rapidly accelerated during the 1990s. In that decade, wine companies on the outside recognized the same veins of terra rossa soil that ran through the core of Coonawarra within Wrattonbully, and at much lower prices. Wrattonbully Cabernet Sauvignon is likewise similar in style to that of Coonawarra, showing relatively soft tannins and ripe red fruits.

Mount Gambier GI surrounds the mountain and town of the same name (SA’s second largest population center), and extends southward from Coonawarra along the Victoria border, all the way to the state’s southern coastline. It is the state’s largest region in sheer size, but it contains fewer than 300 ha of vines. Mount Gambier is similar in climate to neighboring Henty GI in Victoria, and Pinot Noir and Sauvignon Blanc are currently the most planted varieties in its cooler maritime climate. The zone’s two other regions, Mount Benson GI and Robe GI, sit at the same latitudes as Wrattonbully and Coonawarra, respectively, but lie on the coastline, an hour’s drive west. Vine cultivation did not occur in either region prior to 1989, and there are less than 1,200 hectares of vines between them. Shiraz leads in both GIs, with Cabernet Sauvignon, Sauvignon Blanc, and Chardonnay rounding out the list of top varieties.

Lower Murray Zone

With over one-quarter of the national annual grape tonnage, Riverland GI is Australia’s leader in production. The region follows the course of the Murray River from the South Australia state border westward to Blanchetown, near the Eden Valley. The river is wide and languid, and the fertile, sandy soils along its banks provide an agricultural oasis in the otherwise hot and arid continental interior. Irrigation water from the river is essential for viticulture. Some of Australia’s largest value brands—Berri, Oxford Landing, and Banrock Station—have massive vineyards in the region, and the second-largest family-owned winery in Australia, Kingston Estate, is based here. Chardonnay and Shiraz are neck and neck as the region’s most planted varieties, together making up just over half of the total production; however, the Riverland has a surprising number of boutique producers—not typically exported to the United States—experimenting with everything from Petit Manseng and Vermentino to Montepulciano, Graciano and Saperavi. Riverland is also home to the largest single planting of Petit Verdot in Australia, a nearly 100-hectare plot farmed by Kingston Estate. All unlikely commercial stars, granted, but they do provide a bit of color to an otherwise monochromatic and fairly industrial vineyard palate.

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New South Wales

Capital: Sydney

New South Wales (NSW) is Australia’s most populous state and the site of the country’s first vineyards, planted on a site not far from the modern-day Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge. These first vines bore fruit in 1791, but succumbed to disease and died soon thereafter. Further, more enduring attempts followed in the early 1800s: John Macarthur established vineyards at his Camden Park estate with European cuttings—including Shiraz—by 1820 and Gregory Blaxland exported a 136-liter barrel of wine to London in 1822. In Hunter Valley, George Wyndham founded Australia’s now-oldest continuously operating winery (Wyndham Estate) in 1828, and he planted Australia’s first commercial Shiraz vineyard in 1830. Their achievements notwithstanding, a Scottish-born botanist named James Busby (1801-1871) would have an even greater impact on the early years of New South Wales viticulture, earning the mantle “father” of the Australian wine industry. Busby moved to New South Wales in the early 1820s, but returned to Europe in 1831, gathering various vine cuttings from Spain and France. He gathered hundreds of specimens, and planted them upon his return, dividing the cuttings between his Kirkton estate in the Hunter Valley and the Sydney Botanical Gardens. These vines, including Rhône, Bordeaux, and Burgundy varieties, represent the core of Australia's viticultural heritage.

Despite early advocacy by Busby—who left for New Zealand in 1833—and others, winemaking in Australia remained a marginal activity until the discovery of gold in 1851, which spurred vineyard expansion in New South Wales and in the new colony of Victoria. Hunter Valley’s vineyards likewise continued to grow due to the region’s proximity to the population center of Sydney. Phylloxera, which devastated Victoria around the turn of the century, appeared in vineyards near Sydney in 1884, and in those surrounding Albury on the north bank of the Murray, 30 miles due east from Rutherglen. However, the bug’s spread in NSW has been effectively contained, and most winegrowing regions in the state, including Hunter Valley, have remained phylloxera-free. By the Federation of Australia in 1901 vineyards were well established north of Sydney, in the Hunter Valley, Mudgee, and beyond, within the modern-day GIs of Hastings River and New England. In 1912 the debut of the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area, a massive project delivering water from the Murrumbidgee (a major tributary of the Murray River) to the otherwise dry and drought-prone farmlands in the Riverina region west of the Great Dividing Range, provided a seemingly limitless new frontier for food and wine grape production. McWilliams, one of the largest family-owned producers in Australia today, planted the region’s first grapevines in 1913. Penfolds followed McWilliams into Riverina in 1919, and De Bortoli was established near the town of Griffith in 1928. Riverina flourished as an engine of fortified wine production throughout the first half of the 20th century.

With Federation in 1901, all interstate trade barriers were abolished and the rapidly growing South Australian wine industry could compete for attention in Sydney. This sudden competition, coupled with the rise of fortified wine production, shrunk interest in some areas, such as Hastings River and New England, both of whom stopped producing wine completely—for decades. Mudgee was propelled forward by the discovery of gold in 1872 but dwindled to nothing in the early 20th century. Even Hunter Valley struggled. Maurice O’Shea, the first great Australian winemaker of the 1900s, produced Hunter Valley Shiraz table wines (labeled as “Hunter Burgundy”) for McWilliams’ Mt. Pleasant until his death in 1956, despite overwhelming domestic interest in fortified wines and beer. But the overall industry in Hunter Valley contracted until a flurry of new plantings occurred in the 1960s, led by Lake’s Folly. On the other hand, the machine of Riverina continued to move forward, relentlessly, producing over 21,000 tonnes of fruit in 1961. As Australians begin to shift back toward table wines in that decade, Riverina responded with a host of new plantings better suited for the new styles, moving toward Chardonnay and Merlot and away from Pedro and Trebbiano. In the 1970s new regions were born—or reborn—along the coastline and the inland side of the Great Dividing Range. By 1981, Riverina was firmly a part of Australia’s “cheap and cheerful” image, producing over 90,000 tonnes of fruit, and Hunter Valley was capitalizing on a new interest in wine tourism to rebound from its midcentury doldrums. New South Wales, like the rest of Australia, rocketed forward during the wine boom of the 1990s, and many of its fledgling regions experienced dramatic growth during this period. From 1973 to 2011, NSW increased its annual crush from 73,000 tonnes to 580,000 tonnes—a larger leap forward than any other state. In 2010, NSW accounted for 29% of Australia’s total wine production.

The major climatic features in New South Wales include the Pacific Ocean and the Great Dividing Range. In the coastal zones of South Coast, Hunter, and Northern Rivers, humidity is high and summer rainfall is especially common, particularly as one moves north, where the water warms and lingering effects of the Indo-Australian monsoon season’s impact are felt. The Great Dividing Range, a complex of mountain chains running along the entire coastline of NSW, blocks western areas from rainfall and cooling maritime breezes—the inland zones of Big Rivers and Western Plains are especially arid and progressively hotter as one moves north. The highest mountains in Australia are the Snowy Mountains, an alpine sector of the Great Dividing Range located within the Southern New South Wales zone. In the highlands of this range and the ranges running north and south of it, climate becomes continental and temperatures cool with elevation.

Hunter Valley Zone

The Hunter Valley region has become a casualty of faulty logic in the age of Geographical Indications. There is the Hunter Valley zone, which contains the Hunter GI region, which in turn encompasses three GI sub-regions: Upper Hunter Valley, Broke Fordwich, and Pokolbin. Pokolbin and Broke Fordwich are both located within what has traditionally been known as the Lower Hunter Valley—the heart of the region’s viticultural activities—but “Lower Hunter Valley” did not merit GI status, according to the local authorities’ infinite wisdom. In 2013 a round-up of top winemakers and vineyard owners in the Lower Hunter Valley, representing Tyrrell’s, Brokenwood, Thomas Wines, Audrey Wilkinson and McWilliam’s Mt. Pleasant, responded with ready dismissal when asked if any of them would ever consider using “Pokolbin”—the GI wherein they are all located—on a wine label. Historically, the Lower Hunter has been divided into six sub-regions: Pokolbin, Broke Fordwich, Allandale, Belford, Dalwood, and Rothbury—but only the first two have earned sub-region GI status to date. The Upper Hunter Valley GI has fewer vineyards and a shorter narrative, as modern viticulture dates only to 1960, when Penfolds established 250 ha of vines at Wybong in the region.

Hunter GI (Lower Hunter)

Zone: Hunter Valley
Climate: Hot Subtropical
Degree Days (°C): 2070 (Region IV)
Top Varieties: Semillon, Chardonnay, Verdelho, Shiraz
Secondary Varieties: Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon

The Hunter Valley endures one of the warmest and wettest climates among Australia’s winegrowing regions. It is sub-tropical and humid, and the Lower Hunter averages over 20 inches of rain during the growing season. According to Winkler’s Scale, the marginally warmer Upper Hunter Valley is considered Region IV—a zone best utilized for fortified wine production—and is actually hotter than the Riverland, South Australia’s warmest GI (although it remains slightly cooler than Riverina). Ripening comes early in the Hunter Valley and is unimpeded through the region’s warm summer nights. However, autumn also arrives early, and with it comes a near-constant cloud cover. Ripe fruit character thus develops early in the season, when pH is still relatively low, but sugar ripening slows early as well, as vines transition to producing carbohydrates for dormancy in the early fall. Fierce storms often arrive in the last week of January—the first two months of the year are the wettest in the Hunter Valley—and may provoke early harvesting decisions for white grapes. Despite the heat Hunter produces surprisingly elegant and low- to moderate-alcohol styles of wine. White grapes are more common than red.

Picking Semillon early was originally an economic decision. In the late '50s and '60s several vintages were totally
destroyed by rains, so people started picking once they saw a single cloud in the sky.
-Bruce Tyrrell, Tyrrell’s Wines

If we catch anyone blending Semillon with Sauvignon Blanc, we’ll probably shoot them.
-Iain Leslie Riggs, Chief Winemaker, Brokenwood

Semillon is the most planted grape in Hunter Valley, and Hunter Valley Semillon is the world’s most classic and ageworthy dry example of the grape. Semillon was once sold as “Hunter Riesling” here, a synonym that offers a clue to its austere character: the wine is fairly low in alcohol (frequently in the 10-12% range) and incredibly acidic (pH levels remain around 2.9). Classic Hunter Semillon is harvested at the end of January or during the first week in February, at Baumé levels of 9-12°; it is generally vinified with commercial yeasts and quickly bottled (in the June or July following harvest) with a significant remaining level of carbon dioxide. Classic Hunter Semillon never sees oak and there is no emphasis on lees stirring, but it will be aged by its makers for several years prior to release, during which period it begins to gain notes of browned toast and crème caramel—expanding on the simple lemon and slight grass notes of its extreme youth. Top bottlings include Tyrrell’s “Vat 1” and Brokenwood’s “ILR Reserve,” which are released five and six years after the vintage, respectively. Both have aging potential measured in decades rather than years, and their makers, like many others in Australia, have shifted entirely to screwcap closures. That overly simplistic blind tasting adage—“New World” wines have higher alcohol and “Old World” wines have higher acidity—is called into question with Hunter Semillon, and one is reminded that temperature is only one factor in the equation of wine climate.

Tyrrell’s in Hunter Valley takes credit for the country’s first varietal bottling of Chardonnay, the 1971 “Vat 47 Pinot Chardonnay.” Since that year, Chardonnay has become an important variety in the Hunter Valley, comprising over a quarter of its total plantings; however, winemakers typically do not consider it a top variety in the region, and prefer to plant Semillon and Shiraz in top sites. The Portuguese grape Verdelho is also common, perhaps feeling as welcome in the Hunter as it does in its other subtropical home, Madeira. The grape’s naturally thick skins lend a measure of protection against mold—a constant worry in Hunter’s humid climate. Verdelho offers an alternative to Semillon, yielding generous wines of tropical fruit character, often finishing with a degree or so more alcohol than Semillon. Shiraz is the top red variety in the Hunter, performing especially well on the red volcanic soils of the Lower Hunter Valley (Semillon prefers the white alluvial sands). Maurice O’Shea was producing varietal Shiraz and Shiraz-Pinot Noir blends at Mount Pleasant when “Grange” was just a twinkle in Max Shubert’s eye, and Hunter Shiraz has long been one of the great archetypes in Australia, with fruit and acid at the forefront.

Central Ranges Zone

The three regions of the Central Ranges lie on the western slopes of the Great Dividing Range, near the town of Bathurst some 125 miles west of Sydney. Mudgee GI is the zone’s oldest producing region and it borders Hunter GI, yet rises 400-500 meters higher in altitude and experiences a drier, sunnier, and less humid climate with greater diurnal shifts in temperature. Budbreak is delayed and harvests often occur a month after those in the Lower Hunter Valley—and they are less frequently interrupted by severe storms. Concentrated, deeply colored red wines are the order of the day in warm Mudgee. Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz, and Merlot are among the region’s most planted varieties, and red grapes outnumber white grapes by four to one. Regardless of the modern emphasis on reds, Mudgee Chardonnay—the region’s most planted white grape—has a special place in Australian wine history. Murray Tyrrell asserts that he was the first to release varietal Chardonnay, but he may have taken his cuttings from Mudgee, and at least one Mudgee winery preceded his in producing a single varietal Chardonnay wine. Craigmoor—the first winery established in Mudgee, in 1858—cultivated Chardonnay for half a century prior to Tyrrell’s first release, although it was not identified as such until the late 1960s. Craigmoor winemaker Pieter van Gent made Chardonnay in the 1971 vintage, paralleling Tyrrell’s first release, but the winemaker concedes that there was not enough wine to warrant bottling. An employee of Craigmoor, Alf Kurtz, planted his own vineyard with Craigmoor cuttings and founded Mudgee Wines in the 1960s, releasing several small vintages of Chardonnay prior to both Craigmoor and Tyrrell’s. The Craigmoor Chardonnay selection came to the vineyard by way of one Kaluna Vineyard near Sydney, which was likely planted with cuttings from Kirkton—James Busby’s estate in Hunter.

Southwest of Mudgee is Orange GI, the Central Ranges’ youngest, coolest, and potentially most exciting region. It is also one of the highest regions in the entire country overall: Orange GI begins at the 600-meter line of elevation, and its vineyards rise up the slopes of NSW’s central highlands, past the 1000-meter mark. The highest point in the appellation is Mount Canobolas, an extinct volcano and the source of the region’s richest, basalt-derived soils. On the high volcanic plateau extending northward from Mount Canobolas, the pioneering producer Bloodwood planted Orange’s first modern vineyard in 1983. With about 1,000 ha under vine, the region has grown rapidly since then. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Shiraz, and Chardonnay are the region’s most popular grapes, but Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir look increasingly promising in Orange’s cool mountain climate. Cowra GI, the southernmost and warmest region in the zone—an indication of its lower elevation rather than its higher latitude—is best known for soft, generous styles of Chardonnay.

South Coast, Northern Rivers, and Northern Slopes Zones

The South Coast and Northern Rivers zones nearly span the entirety of the New South Wales coastline, separated by a small segment of the Hunter Valley. The Northern Rivers’ Hastings River GI lies right on the coast; it is unequivocally hot—falling within Region V on Winkler’s Scale—and it experiences more rainfall during the growing season than any other region in Australia. With early picking, Semillon in Hastings River can develop some of the same characteristics as it does in the Hunter, but this is overall not a fine wine destination. The Northern Slopes’ New England Australia GI, formally approved in 2008, is northwest of Hastings River. Elevation afforded by the Great Dividing Range in New England mitigates the heat, and allows the region’s growing number of wineries to produce cooler-climate versions of Shiraz and other red grapes, despite the area’s northerly latitude. In 2019, both regions together accounted for less than 150 total hectares of vines.

The South Coast’s Shoalhaven Coast GI hugs a strip of the NSW coastline about 75 miles south of Sydney. While growing season rainfall and heat are slightly diminished in the South Coast, the region still struggles with identity, and only a handful of small wineries have emerged. To date, the region is best known for wines produced from Chambourcin—a red French hybrid. The Southern Highlands GI, on the other hand, is nestled in the hills of the Great Dividing Range, and has greater potential to produce quality wines. Surprisingly, Tempranillo is currently the most planted grape in the region. Like their northern counterparts, Shoalhaven Coast and the Southern Highlands remain small, and in 2019 they together contained less than 200 hectares of vines.

Big Rivers Zone

The Big Rivers zone is located along the Victorian border to the west of the Great Dividing Range; the big rivers in question are the Murray and the Murrumbidgee. SA’s Riverland GI may be the largest single region in Australia, but Big Rivers is the top-producing zone in the country. Riverina GI remains the production leader here and in the entire state, and Chardonnay is its most planted grape, followed by Shiraz and Semillon. McWilliam’s and De Bortoli were market leaders in Riverina for decades, but they were surpassed by Casella Wines. Founded in 1969, Casella is the largest family-owned wine company in Australia today, and sky’s-the-limit fortunes rested with the incredible, overnight success of the company’s [yellow tail] brand of wines in the US export market. This original and most identifiable—and most loathed, in some quarters—of the Australian “critter” labels debuted exclusively for the US market in 2001. In 2003 [yellow tail] became the top imported brand in the US, and in 2006 it earned the top spot overall in US supermarkets, overtaking Sutter Home as the leading wine brand. Casella boasts that one in five bottles leaving Australia are labeled [yellow tail]. But the good days may be over: a strong Australian dollar has hampered US sales for the past few years, and consumers are moving on from Australian “critter” labels, or at least growing tired with the one that sustained them through the 2000s. Casella recorded a loss of 30 million Australian dollars for the 2012 financial year, and many wine (and business) writers have suggested that [yellow tail] and its imitators are squarely to blame for Australia’s recent troubles in the US market. In a 2009 Slate article titled “Not Such a G’Day: How Yellow Tail Crushed the Australian Wine Industry,” author Mike Steinberger argues that the Australians’ “woes are mostly self-generated; they’ve trashed their own brand, a point many of them now concede.”

Riverina is not solely defined by its mass-market brands. On the other end of the spectrum, the region can produce tiny quantities of high-end botrytis-affected dessert wines. In 1958 McWilliam’s was the first Riverina winery to explore the style, but De Bortoli, who crowns an otherwise low-priced range in Riverina with the world-class “Noble One Botrytis Semillon,” is the star. First released in the 1982 vintage, the lusciously sweet “Noble One” quickly rose to the pinnacle of Australian dessert wines, and has garnered an outpouring of international critical praise.

Southern New South Wales Zone

The Southern New South Wales zone is located within the Great Dividing Range, and encompasses the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). The Canberra District GI surrounds the national capital (Canberra) and is the zone’s most important growing region. Set against the backdrop of the Snowy Mountains, it has a mild, continental climate—not unlike the Northern Rhône Valley. While viticulture has been practiced in the area since the mid-1800s, the modern region was born in 1971, when Edgar Riek planted vines on the shores of Lake George and John Kirk planted his Clonakilla vineyard in Murrumbateman. Clonakilla produced Canberra District’s first commercial vintage in 1976, and the winery’s Shiraz-Viognier, a moderate-bodied, pretty medley of red fruit, flowers and spice modeled on Côte-Rôtie, debuted in 1992 to become a modern icon in Australia. Hardys moved into Canberra District in 2000, immediately doubling vineyard acreage, but withdrew from the region in 2007. The vacuum left in Hardys’ wake has been filled by a growing number of smaller producers, emboldened by critical praise for their wines. Elegant styles of Shiraz, high-quality dry Riesling, and increasingly good examples of Bordeaux blends and Pinot Noir are being produced. One emergent producer, Lark Hill, has even planted Australia’s first Grüner Veltliner vineyard, and is achieving some critical success with the grape.

Côte-Rôtie is a clear parallel (to Canberra District). In cooler vintages a great trick to play on experienced palates is to line up a blind tasting of Côte-Rôtie and Canberra Shiraz. It is very easy to confuse the two. The red fruit surge and spice rack complexity is common to both. Even the dried herb element in Côte-Rôtie is found in Canberra Shiraz in some cooler years. Côte-Rôtie does tend towards a smoky character at times, which is especially brought to the fore in the wines of producers who use a large whole bunch inclusion (think Jamet and Rostaing). I don't see this in Canberra Shiraz so much. And as with all Australian wine the palate structure is a little fuller and sweeter, even with the higher natural acids that the high altitude (600 meters or more) provides in our GI.

Co-fermenting a small amount of Viognier with cool-climate Shiraz produces a synergy that is hard to define, but delightful to behold. My own experience is that the Viognier expands the wine, both aromatically and texturally. It extends the aromatic profile, providing a subtle high note that hovers above the red berry/cracked pepper tones of the Shiraz. The Viognier also contributes a rounding effect to the palate, acting to soften the sharper tannin edges of the Shiraz and tying the acid more cohesively to the fruit. In the best examples a seamless palate is the result.
–Tim Kirk, Winemaker, Clonakilla

In the warm, continental climate of Hilltops GI, west of Canberra District, Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz have emerged as primary grapes, and red grapes account for approximately 80% of the total vineyard acreage. Riverina’s McWilliam’s has the largest share of plantings in the region, and Clonakilla has been sourcing Shiraz fruit from the region for over a decade, drawing attention back to this former gold-mining region. Hilltops Shiraz, in comparison with Canberra District fruit, tends to develop deeper color, lower acid, more robust tannins and darker fruit. Gundagai GI, with the Murrumbidgee flowing through it, is adjacent to Hilltops’ southern border. The land here flattens out as one moves west from the Great Dividing Range into the arid bush, with rainfall becoming sparser and temperatures rising accordingly. Some major vineyards have emerged since the mid-1990s, but the region is still in its infancy. Tumbarumba GI, south of Gundagai, lies within the foothills of the Snowy Mountains and has a measurably cooler climate, well suited for the production of sparkling wines. In 2012, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir accounted for almost 90% of the total grape harvest in the GI. Several of Australia’s larger producers value the crisp acidity Tumbarumba fruit lends to sparkling wine blends, but few are willing to risk ownership of vineyards in its frost-prone mountain climate. Thus, most of Tumbarumba’s two-dozen growers remain small, and sell the majority of their fruit.

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Victoria

Capital: Melbourne

In 1838 the Ryrie brothers, three Scottish-born cattlemen from Sydney, leased 43,000 acres for grazing in the Yarra Valley. The named their property “Yering,” and planted a vineyard, cultivating two grapes: the Black Cluster of Hamburg and a white grape called Sweetwater. Thus at Yering Station in the Yarra Valley, just east of Melbourne, did Victorian viticulture begin. From the first European (convict) settlement in Victoria at Sullivan Bay in 1803 to the formal founding of the British Colony of Victoria in 1851, the remote region remained sparsely populated, but in that latter year fortunes turned: the discovery of gold at Ballarat, Bendigo, and other locations throughout the colony triggered one of the biggest gold rushes in world history. In the following decade Victoria’s population—and its thirst for wine—increased sevenfold as prospectors from around the world arrived to find their fortune. The Victorian wine industry hummed alongside the steady flow of gold; at its heyday in the latter half of the 19th century the colony produced over half of Australia’s wine. In the 1860s Geelong (west of Melbourne and southeast of the gold fields at Ballarat) became the most prodigious wine region in all of Australia. In his A Short History of Wine, historian Rod Phillips recalls: “At the 1873 Vienna Exhibition the French judges, tasting blind, praised some wines from Victoria but withdrew in protest when the provenance of the wine was revealed, on the grounds that wines of that quality must clearly be French.” Australia exported 145,600 cases of wine annually to the United Kingdom between 1860 and 1875, and much of it was Victorian in origin. Yarra vintner Hubert de Castella—who had purchased a sector of the original Yering property to found St. Hubert’s in 1862—speculated in his 1886 book John Bull’s Vineyard that Victoria could supply all the wine Britain might ever require.

Black Saturday

Throughout Australia, the ever-present eucalypt trees (“gum trees”) contain highly flammable eucalyptus oil, and the trees’ discarded dry bark acts as a powder keg in the Australian bush. Bush fires are a constant source of worry. On Saturday, February 7, 2009, high temperatures and extended drought conditions conspired to produce a series of violent firestorms throughout Victoria. “Black Saturday” resulted in 173 deaths as wind conditions changed rapidly, driving fires in unpredictable directions. In loss of life, it is Australia’s worst natural disaster to date; the state’s vineyards suffered serious losses as well. Decanter Magazine reported that 5% of Yarra Valley’s vineyards were damaged or destroyed, along with vineyards in Bendigo, Beechworth, Heathcote, and Gippsland. The CSIRO does not publically implicate climate change as a cause, but states on its website that “by 2020 we expect to see a greater number of extreme fire weather days, longer fire seasons and a greater potential for multiple fire events like those seen in the Victorian fires.”

Alas, the boom days would not last: with its appearance in a Geelong vineyard by 1877, phylloxera had arrived in Australia. Much of Victoria was devastated, particularly as the immediate official response was “death by extinction,” a criticism levied by viticultural expert François de Castella (son of Hubert). Rather than a sensible replanting on American rootstocks, the Victorian government ordered every vine in Geelong uprooted, bringing an instant end to Australia’s then-largest wine region. Rutherglen usurped its place and greatly surpassed it in size, becoming the Southern Hemisphere’s largest wine region by the time phylloxera struck its vineyards in 1899. Other regions throughout the state were similarly attacked in the late 19th century. In 1891 the boomtown of Beechworth had 70 ha of vines; in 1916 two hectares remained. Bendigo had about 220 ha of vines and 100 wineries in 1880; not a vineyard remained after phylloxera’s arrival in 1893. Phylloxera spared Yarra Valley (The bug did not arrive there until 2006!) but in the 1930s its vineyards were entirely grubbed up anyway to make room for pastureland. Crippled by phylloxera and hit hard by the domestic temperance movement, shortages of manpower during the World Wars, economic depression, and newfound competition from South Australia with the removal of interstate trade barriers, the wine industry in Victoria floundered during the early 20th century. By midcentury Rutherglen had realigned with the tastes of the day and was producing large quantities of sweet fortified wines, but by the 1960s there were only two-dozen wineries left in the state—and fourteen were located in Rutherglen.

Yet there were stirrings: the first modern winery in Yarra Valley (Wantirna Estate) was established in 1963, and Idyll Vineyard was planted in Geelong in 1966. Other regions in which viticulture was nearly or totally abandoned—Macedon Ranges, Sunbury, Bendigo, Beechworth, Heathcote—reemerged with new vines, and new areas, such as King Valley and Strathbogie Ranges, entered into viticulture.

Modern Victoria has rebounded—as of 2013 there are over 775 wineries in the state (more than any other state in the country) and 21 distinct GI regions. In 2010, Victoria provided 17% of Australia’s total wine grape tonnage. Unlike the other mainland Australian states, winegrowing occurs throughout Victoria; vineyards line the banks of the Murray River—marking the state’s border with New South Wales—and are planted throughout the cooler coastal regions of the Port Phillip zone and Henty GI. The Great Dividing Range, with its southernmost extremity at Grampians, shelters numerous wine regions between its low ridges. Overall, climate in Victoria turns markedly warmer as one moves inland, but it is tempered by elevation in the complex of numerous low mountain ranges that run through the state. Victoria is Australia’s most densely populated state, and there are wines for every taste, from crisp sparkling wines to raisiny and rich fortified wines, produced across a broad range of climates.

The Port Phillip Zone

Anyone can oak**** a wine. In any region. There’s no skill, art, or endeavor in that. Twenty years ago, we didn’t understand how to make wine. We just knew how to add more to everything. How to go from seven to eight, from nine to ten. Now we make medium-weight, elegant wines in Yarra Valley, not wines designed for hand-to-hand combat. Today I like our stuff. How do you make it? Irrelevant. How you grow it is much more important. We just want to make drinks that we like drinking.
– David Bicknell, Chief Winemaker, Oakridge

The Port Phillip Zone, termed the “dress circle of Melbourne” by James Halliday, surrounds the capital city and encircles the Port Phillip Bay—the shallow, collapsed delta of the Yarra River. The Rip, a small channel about 2 miles wide, connects the Port Phillip Bay with the Bass Strait and the Southern Ocean, and strong southwesterlies—chilling winds from the polar latitudes—help cool the zone. Climate is generally Mediterranean, and all five of the region’s zones are classified as either Region I or II in Winkler’s Scale of heat summation. Overall climate, cooled by wind, proximity to water, and—in the northern area of the Macedon Ranges—elevation, is cooler than what one would find in Bordeaux; thus, the region’s most successful varieties are Burgundian in origin. Cabernet Sauvignon struggles to ripen in many vintages. Climate change, however, has brought unpredictability. Many of the vast temperate rainforests that once covered the zone—and helped to regulate weather patterns—have been logged, and with ozone depletion the southern sunlight has a magnified impact on vines. In Yarra, Bicknell offers a real-world reminder: “Averages mean nothing anymore. In the mid-1990s we picked in early March for every variety; now we start picking in the first week of February.”

Yarra Valley GI

Zone: Port Phillip
Climate: Cool Maritime
Degree Days (°C): 1250-1352 (Region I)
Top Varieties: Chardonnay, Pinot Noir
Secondary Varieties: Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot

Yarra Valley GI, a gentle, rolling and bucolic region, has boomeranged from the total loss of its wine industry in the 1930s to become the most important area of production in Victoria today, and one of Australia’s top fine wine regions. Regional stars Yarra Yering, Mount Mary, and Chateau Yarrinya (purchased by De Bortoli in the mid-1987) were established by the mid-1970s. Yeringberg and St. Hubert’s (sectors of the original Yering Station property) came back on line by 1975. In the mid-1980s, Halliday founded Coldstream Hills and the French Champagne giant Moët & Chandon established Domaine Chandon in Yarra Valley, bringing national and international fame back to the region. Now, Yarra Valley has just over 2,000 ha of vines. Pinot Noir is the region’s most planted variety, with Chardonnay coming in a close second. Together, the two grapes account for nearly 75% of Yarra Valley’s total acreage. Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon, the valley’s second- and third-most planted red grapes, produce lighter and more elegant styles in Yarra’s cool climate. Shiraz—often labeled “Syrah” to tweak consumer expectations—is often attractively peppery, floral, and red-fruited. Whole cluster (or whole berry) fermentations and low levels of new oak are common amongst Syrah producers in Yarra. To the stereotype of American oak-driven Aussie Shiraz, De Bortoli Chief Winemaker Steve Webber retorts: “I don’t think there’s an American barrel in the Yarra.” The myth of high alcohol is also put to bed: levels over 13.5% are uncommon for any variety in the region.

Yarra Valley, alongside Margaret River in Western Australia, provides one of the top examples of Chardonnay in Australia. Here the prevailing modern style is stony and mineral rather than fat and tropical—a distinction Webber describes as “detailed” rather than “a bit blurred.” Malolactic fermentation is rare, and while barrel fermentations are common, new oak levels are generally restrained to one-third or less during maturation. Leesy characteristics frequently appear, and sweet citrus and melon flavors are common. Despite the level of its Chardonnay, Yarra Valley is best known internationally for the quality of its Pinot Noir. Yarra’s cool climate and generally lengthy growing season promotes a style that is, despite ripe red fruit character, somewhat leaner and lower in alcohol than those produced in Otago, the other premier Pinot Noir-growing region in Oceania. The valley contains two sectors: the warmer Lower Yarra Valley in the north, with its ancient sandy loam soils, and the cooler, higher-elevation Upper Yarra Valley in the south, where the soil is composed of younger red basalt. Pinot Noir from the Upper Yarra Valley tends to be more defined and mineral, whereas those from the valley floor in the Lower Yarra are often plumper and less aromatic. Preferences in clonal selections, so often at the forefront of Pinot Noir conversations elsewhere, are less emphasized in Yarra, yet many producers are focusing on Dijon clones 667 and 777 and/or MV6, a “mother vine” selection James Busby brought into the country in 1831 from Clos Vougeot.

The Yarra Valley in fall and spring.

South of the Yarra Valley, the slender Mornington Peninsula GI divides the Port Phillip Bay from the Bass Straight. Much of its expensive oceanfront real estate has been gobbled up by the wealthy elites of Melbourne for weekend homes, but winegrowing has taken hold between the tourists and holidays. Today there are about 900 ha of vines in the Mornington Peninsula, and over 60 wineries. With such significant maritime influence, Mornington Peninsula is overall—no surprise—quite cool, but climate can vary more than one might expect from such a small area. Red Hill, near the peninsula’s western tip—an area Ten Minutes by Tractor Winemaker Martin Spedding refers to as “up the hill”—is considerably cooler than the “down the hill” northeastern area near Moorooduc (a southern suburb of Melbourne), where the same grape variety might be harvested three weeks earlier. Despite these differences, the region can produce thrilling Pinot Noir—which accounts for almost half of the GI’s planted vineyards and about 85% of its red grape acreage—as well as good examples of Chardonnay and Pinot Gris. Across the bay, Geelong GI has revived its wine industry but it has never fully recovered its past glory. In 2012 Geelong was declared completely free of phylloxera, and today the region has almost 500 ha under vine, with producers—like their fellows around the Port Phillip Bay—pinning their hopes on Pinot Noir as the flagship variety. By Farr and Bannockburn are leading producers today. Geelong is the driest GI in the Port Phillip zone, and spring frosts and wind damage can be especially challenging here. The GI has three unofficial sub-regions: Surf Coast/Otways, the Bellarine—a peninsula that reaches out toward Mornington—and the Moorabool Valley, the beating heart of Victorian wine production in the 1860s and the center of the Geelong wine industry today. Port Phillip’s final two regions, Sunbury and Macedon Ranges, extend northward from Melbourne. Vineyards in the Macedon Ranges are generally between 400 and 600 meters in elevation; these are the highest vineyards in the Port Phillip zone and Macedon Ranges is the coolest region on the Australian mainland. Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Shiraz are the most common varieties, and both still and sparkling wines are produced. Bindi Wine Growers is the most recognizable Macedon Ranges name worldwide, and one of Australia’s top boutique producers.

Central, North East, and North West Victoria Zones

Gold was discovered near Bendigo in 1851 and at Beechworth in 1852, and small wine industries followed. However, with the collapse of Geelong in 1875 the bulk of Victorian wine production moved northward. So did phylloxera. In Central Victoria, phylloxera landed in the neighboring wine regions of Heathcote and Bendigo in 1891 and 1893, respectively, and laid waste to their vineyards. Over a half-century would pass before viticulture was renewed in either region. Today, both are predominantly red wine-producing areas, and Heathcote has become highly regarded for the quality of its full-bodied, densely flavored Shiraz. Jasper Hill is one of its foremost producers in the region, and one of the marquee names in blockbuster-styled Shiraz in the country. Heathcote is a fraction cooler than Bendigo, but both are similar in climate and terrain: dry, warm, continental, and undulating in aspect, with Heathcote experiencing a more pronounced variation in elevation due to the ridgelines of the Mount Camel Range. The major difference lies underfoot: on the eastern side of Heathcote, a strip of red earth rich in 500-million-year-old Cambrian volcanic greenstone is especially prized for growing vines.

Northeast of Bendigo and Heathcote is the Goulburn Valley GI, a region with a lengthy—and continuous—history of viticulture. Tahbilk, Goulburn Valley’s first commercial winery, planted 25 hectares of vines in 1860, and managed to persist despite the advance of phylloxera in the late 1800s. A half-hectare of Tahbilk’s original, ungrafted vineyard survives today—thanks to alluvial, sandy soils deposited along the course of the Goulburn River that kept the bug at bay—and from this plot the winery produces one of Victoria’s most acclaimed bottlings of Shiraz. Shiraz is the most important grape in Goulburn Valley today; here it is more in line with the fuller, bolder styles of South Australia than the elegant, lifted Syrahs of Yarra. Tahbilk also counts some of the world’s oldest Marsanne vines (planted in 1927) amongst its holdings, and the estate was the sole operating winery remaining in the region during the dark years of the early 20th century. Today, Tahbilk and many of the other Goulburn Valley properties are clustered within the southern sub-region of Nagambie Lakes GI, where a complex of inland lakes and lagoons helps to moderate the otherwise quite warm and continental climate of the region. As one moves southeast from Nagambie into the folds of the Great Dividing Range, the climate turns cooler still with a corresponding increase in elevation. Here, Strathbogie Ranges GI and Upper Goulburn GI are sparse areas with no great tradition of viticulture. The highest vineyards in each zone climb to 600 and 800 meters above sea level, respectively, and vintner interest is increasingly shifting to Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.

Rutherglen GI surrounds the historic, 19th century gold-mining town of the same name, and the Murray River provides its northern border. This warm, continental area is famous today for its unique—if somewhat unfashionable—sweet, fortified “stickies,” but the quiet, bygone region got its start slacking prospectors’ thirst with heavy red table wines in the heady gold rush days of the mid-19th century. Morris Wines was established in 1859 and All Saints Winery—the first in Rutherglen to win international acclaim—opened its doors in 1864. By 1906, seven years after phylloxera’s arrival, Rutherglen had nearly 3,000 hectares of vineyards. At the time it produced one-quarter of Australia’s wine and provided one-third of its exports, almost wholly destined for markets in the United Kingdom. Regrettably, phylloxera delivered one blow and the Great Depression delivered another: UK exports dried up and producers in the foothills around the old gold rush town shifted to fortified wine production in bulk to sate local palates. Fortified wines boomed through the mid-century; successes came in the form of fortified Muscat, “Sherry,” “Tawny,” “Tokay,” and other styles modeled on European wines. A small resurgence in table wines followed in the 1960s and 1970s. In the '60s, more than half of Victoria’s wineries were located in Rutherglen; however, the region has remained rather stagnant in plantings and size since then, particularly in comparison with Yarra Valley’s ascent. Today Rutherglen has about 800 hectares of vineyard landscape. Shiraz and Durif/Petit Sirah are the principal red grapes for table wines, and wineries in the region have invested in the (still unclear) success of white Rhône varieties. Despite waning interest in the category, the region’s most emblematic and exceptional wines remain its top fortified styles: Muscat and Topaque.

Rutherglen Muscat is one of the world’s sweetest, most ambrosial, and liqueur-like wines. It is released as a blend of vintages, whether in its fresh and floral youth or after years—even decades—of aging, during which the wine darkens and develops nutty, rancio complexity and concentration. The Muscat of Rutherglen Network, a producers’ syndicate established in 1995, has developed a voluntary and self-regulating four-tier classification system for the Muscat wines based on taste profile. The basic level, Rutherglen Muscat, showcases the orange and rosy aromatics of young Muscat in a saccharine, mouthcoating frame. “Classic” Muscat retains intense varietal aroma, but adds concentration and slight rancio tones. The greatest shift in color and style is at the “Grand” level, where the wines take on decidedly more oxidative tones and begin to show mature rancio character. The oldest, sweetest, most concentrated and most viscous wines are labeled “Rare.” Minimum age guidelines and residual sugar ranges are suggested rather than absolute: a “Rare” Muscat should taste as though it is at least 20 years of age—and often it will be much older—but there is no technical analysis to prove it. According to Colin Campbell (Campbells), “the whole system works on peer pressure,” much like the aging designations for Tawny Port.

Rutherglen GI

Zone: North East Victoria
Climate: Hot Continental
Degree Days (°C): 1770 (Region III)
Top Varieties: Shiraz, Brown Muscat, Durif
Secondary Varieties: Muscadelle

Brown Muscat (Muscat de Frontignan, or Muscat Rouge à Petit Grains) grows on deep “Rutherglen loam” and shrivels on the vine through long, dry late summers and early autumns. Botrytis is undesirable—and historically uncommon—as it ruins the varietal, terpene-laden character of Muscat grapes, but this process of passerillage is essential for concentration of sugar. By the Muscat harvest, usually carried out by early April, Brix levels may exceed 36°. Locals are fond of noting that, “it never rains until it rains on the march,” (Anzac Day, April 25) but climate change has brought summer showers and the specter of mold in recent years.

After the harvest, Rutherglen producers typically allow the Muscat grapes to undergo a short fermentation on the skins, consuming 20-40 g/l of sugar over the course of one or two days. The wine is then pressed and immediately fortified with a neutral 96° grape spirit, added—as in Port—in a one-to-four ratio. The wine matures for years, even decades, in various formats of old wood: 225-liter barriques, 300-liter hogsheads, and occasionally 500-liter puncheons and even larger oval casks, depending on the producer and the wine. As the wines mature in cask, evaporation sends a share to the angels, resulting in a net loss of around 5% per year and a greater concentration of sugar, acid, and alcohol in the remaining wine. Some producers use a solera system; others tend to keep lots and vintages separate, preferring to assemble blends just prior to bottling. Eight wineries today produce fortified Muscat wines: All Saints, Morris, Campbells, Chambers, Stanton & Killeen, Rutherglen Estates, Buller, and Pfeiffer.

Fortified Muscat may be the most concentrated and well-known wine of Rutherglen, but Topaque is perhaps the region’s most unique style. Formerly known as Tokay—a designation phased out through agreement with the EU—Topaque is a fortified wine made with Muscadelle grapes. In fact, it may be the world’s only fortified wine produced with the grape, an uncommon aromatic variety found in Bordeaux and Southwest France, and totally unrelated to any Muscat grape. Like Muscat, Muscadelle concentrates through passerillage, but it often hangs on the vine until the end of April, and accrues noticeably less sugar. Fermentation, fortification and aging procedures are similar to the processes associated with Muscat, and the same categories (Classic, Grand, etc.) are in place for Topaque. The final wines are lighter in color than Muscat, as they are produced from white rather than red grapes, and typically exhibit 30-40 g/l less residual sugar than Muscat wines in the same category. Winemaker Chris Pfeiffer (Pfeiffer Winery) highlights common Topaque aromatic descriptors: honey, cold tea, and sardine oil—the latter a not-at-all unpleasant, seaweed-like character that offers interesting counterbalance to otherwise sweet-smelling and candied aromas. With less intensity and greater acidity than fortified Muscat, Topaque is a better wine for the table, and the basic styles can be offered as a chilled aperitif (In place of Apera, perhaps?) over ice.

Other regions of the North East Victoria Zone include Glenrowan GI, which produces similar styles of dry reds and fortified wines as Rutherglen, and the progressively higher-elevation GIs of Alpine Valleys, Beechworth, and King Valley. Rainfall increases and climate cools slightly with altitude as one moves upward into the foothills and low ranges of the Victorian Alps (part of the Great Dividing Range). While red wine production continues to outweigh whites—particularly in Beechworth—white grapes like Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, and Pinot Gris have assumed greater importance. The most important red varieties currently are Pinot Noir and Bordeaux grapes; Shiraz and Durif, so popular in both Glenrowan and Rutherglen, take a backseat in these cooler appellations. In King Valley, much of the Chardonnay and Pinot Noir fruit actually becomes blending material for sparkling wines. Wangaratta (King Valley’s northernmost point) and Rutherglen are separated by only 23 miles, but there is a nearly 700-meter difference in elevation between the highest vineyards in King Valley and those in Rutherglen—sparkling wines are plausible in the former and hot-climate fortified wines are the latter’s best bet.

Victoria’s warmest wine regions, Murray Darling GI and Swan Hill GI, are located in the North West Victoria zone, and they are shared with New South Wales. These dry inland areas, like South Australia’s Riverland GI, straddle the Murray River (Australia’s longest) and sustain viticulture and other commercial agriculture through steady irrigation. In drought cycles, such as the period that lasted through most of the 2000s, the Murray’s reduced flow becomes a serious cause for concern. Overall, Murray Darling GI and Swan Hill GI contain nearly 9,000 hectares of vines, accounting for about 6% of the entire Australian vineyard, and this is supermarket-brand territory: 92% of the wines produced in these GIs (which invariably carry the “South Eastern Australia GI” moniker) sell for less than five Australian dollars per liter.

Western Victoria and Gippsland Zones

Grampians GI and its single sub-region, Great Western GI, lie at the western end of the Great Dividing Range, where moderately high elevation (rising to 440 meters) tempers the climate. The cool but extremely arid area developed a historical reputation for sparkling wines, shouldered on the efforts of Great Western Winery, founded by Joseph Best in 1865 but now under the Seppelt name. In 1890 Charles Pierlot, a French winemaker who trained at Pommery, made Australia’s first-ever traditional method sparkling wine, at Great Western. In 1894, Pierlot’s boss, Hans Irvine, showed the winery’s first “Sparkling Burgundy” at a Melbourne wine show, and under legendary winemaker Colin Preece Great Western shepherded Australia’s unique sparkling red style through the depression-era years of 1930s, when all others had abandoned the style. Red grapes dominate Grampians today: in 2018 they accounted for over 80% of the harvest, led by Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon. Despite its historical image, Grampians is primarily a still red table wine producer, and styles of Shiraz from the region are often elegant, defined, and peppery—although the occasional sparkling example does appear. Pinot Noir and Riesling are also becoming winemaker favorites in the area, and the region’s best modern producer is, aptly, Best’s.

The Pyrenees GI is adjacent to the northeastern border of Grampians. Its name is yet another example of the Australian colonial prerogative to simply name new places for the old ones to which they bear the most resemblance. Here it was perhaps wishful thinking: the Pyrenees in Australia, one of the last ranges within the Great Dividing Range, rarely rises above 700 meters. Like Grampians, the focus is on red varieties like Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon. The wines are richer and more full-throttled in Pyrenees than in Grampians. Henty GI, located along the southern coast in Victoria’s southwestern corner—and closer to Coonawarra than the regions of Port Phillip or Central Victoria—is on the opposite end of the spectrum: Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Riesling are the dominant grapes in this genuinely cool region, and sparkling winemaking is a common pursuit. As in Grampians, Seppelt is the largest producer in this tiny region: their 100 ha vineyard at Drumborg, originally planted in 1964, accounts for nearly two-thirds of Henty’s total vine acreage.

On the eastern side of coastal Victoria, Gippsland is unique among the state’s zones in that it does not currently have any smaller GI regions within it. The sprawling zone extends eastward from the Yarra Valley along the Bass Strait coastline, and reaches into the Great Dividing Range just south of the King and Alpine Valleys. Viticulture first sprung up in the 19th century in the area of East Gippsland, but modern efforts are concentrated nearly 125 miles away, in West Gippsland—which abuts the Yarra Valley—and in the cooler, maritime climate of South Gippsland, home to one of Australia’s top producers of Pinot Noir, Bass Phillip. As in Yarra, Pinot Noir is currently the most planted grape in Gippsland. Given the huge distances and significant differences in climate between the three unofficial subzones, many producers would like to see GI regions within the zone defined, but the low level of production is an obstacle. As a region must produce at least 500 tonnes of fruit annually to merit consideration for GI status, the entire Gippsland zone, with only 190 ha under vine in 2019, is simply not large enough to currently warrant the creation of three distinct Geographical Indications.

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Western Australia

Capital: Perth

In 2019, the state of Western Australia (WA) comprised 7% of the total Australian vineyard area, and produced under 2% of the country’s total harvest. With over 1300 miles separating SA’s Adelaide from Perth (Western Australia’s only real center of population), the GI zones of Greater Perth and South West Australia are a world removed from the growing regions in southeastern Australia. Viticulture in WA is essentially confined to the coastal regions in the southwest, as much of the state’s vast inland desert and northern tropical regions are totally unsuitable for grape-growing. Like any major winegrowing region, growth usually occurs in proximity to a major market; that the wine industry in WA first developed in the hills and valleys surrounding Perth is no surprise. Thomas Waters, a botanist, planted Western Australia’s first vineyard in Swan Valley—now a sub-region of the Swan District GI—after his arrival with the first European fleet of settlers in 1829. Two of the state’s oldest wineries, Houghton and Sandalford, were founded in Swan Valley in 1836 and 1840, respectively. Today Perth’s northeastern suburbs are encroaching upon Swan Valley, and it has the rather notorious distinction of being Australia’s hottest GI in an era when pursuit of cooler climes drives the fine wine industry. In the 1980s more than half of WA’s wine was produced in Swan Valley; today, the volume of production has shifted from the Greater Perth zone to the South West Australia GIs of Margaret River, Great Southern, and Geographe.

South West Australia Zone

As far this writer is aware, this region has never been seriously proposed as suitable for commercial viticulture. Nevertheless a study of its climate shows that it merits serious consideration.
– Dr. John Gladstones on the potential of the Busseltown/Margaret River area, 1965, “The Climate and Soils of South-Western Australia in Relation to Vine Growing”

Margaret River GI, a coastal region bounded by the Geographe Bay and the Indian and Southern Oceans, is the state’s most acclaimed appellation and among the foremost areas for Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Sauvignon Blanc-Semillon blends in the country today. This despite relative youth: Margaret River as a commercial wine region is barely a half-century old, and its original development was the result of scientific planning rather than historical accident. In 1965, Dr. John Gladstones, a local agronomist, presented his research on the suitability of the region for grape-growing to a group of local landowners—“mad doctors in run-down dairy country,” one elder winemaker recollects—and the first experimental plantings followed in 1966. In 1971 Dr. Tom Cullity’s Vasse Felix label produced the first commercial Margaret River wine—a Riesling. That first, raucous release party, attended by local farmers used to the alcohol levels of beer (rather than wine) is the stuff of local legend! Efforts with Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec and Shiraz followed soon thereafter. The “Gladstones Line”—the line of longitude 115° 18’ E—established the modern appellation’s eastern border, essentially following alongside the Whicher Range. With further research in 1999, Dr. Gladstones proposed six unofficial subzones, cataloged not by soil profile but by the drainage direction for the region’s numerous rivers and creeks, which corresponded to the direction of air flow systems. The coastal zones, from north to south, are Yallingup, Wilyabrup, Wallcliffe, and Karridale. Carbunup lies on the Geographe Bay east of Cape Naturaliste in Yallingup, and Treeton is an inland region, with the warmest summer daytime temperatures but also the greatest diurnal variation. The heart of the appellation is Wilyabrup, home to three of the appellation’s “first five” producers: Vasse Felix, Cullen, and Moss Wood. The other two pioneers in the region, Leeuwin Estate and Cape Mentelle, are located in Wallcliffe, a cooler subzone that follows the course of the Margaret River as it flows westward into the Indian Ocean. The Blackwood River flows into the Southern Ocean in Karridale, home to some of the region’s best Sauvignon Blanc—crisp, cool, and often reflecting a pure snow pea character.

Margaret River GI

Zone: South West Australia
Climate: Warm Mediterranean with Maritime influence
Degree Days (°C): 1690 (Region III)
Top Varieties: Cabernet Sauvignon, Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon, Chardonnay
Secondary Varieties: Shiraz, Merlot, Malbec

Margaret River stands alongside Coonawarra as one of the country’s premium sources of Cabernet Sauvignon, and has pushed in the last decade to surpass it. According to local folklore, the grape arrived in Western Australia with Thomas Waters and other early European settlers, who picked up pre-phylloxera cuttings on their voyage around the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa, and planted vines near Perth. From these original South African cuttings came the “Houghton” selections, first established at the 175-year-old winery of the same name in Swan Valley, which provided the original source material for Cabernet vines in Margaret River. Margaret River’s general climate is Mediterranean—dry summers and rainy winters—and while marginally warmer than Coonawarra or the Médoc, Dr. Gladstones determined that its similarity in climate to Bordeaux held promise for varieties from that region. Cabernet Sauvignon from the red gravelly loam soils of Wilyabrup is the star: in warm vintages they are ripe yet moderate in weight, with bright acidity, dark berry, savory bay leaf herbal flavors and red capsicum notes. South of Wilyabrup, the cooler Wallcliffe often produces more austere and herbal Cabernet Sauvignon wines, but the sub-region excels with Chardonnay. The “Golden Triangle” within Wallcliffe—coined by James Halliday, the Golden Triangle comprises Leeuwin Estate, Cape Mentelle, and Voyager Estate—has been home to top Australian Chardonnay for two decades, and the entire region today delivers inspiring examples. Many of Margaret River’s Chardonnay vineyards are planted with the Gingin clone, a hen-and-chicken Chardonnay clone named after a town north of Perth, closely related to the Mendoza clone elsewhere. While some producers are moving to Bernard (Dijon) clones in Margaret River, Gingin provides the base for the region’s classic style of rich, phenolic wines framed with taut acidity, accented by flavors of peach and lime. New oak is prominent but handled with finesse, and flinty, sulfite-derived character in “Chardy” has become a regional signature.

In the 1980s, all Cabernet was picked at 12.4° Baumé. In the '90s people started to pick on flavor ripeness and wines got bigger, but in the '00s we started to look at the vineyards more, and make wines in a more ‘sympathetic’ way. From the mid-2000s forward, we are starting to see more of the elegance and finesse of great Cabernet coming in, and we have entered an era of more attention to our vineyards and wines.
–Virginia Willcock, Chief Winemaker, Vasse Felix

Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay are the region’s most respected wines internationally, but the engine room of local production is the Sauvignon Blanc-Semillon blend. Varietal Semillon was a regular entry in producer portfolios two decades ago, but today the blend (SBS or SSB) is a much more saleable venture. A wide array of crisp, unoaked wines are available, but the region can also produce high quality, oak-driven wines with Graves-like character, a style introduced by veteran Margaret River winemaker Stuart Pym (Stella Bella) after a season’s stint at Domaine de Chevalier.

The first bottle of red wine commercially
released in Margaret River.

Margaret River joined the winners’ circle of Australian wine regions in fairly short order, whereas the expansive Great Southern GI—another area promoted by Gladstones in 1965—remains emergent, still struggling to carve a cohesive regional identity. In a 1956 report, Professor Harold Olmo (UC Davis) recommended a shift in table wine production from the hotter climate of the Perth Hills to the cooler apple-growing regions of Mount Barker and the Frankland River, which lay inland off the southern coastline of WA. Gladstones’ endorsement followed: “Certainly, this area, lying on the borders of Region I and II (Winkler heat summation zones), would be greatly superior to the Swan Valley for table wine making.” Although the commercial possibilities of the Mount Barker region were explored as early as the 1930s, Olmo and Gladstones amplified enthusiasm for viticulture in the area. Riesling vines at Forest Hill in Mount Barker date to 1965, and respected Houghton’s winemaker Jack Mann, whose career spanned five decades, Great Southern’s first red wine from Forest Hill Cabernet grapes in 1972. In the isolation of Western Australia, he developed some of his own intuitive techniques—Mann crushed his grapes with a butcher’s mincer.

Today, the Great Southern GI includes five official sub-regions: the inland GIs of Mount Barker, Frankland River, and Porongurup; and the coastal GIs of Denmark and Albany. Albany is the site of Western Australia’s oldest permanent settlement and the spot from which Britain formally claimed Western Australia for the crown, on Christmas Day 1826. Climate in Albany and Denmark is strongly influenced by cool ocean breezes moving northward from the Antarctic, and diurnal temperature range is minimal. Both areas produce promising, if not totally evolved, examples of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. In the inland areas of Porongurup and Mount Barker the climate turns more continental, and Riesling and Shiraz are the most dominant varieties. Mount Barker, the Great Southern’s most established sub-region and its center of production, is home to the regional pioneers Forest Hill Vineyard and Plantagenet. Overall, the wine industry in Great Southern continues to grow, but—with over 250 miles separating Albany from Perth—the region remains isolated, a wide expanse of rocky and savage coastline, gum tree forests, rolling hills and pastureland, where grazing animals outnumber persons and the nearest continent is Antarctica.

85% of Western Australia’s vines are located in the South West Australia zone, and the lion’s share is divided amongst Margaret River and Great Southern. Geographe GI is the state’s third-largest appellation (nearly 800 ha of vines in 2019) and another relative newcomer to viticulture—Capel Vale, Geographe’s most important producer today, planted the region’s first vines in 1974. The GI sweeps northward from the Gladstones Line along the seaboard of the bay of the same name—so named in dedication to le Géographe, vessel of the French explorer Nicolas Baudin, who mapped its coastline in 1800. It contains four distinct areas: Donnybrook, Ferguson Valley, Harvey, and the Capel-Busselton coastline. The focus in Geographe has always been on red varieties, with Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon leading the pack, but Semillon-Sauvignon Blanc blends are gaining steam as their popularity inflates next door in Margaret River. Other GIs in the region are younger still, and less tested: Blackwood Valley GI’s first vines were planted in 1976, whereas Pemberton GI—home to some surprisingly good Chardonnay—and Manjimup GI did not see the advent of commercial vineyards until the 1980s.

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Tasmania

Capital: Hobart

Located off the coastline of Victoria, the island state of Tasmania is Australia’s coolest and southernmost wine-producing area. Bartholomew Broughton planted Tasmania’s first commercial vineyard in 1823, predating the vine’s arrival in South Australia and Victoria. With about 1,700 hectares of vines, the state’s wine industry is dwarfed by that of many single regions and most zones on the mainland. Individual, unofficial regions exist on the island, but Tasmania GI is the state’s sole appellation. (One winemaker, Natalie Fryar of the Jansz Wine Company, describes further division as little more than “late night private talk,” as the focus in this tiny state is best kept on “Tassie” itself.) The island can however be broadly divided between its northern and southern sectors. The center of production is the Tamar Valley region in Northern Tasmania, where over one-third of the state’s vines are located, and the most important region in Southern Tasmania is the Coal River area, just north of Hobart. The climate of Northern Tasmania is similar to that of Champagne or the Rheingau, and Southern Tasmania is even cooler, although long sunshine hours during the growing season promote slow, even ripening. Overall, white grapes—Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Gris, and Riesling—outnumber red plantings by a slim margin, but Pinot Noir is still by far the most planted variety. Overall, the island’s climate is perfectly suited for sparkling winemaking, as finesse, elegance, and acidity are easily maintained. In 2019, Tasmanian producers transformed 71% of the total Chardonnay harvest and 37% of the Pinot Noir fruit into sparkling wines. One in every two bottles from the island is bubbly, and Tasmania’s traditional method sparkling wines are without a doubt Australia’s best efforts in the category. Jansz, a property now owned by Yalumba but founded in the early 1980s as a joint venture between Louis Roederer and Heemskerk Wines, is the eldest commercial producer of sparkling wines and one of the premier wineries in Tasmania.

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Queensland

Capital: Brisbane

Queensland is the least significant state in Australia in terms of wine, and conditions throughout much of it render viticulture improbable. Inland climate turns desert-like west of the Great Dividing Range, and coastal climates shift from subtropical to tropical as one moves north. The summer-dominant rainfall patterns evidenced further south in the wine regions of Hunter and Hastings River intensify in coastal Queensland. To date, Granite Belt GI, a region on the border with New South Wales and adjacent to New England Australia GI, has produced the state’s best wines. Granite Belt is situated in the high country along the Great Dividing Range’s spine, with vineyards planted at 700 meters above sea level and higher. With its altitude, climate becomes continental despite the majority of rainfall occurring during the growing season. The region’s first modern vineyard—one hectare of Shiraz—was planted in 1965, and Shiraz remains its most successful variety. Over two-thirds of plantings are red grapes. The state’s other GI, South Burnett, is the northernmost wine region in Australia, and it experiences a fully subtropical climate. South Burnett was approved in 2001 as Queensland’s first GI, yet the first commercial vineyards in the area were planted as recently as 1993. Producers in the region have had some success with Verdelho, but this is an unequivocally hot and humid region, and challenges for fine wine production are legion. Other unofficial wine regions in Queensland include Darling Downs, Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, and the environs of Brisbane, but as of 2013 none meets the minimum level of production required for GI approval. The state of Queensland experienced more rapid wine industry growth than any other in the early 2000s, but it has reversed with the contraction of Australia’s overall wine sector in recent years. While the local market of Brisbane provides a home for the state’s wines and tourists for its cellar doors, any future for the state as an internationally recognized producer of quality wines will be an uphill battle.

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Canada

Sandra Ban — Sat, 15 Aug 2026 22:25:03 GMT

Current Revision posted to Expert Guides by Sandra Ban on 8/15/2026 10:25:03 PM

History
Canadian Wine in Context
Canadian Wine Law
The Grapes of Canada
British Columbia
Ontario
Quebec
Nova Scotia
Bibliography

Canada is a big country with a small wine industry, and, for many years, its wines were little known internationally. The exception was Icewine, the supersweet wine that, beginning in the 1990s, became a successful export, especially in China. These days, quality Canadian table wines are popular on the domestic market, and they are increasingly appearing on wine lists throughout the world.

History

Canada is one of the youngest winemaking countries in the Americas, but, paradoxically, it is possible that the very first wine in this part of the world was made there. Around 1000 CE, the Icelandic explorer Leif Eriksson reached the east coast of present-day Canada, and one of his crew, a German from a wine-producing region, recognized grapevines growing wild. Eriksson named the area Vinland, and he established a winter camp there. The location was probably in what is now Quebec, on the north shore of the Gaspé Peninsula, which is the south shore of the mouth of the St. Lawrence River. It seems likely that Eriksson’s crew, having exhausted the beer they brought with them, tried to make wine from the grapes.

Although elements of the story are debated by historians and archeologists, it is intriguing as the possible beginnings of wine production in Canada. There is no evidence that Canada’s Indigenous peoples made wine or other alcoholic beverages, and winemaking was not resumed until other Europeans arrived and settled in the eastern regions in the 1600s.

But just before that time, in 1535, in an echo of Leif Eriksson’s journey, the French explorer Jacques Cartier sailed up the St. Lawrence River and encountered an island where wild grapevines were growing up trees. He first named it the Île de Bacchus, after the Roman god of wine, but then more strategically renamed it the Île d’Orléans after his patron, the duke d’Orléans. Situated just downstream of Quebec City, the island is now home to several wineries.

Most of the French and English settlers who established communities in eastern Canada in the 1600s came from regions where wine was consumed only by better-off people. The first French settlers came primarily from Brittany and Normandy, where vineyards were sparse and cider rivaled wine, while the English settlers came from a country where most people drank ale or beer. The colonial administrators and army and navy officers, however, came from the wine-drinking classes, and they had to satisfy their needs by importing wine from Europe.

As in the American colonies at the same time, beer was soon being produced locally, but attempts to make wine from the indigenous Vitis labrusca varieties generally yielded unsatisfying results. Some settlers brought vines from Europe. It is often said, despite ambiguous evidence, that European vines were planted in Nova Scotia in the early 1600s. Louis Hébert, a French apothecary, may have planted vines at Bear River, near the Bay of Fundy, and vines may also have been planted in 1633 at Petite Rivière.

Some of the earliest wines made in Canada from local grapes were produced by French Catholic missionaries. They set off on often yearslong journeys to convert the Indigenous populations with only small supplies of imported wine for use in communion. When their wine supply was exhausted, some turned to the grapes of the Vitis labrusca and Vitis riparia species that grew in many parts of eastern Canada. In 1623, a missionary near Lake Huron, in present-day Ontario, noted that when the wine in the 23-liter barrel he had brought from Quebec City turned bad, “We made some of wild grapes which was very good.” This is the first record of wine being made in Canada.

If the cold winters of eastern Canada proved inhospitable to European Vitis vinifera vines, the climate was more welcoming farther west, at the southwestern end of Lake Ontario, now the important Niagara Peninsula wine region. This area was sparsely populated until the 1790s, when tens of thousands of Americans loyal to Britain (and known as Loyalists) fled the newly founded United States for the British colony in Upper Canada, now Ontario. Most settled in areas today known for viticulture, especially the Niagara Peninsula and Prince Edward County, and there are sporadic but imprecise references to vineyards during the early 1800s.

Commercial wine production began in the 1840s or 1850s in the Niagara region of Ontario—less than two centuries ago and around the time when wine was first produced in New Zealand. In 1860, a producer named John Kilborne wrote in an agricultural magazine that his wine was selling for $1.75 a gallon, but he complained that it should fetch a higher price, because “it is worth four times as much as the miserable stuff sold by merchants under the name of wine.” Kilborne won a prize (of $3) at the 1862 Provincial Exhibition in Toronto for “the best bottles of wine made from the grape,” which suggests that wines made from fruit other than grapes were also produced at this time.

From the 1860s, commercial production can be verified. One producer was William Kitchener, who planted vines and fruit trees in 1859. By 1876, it was reported that Kitchener had sold more than 50,000 gallons of “Native Wine” at $2.50 a gallon, and that he had 80,000 vines, presumably labrusca varieties.

Other producers established wineries in the Niagara region and in Prince Edward County, a peninsula on the north shore of Lake Ontario (not to be confused with Prince Edward Island, on the Atlantic coast), that now has its own appellation.

In the 1870s, a winery was established on Pelee Island, in Lake Erie, Canada’s southernmost inhabited land. Vin Villa was owned by three entrepreneurs from Kentucky, and they sold finished wine in Ontario as well as Catawba grapes to Ohio wineries along the south shore of Lake Erie. In 1888, the Pelee Island Wine and Vineyard Company was established on the island, and, by the 1890s, it was producing a well-regarded sparkling wine called L’Empéreur Champagne. It is considered Canada’s first commercial winery, and its ruins are now a tourist attraction.

Repeated references to adulterated wines suggest that Ontario wines came in a wide range of styles and quality levels, but there are seldom references to grape varieties or winemaking methods. Yet by the end of the 19^th century, a small wine industry had been established in Ontario: the 1891 census listed 28 wineries in the province, most (23) along the north shore of Lake Erie and the rest on the Niagara Peninsula. Although there were fewer wineries on the Niagara Peninsula, the region produced 60% of Ontario’s grapes, compared with 12% on the north shore of Lake Erie. Indigenous grapes made up most of the plantings on the north shore of Lake Erie, but the Niagara Peninsula was planted with higher-yielding American hybrid varieties, such as Isabella, Delaware, Catawba, and Concord.

Prince Edward County had seemed promising for viticulture, but it became mainly a vegetable-growing area until viticulture began to boom again at the beginning of the 21^st century. Before long, the north shore of Lake Erie became an important region for tobacco, a more profitable crop than grapes. The Niagara Peninsula remained Canada’s only significant wine region in the early 1900s. By that time, there was wine production elsewhere in Canada—in British Columbia, Quebec, and Nova Scotia—but not on a commercial basis.

What might have become a rapidly growing wine industry in Ontario was set back by the province’s version of Prohibition. In 1916, partly reflecting pressure from temperance organizations and partly as a means of increasing agricultural and industrial productivity during World War I, Ontario passed the Ontario Temperance Act, which forbade the production and sale of beer and distilled spirits. The grape and wine lobby was influential enough that wine was permitted to be produced and sold, but with two important restrictions: wine could be purchased only at wineries and in minimum five-gallon volumes. The purpose was clearly to limit access to alcohol among the masses but to allow access to wealthier citizens.

Various policies limiting or totally restricting the production and sale of alcohol were enacted in all Canada’s provinces from 1916 to 1920. These provincial laws are often referred to as Prohibition, but not all were particularly restrictive, although their effect was generally to close bars and other public drinking places. Still, many Canadians had legal access to alcoholic beverages.

Ironically, Ontario’s restrictive temperance law proved beneficial to its wine industry. When the Ontario Temperance Act was passed, in 1916, there were only 10 operating wineries, but when the act was repealed, in 1927, there were 57. Most were in the Niagara region, but others were on the north shore of Lake Erie, where they could easily be accessed from the cities of Windsor and Detroit, where US Prohibition was in force.

To provide wine to people throughout the province, wineries were also established in unlikely places, such as northern Ontario, where grapes had to be trucked, without refrigeration, over long distances. But the focus was on quantity and profits, not quality, and Ontario became a source of vast volumes of low-grade wine.

During the short life of the Ontario Temperance Act, the people of Ontario became wine drinkers simply because there weren’t other alcoholic beverages. In 1920, Canadians consumed 1.1 million liters of Canadian wine, but, a decade later, 10 million liters of wine were consumed in Ontario alone.

Restrictions on alcohol also boosted wine production in British Columbia. There was no wine industry when Prohibition was introduced in 1917, but, when it was repealed in 1921, a winery was established on Vancouver Island. It was followed by others in the Okanagan Valley. The basis of an industry was established by the 1930s.

One by one, starting in the 1920s and ending as late as 1948 (as on Prince Edward Island, for example), the provinces repealed their temperance or Prohibition laws, and all of them established government-owned networks of stores to sell alcohol on a retail basis. These stores replaced the private stores that previously sold wine, beer, and spirits, and their purpose was to control the sale and consumption of all alcoholic beverages. The new retail systems included the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO), the British Columbia Liquor Distribution Branch (BCLDB), the Nova Scotia Liquor Corporation (NSLC), and the Société des Alcools du Québec (SAQ).

With the repeal of laws restricting access to alcohol, the wine industries in Canada’s provinces changed in different ways. Many of the Ontario wineries established between 1916 and 1927 went out of business as their customers returned to beer and spirits. It was common for these wineries to sell their licenses—which also included the right to operate a retail store—to more sustainable wineries, leading to a concentration of ownership. One winery, Brights Wines, purchased 13 licenses and was thus able to operate 14 stores—which could sell only Brights wine—throughout Ontario. By the early 1930s, there were only 8 wineries in Ontario, down from 57, but they operated 57 wine stores. No new licenses were issued until the mid-1970s.

Icewine vineyard in Ontario (Credit: Wines of Ontario)

During this time, French hybrid varieties gradually replaced American hybrids. Concord and Catawba remained popular, but Baco Noir, Maréchal Foch, Seyval Blanc, and Vidal plantings increased. In the 1950s, several wineries began experimenting with planting vinifera varieties, and in 1956 Brights Wines produced a Chardonnay, Ontario’s first wine made entirely from a vinifera variety.

Similarly, in British Columbia, where labrusca and hybrid varieties had dominated from the 1930s to the 1950s, vinifera varieties, including Chasselas, Pinot Gris, and Riesling, were planted in the 1960s and 1970s. Steady planting of vinifera grapes continued in both Ontario and British Columbia during the 1970s and 1980s. New vineyards planted with hybrids were still being established, but vinifera plantings increased much more rapidly—by 500% between 1976 and 1986 in Ontario, compared with a mere 3% for plantings of hybrid varieties.

But even in 1986, vinifera vines composed only 10% of Ontario’s vines, whereas they accounted for a quarter of the vines in British Columbia. Some producers focused on vinifera, but most were not confident in its ability to withstand cold winter temperatures. It was conventional wisdom for many decades that vinifera grapes would not grow on the Niagara Peninsula. Producers would plant parcels of vinifera varieties but not extensive vineyards of them.

From the 1970s to the 1990s, there was a wave of new wineries across Canada. In 1975, the Ontario government issued the first winery license since the repeal of the temperance legislation, and, by the late 1980s, another 12 wineries had opened, including Cave Spring, Henry of Pelham, and Pelee Island. New wineries in British Columbia included CedarCreek, Sumac Ridge, and Wild Goose. It is estimated that, by the mid-1980s, there were about 90 small, family-owned, noncommercial vineyards in Quebec, all planted with hybrid varieties. In Nova Scotia, the first winery opened in 1980, then closed seven years later; it was revived in the 1990s.

One of the innovations at this time was Icewine, made from grapes frozen on the vine and pressed while frozen. With their water content frozen, grapes release a tiny amount of highly concentrated, sugar-filled juice that can be fermented into wine. Icewine has been made in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland since the 1800s. It was first made in Canada in 1973 (with the first commercial release in 1978) by a German immigrant, Walter Hainle, who founded a winery in British Columbia. In the early 1980s, several Ontario wineries began to produce Icewine on the Niagara Peninsula, where temperatures consistently reach the temperature of minus 8 degrees Celsius (18 degrees Fahrenheit), which is needed before the grapes are harvested. Icewine quickly became an important style of wine for Ontario.

In 1988, just as the wine industries in Ontario and British Columbia seemed to be advancing, there was a major disruption: the Canadian and American governments signed a free-trade agreement (CUSFTA) that established a schedule for eliminating tariffs on trade between the two countries. It would eventually open the Canadian market to American wines (which at that time meant California wines) at much lower prices than Canadian wines were fetching. It was expected that wines from big California producers, such as E. & J. Gallo and Robert Mondavi, which achieved economies of scale not available to Canadian producers, would undercut Canadian wines on price and quality. Most Canadian wine was still made from hybrids, and most of these wines were mediocre. These threats accelerated the trends toward quality wine. The British Columbia government subsidized the ripping out of hundreds of acres of labrusca and hybrid vines, leaving the province with only about 400 hectares (1,000 acres) of vines, 90% of which were vinifera varieties. In Ontario, the government committed CA$50 million for compensating growers who ripped out inferior varieties, and for providing wineries with forgivable loans to upgrade their facilities and equipment. Between 1986 and 1991, Ontario’s vineyard area contracted by a fifth, but the representation of vinifera varieties rose from 10% to 25%.

Blends with Non-Canadian Wines

In 1972, a disastrous vintage led the Canadian government to agree to allow wineries to import foreign wine and add up to 25% of it to their Ontario wine, so they would have enough volume to remain profitable. This short-term measure became permanent. In the early 1980s, while most Ontario wineries were transitioning from labrusca and hybrid vines to vinifera varieties, they were expected to have a temporary shortfall in production, so the permitted amount of foreign wine was increased to 70%. In 1993, when Ontario’s wine harvest was extremely small, the amount was increased to 90%.

Since that time, Ontario wine has accounted for between 25% and 30% of these blends, which are now called International Domestic Blends. Predominantly made from inexpensive bulk wine purchased from other countries, these blends are generally priced lower than 100% Ontario wines, and they easily outsell VQA Ontario wines. In 2023, the LCBO sold 9.4 million liters of VQA Ontario wine and 32.7 million liters of non-VQA Ontario wine—almost all International Domestic Blends. Consumers often think these blends are Ontario wines, as they are made by larger Ontario wineries and feature these familiar names on the labels.

Another sign of a new concern for quality was the creation of the Vintners Quality Alliance (VQA) in Ontario, in 1988. This was a voluntary association of wineries designed to guarantee the geographical provenance of grapes, with regulations regarding grape variety, vintage, and quality. To qualify to carry the VQA logo on a label, which became an indication of quality, a wine had to be made from approved varieties only. They were mostly vinifera, but hybrids considered superior (such as Baco Noir and Vidal) were permitted. All labrusca and other indigenous varieties were excluded. In 1999, VQA rules became Ontario wine law, now enforced by the Ontario Wine Appellation Authority.

British Columbia adopted a version of Ontario’s VQA rules in 1990. They remained an informal, voluntary system until 2005, when they became provincial law. Today, the British Columbia Wine Authority regulates British Columbia’s wine law.

The introduction of wine laws, the gradual increase in wines made with vinifera varieties, and general improvements in wine quality gave consumers more confidence in British Columbia and Ontario wines. Instead of the wine industries in both provinces disappearing under a flood of California wine, the number of wineries in them increased: in British Columbia from 13 in 1988 to 63 in 1999, and in Ontario from 30 in 1990 to 60 in 2000.

Big players also began to enter the market. In Ontario, the Vincor corporation was founded in 1994, and it soon owned several wineries, including two of Ontario’s largest, Inniskillin and Jackson-Triggs. (These wineries are now owned by a different corporate entity, Arterra.) In British Columbia, Anthony von Mandl bought an abandoned winery in the Okanagan Valley near Kelowna and planted vinifera vines in the mid-1990s. Now the Mission Hill winery, it became a destination winery, and von Mandl, through the Mark Anthony Group, owns six wineries in the Okanagan Valley.

There was also movement in Prince Edward County. Vineyards of vinifera and hybrid varieties were planted beginning in the early 1990s, and three new wineries opened by 2002.

By the early 2000s, the shift to vinifera was well established. In 2002, 60% of the Niagara Peninsula’s vines were vinifera, 21% were French hybrids, and the rest were labrusca. The vinifera varieties were used for certified Ontario wine, the hybrids were used in International Domestic Blends, and the labrusca grapes were used largely for juice and jelly production. The most important vinifera varieties were Chardonnay, Riesling, Cabernet Franc, and Cabernet Sauvignon, followed by Merlot, Pinot Noir, and Gamay.

In the 1990s, research institutions designed to help wineries and, in some cases, to train winemakers and viticulturists were established. In Ontario, the key institutions are the Cool Climate Oenology and Viticulture Institute at Brock University and Niagara College, which offers degrees in winemaking and viticulture. In British Columbia, the University of British Columbia, in Vancouver, has the Wine Research Centre. More recently, in 2016, the federal and Nova Scotia governments funded a wine research center at Acadia University, in Nova Scotia.

With the maturing of the Canadian wine industry came foreign investment. In 1998, the French Groupe Taillan partnered with Constellation Brands Canada to establish a winery (Osoyoos Larose) to make a Bordeaux-style wine in the Osoyoos district of the Okanagan Valley. Meanwhile, Burgundy’s Boisset company collaborated with Vincor to make wine from Chardonnay and Pinot Noir at a new winery, Le Clos Jordanne, in the Jordan valley, on the Niagara Peninsula.

The period from 2000 to the present is the latest phase in the history of Canadian wine, and it has been characterized by a rapid increase in the number of wineries. There are now about 700 wineries in Canada, with over 300 in British Columbia, over 200 in Ontario, about 150 in Quebec, and 20 in Nova Scotia. New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island have fewer than 10 between them. New wineries in Ontario and British Columbia today plant vinifera varieties, while hybrid grapes continue to dominate in Quebec and Nova Scotia.

Canadian Wine in Context

In land area, Canada is second only to Russia, but its average annual wine production—which changes dramatically from year to year—ranks about 30^th globally, along with countries such as the Czech Republic and Macedonia. The bulk of Canada’s wine is produced in two regions: the Okanagan Valley, in British Columbia, and the Niagara Peninsula, in Ontario. There are smaller concentrations of vineyards in other parts of these two provinces, but the major wine region in each produces more than 85% of the wine. In eastern Canada, there are many small wineries in Quebec, some in Nova Scotia, and a few in New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island. In three provinces in central and western Canada—Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta—there are no wineries, nor are there any in Canada’s northern territories, Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut.

Most Canadian wineries are small operations, and many are owned by individuals or families. Larger wineries are typically owned by corporations, some of which operate multiple wineries. Arterra Wines has been owned by an Ontario pension fund since 2016, and it now owns eight wineries in Ontario and British Columbia, as well as Kim Crawford Wines, in New Zealand. In British Columbia, the Mark Anthony Group owns six wineries in the Okanagan Valley.

Canada’s best-known wine internationally is Icewine. Inniskillin Vidal Icewine 1989 was the first Canadian wine to win a major wine award, the Grand Prix d’Honneur at Vinexpo, in 1991, and Icewines were Canada’s first wine exports. Icewine still sells well on Asian markets and in Canada to tourists at airport duty-free stores, but production has declined significantly. In the 2010s, more than 100,000 cases of Icewine were produced in Ontario each year; in 2022 and 2023, the numbers were 12,400 and 36,900, respectively.

Table wines, still and sparkling, are now becoming important as exports, and solid markets are developing in the United States, Great Britain, and Europe. Even so, Canadian wines are relatively expensive, and sales are mainly to restaurants rather than to consumers.

Most Canadian wine is sold on the domestic market, where the principal retail channels in most provinces are the government-owned alcohol retail systems established in the 1920s after the repeal of Prohibition and temperance policies. These systems have stores in cities and many towns in their provinces, with smaller selections of wine, beer, and spirits in grocery stores in small or isolated communities, or in locations where a small population swells seasonally because of tourists.

Yet while the image of wine sales in Canada being monopolized by government stores might have been accurate once, it is far from the current reality. In Alberta and Saskatchewan, the government-owned retail stores were abolished in 1993 and 2023, respectively, and all stores selling alcoholic beverages are privately owned. Elsewhere, most province-owned retail systems, such as the LCBO stores in Ontario and BC Liquor stores in British Columbia, operate alongside private stores that sell a range of wines and beers. In some provinces, including Ontario and Quebec, wine can be purchased in supermarkets, though in Quebec most of the wine that is not sold in SAQ stores is wine imported in bulk by the SAQ and sold under its own labels.

Canadian Wine Law

There is as no national wine law in Canada. There were attempts to formulate one in the early 2000s, but they foundered on major issues, such as permitted grape varieties. While vinifera varieties are used to make most quality wine in Ontario and British Columbia, hybrid grapes are more important in Quebec, Nova Scotia, and other small eastern regions where cold-hardy hybrid varieties survive harsh winters more easily. Canada has a patchwork of provincial wine laws; British Columbia, Ontario, Quebec, and Nova Scotia each have their own.

Ontario Wine Law

The first wine law was a voluntary code, the VQA, which was created in Ontario by several wineries in 1988 and was adopted as provincial law in 1999. Only wines that satisfied the criteria for provenance, varietal and vintage content, and quality could carry the VQA name and logo. The code remains voluntary, but having VQA certification is generally considered a quality indicator that is particularly important on restaurant wine lists. About 80% of Ontario wineries participate in it.

The terms of the VQA have changed over time. Currently, to be identified with a geographical indicator (GI), a minimum of 85% of the grapes used in a wine must be grown in the GI and the rest in Ontario. (Note that the Ontario Wine Appellation Authority uses GI, viticultural area, and appellation interchangeably.) To be identified with a sub-geographical indicator (sub-GI), 100% of the grapes must be grown there. Ontario has 4 appellations (among them is the province overall, for which 100% of the grapes must be grown in Ontario) and 12 sub-appellations. Wines that qualify for VQA certification are identified as VQA Niagara Peninsula (a GI) or VQA Beamsville Bench (a sub-GI), with the VQA logo on the main label and, optionally, on a neck label.

For permitted varieties, the original list was composed largely of vinifera, but two hybrids were allowed: Baco Noir, because some wineries were making quality wine from it, and Vidal, because it was a popular variety for making Icewine. To label a wine as a varietal bottling, at least 85% of the wine must be made of the variety. More recently, other non-vinifera varieties have been permitted, including Maréchal Foch and Marquette. Others, such as De Chaunac and Millot, may be used for blending in non-vinifera wines.

VQA Ontario permits skin-contact and orange wines, and it changed its rules to allow for the use of screwcaps, rather than mandating corks. There is still a tasting panel that must approve wines to be certified VQA. It initially, and controversially, had varietal typicity as one of its criteria, but that has been abandoned, and the panel now focuses on identifying flaws.

British Columbia Wine Law

Vineyard at Tantalus in Okanagan Valley (Credit: If So Studio)

In 1999, British Columbia wineries adopted a modified version of the VQA Ontario rules, identified as British Columbia VQA or BC VQA on labels, as a voluntary code. It became wine law in 2005, and it is now regulated by the British Columbia Wine Authority. About 80% of the province’s wineries participate. The others are generally small producers that easily sell their wines from the cellar door without incurring the cost and time to have their wines certified.

The VQA rules in British Columbia are similar to Ontario’s with respect to varietal percentages: if a wine is labeled British Columbia VQA, 100% of the grapes must be grown in the province, but if it is labeled by a regional GI (such as Okanagan Valley or Vancouver Island) or a sub-GI (such as Naramata Bench or Okanagan Falls), 85% of the grapes must come from there. If a wine is designated by vineyard, however, 100% of the grapes must have been sourced from it. British Columbia VQA recognizes all vinifera varieties and a wide range of hybrids. To be labeled as a varietal wine, the variety must constitute at least 85% of the wine.

Quebec Wine Law

For many years, the Quebec wine industry was largely an unorganized population of very small producers, but one sign of its maturing was the adoption, in 2018, of Indication Géographique Protégée (IGP) certification for table wines and other agricultural products. Wine grapes must be grown within a defined area of Quebec: bounded by the Laurentian Mountains to the north, the Ontario border to the west, the US border to the south, and the Appalachian Mountains to the east. To qualify, a region must have at least 900 growing degree-days.

Quebec’s IGP rules permit any grape variety, including vinifera, hybrids, and crosses. Wines must be vinified at the vineyard and must be made by “best practices.” Any submitted for certification are subject to laboratory testing and a blind-tasting panel to ensure that they are free of faults. Wines must be certified or recertified each vintage. Wines that pass can be labeled IGP Vin du Québec. These wines must have less than 15% ABV; white wines must have at least 8% and red wines at least 9.5%.

Nova Scotia Wine Law

Nova Scotia introduced wine standards and certification in 2004. In 2022, the provincial government created the Nova Scotia Wine Authority to oversee winemaking regulations. Wines labeled Wine of Nova Scotia must be made from at least 85% grapes grown in the province, with the remaining 15% grown anywhere in Canada.

There is another important appellation, Tidal Bay, defined by style as well as provenance. These wines must be low in alcohol (maximum 11% ABV) and show “lively fresh green fruit flavors, dynamic acidity, and characteristic minerality.” Tidal Bay wines must be made entirely from grapes grown in Nova Scotia, and one or more of four hybrid or crossed varieties (L’Acadie Blanc, Seyval Blanc, Vidal, and Geisenheim 318) must account for at least 51% of the wine. Another 11 varieties—some vinifera, including Riesling and Chardonnay, others hybrids and crosses—may compose up to 49% of a blend, while other specified varieties may compose up to 15%. In all, about 20 varieties can be used in Tidal Bay wines. The wines must be approved by a tasting panel and pass evaluation at the sensory laboratory at Acadia University.

Icewine Wine Law

Icewine is a separate category in all of Canada’s provincial wine laws. Canada is party to several international agreements on the production of Icewine that seek to protect the Icewine brand—meaning wine made from grapes naturally frozen on the vine—from sweet wines made by artificially freezing grapes and from sweet wines fraudulently labeled as Icewine.

In 2000, a nonbinding agreement was signed by the main wine organizations of Canada, Germany, and Austria. Canada also signed agreements in 2007 with the World Wine Trade Group and in 2015 with the Trans-Pacific Partnership, both of which protected the definition of Icewine. These were key agreements, given the importance of Icewine to Canadian wine exports at that time and the extent of Icewine fraud. It has been estimated that, at times, as much as half the Icewine on some Asian markets was artificially sweetened wine or wine made from grapes not frozen on the vine.

Grapes destined to make Icewine must be “naturally frozen on the vine,” meaning they must remain on the vine until they are harvested, which can take place when the temperature has fallen to at least minus 8 degrees Celsius (18 degrees Fahrenheit). In Ontario and British Columbia, grapes must remain attached to the vine, but any that fall from the bunches may be caught in nets hanging below and used for Icewine.

A wine law for IGP Vin de Glace du Québec (Quebec Icewine) was adopted in 2014, four years before IGP Vin du Québec regulations were applied to table wines. The zone of production for IGP Quebec Icewine is smaller than for IGP Quebec table wines, and all the grapes used for it must have been grown in this area. In 2015, the Quebec IGP authorities redefined “on the vine” differently from how other Canadian provinces define it. There is much more snow in Quebec than in other Canadian Icewine-producing regions—so much snow in some years that it buries bunches of grapes hanging on the vine. For this reason, Vin de Glace producers in Quebec are permitted to cut bunches from the vine and leave them to freeze on nets at the top of the vines, above the snow.

This procedure has been challenged by signatories to the international Icewine convention. The question is whether the grapes are harvested when the bunches are removed from the vine and placed in the nets, or when the frozen grapes are collected from the nets. Defenders of the Quebec procedure argue that there is no difference between using grapes detached from the vine and frozen in the nets and using grapes that fall from the vine and are caught in nets, as permitted elsewhere in Canada.

The Grapes of Canada

The wide diversity of growing conditions in Canadian vineyards allows for the cultivation of a considerable range of grape varieties. There are very few labrusca varieties left, as almost all of them were pulled out by the 1990s. The varieties planted today are primarily vinifera and French or American hybrids, with vinifera dominating in British Columbia and Ontario, and hybrids in Quebec and Nova Scotia.

Because the Okanagan Valley and the Niagara Peninsula together produce the bulk of Canada’s wine, the main grape varieties of these regions are the main varieties of Canada. Yet there are other key varieties in different regions.

There are only a few vinifera varieties that are grown in all four main wine-producing provinces, and their importance varies. Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, for example, are among the most cultivated varieties in British Columbia and Ontario, but they represent only a small percentage of vineyard area in Quebec and Nova Scotia. Riesling and Sauvignon Blanc are also grown in all four provinces, with varying representation. Because each province produces a distinct varietal profile, each will be discussed individually.

Note that it is difficult to draw comparisons between regions, as the wine authorities in each province publish different statistics of plantings. British Columbia, for example, publishes the acreage of each variety, while Ontario publishes only the ranking of varieties by acreage.

The Grapes of British Columbia

British Columbia encompasses many different growing conditions, and general province-wide statistics conceal important regional variations. Some varieties, such as Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, are grown widely in varying conditions, while others are concentrated in specific regions. Although hybrid varieties represent very small percentages of British Columbia’s wines, they are the most important varieties in some of the smaller GIs. In Fraser Valley GI, for example, Pinot Noir is the most planted variety, but the next three are Bacchus, Siegerrebe, and Blattner Cabernet Foch; while in Shuswap GI, the most common varieties are Maréchal Foch, Ortega, Siegerrebe, and Pinot Noir.

Merlot: The most planted red variety in British Columbia, Merlot, is concentrated in the warmer areas of the province, such as the southern Okanagan Valley. These wines tend to have more structure, more intense flavors, and higher tannins than the softer styles of Merlot that are common elsewhere. Although Merlot is often used in red blends, varietal wines are also made. In the cooler areas of British Columbia, the wines tend to be lighter in weight, with fresher acidity and more elegance.

Pinot Noir: Pinot Noir plantings are increasing much more rapidly than those of Merlot, so it is possible that Pinot Noir could overtake Merlot as the most planted variety in the next few years. The wines range from deeply hued styles in warmer areas, with fuller body and intense cherry flavors, to lighter-colored styles in cooler areas, with sour or sweet cherry flavors, bright natural acidity, and light or medium tannins.

Harvest in Okanagan Falls (Credit: If So Studio)

Pinot Gris: Pinot Gris (almost always labeled this way, rather than as Pinot Grigio) is British Columbia’s most planted white variety. The common style lies between the drier, leaner style of quality Pinot Grigio from northfern Italy and the richer, more luscious style of Pinot Gris associated with Alsace. British Columbia’s Pinot Gris is generally made in dry or off-dry styles, with well-defined tropical and soft stone-fruit flavors and fresh acidity.

Chardonnay: Most British Columbia Chardonnay is fermented or matured, or both, in oak barrels, though winemakers today are minimizing the influence of oak. Naturally high acidity and focused flavors yield flavorful, often elegant Chardonnay. British Columbia’s Chardonnay has been very successful in international competitions.

Cabernet Sauvignon: Grown almost exclusively in the warm southern Okanagan Valley, Cabernet Sauvignon demonstrates red and dark fruit, good structure and tannins, and balanced acidity. Oak maturing common, with longer periods in wood for higher-tier wines, many of which can age for a decade or more. Cabernet Sauvignon is also an important component, and often the major component, in the red blends that are the icon wines of many producers.

Cabernet Franc: Grown most widely in the Okanagan and the Similkameen Valleys, Cabernet Franc generally delivers ripe red fruit flavors without any greenness, but with notes of tobacco and spice. These wines are plush and generous in texture, with soft tannins and well-balanced acidity.

Syrah: Syrah is regarded as one of British Columbia’s top-performing varieties. Planted mainly in warmer areas of the Okanagan and the Similkameen Valleys, Syrah produces wines of distinctive quality that are often characterized as lying between the plush, fruit-led Shiraz of Australia and the structured, defined Syrah of the northern Rhône. The wines are generally complex and layered, with flavor profiles led by red fruit, and with top notes of spices. They show balanced acidity, and many are very ageworthy.

The Grapes of Ontario

Quality wine in Ontario is almost always made from vinifera varieties, except for table wine made from Baco Noir and Icewine made from Vidal Blanc.

Vidal Blanc: The most widely planted grape in Ontario, Vidal Blanc, is planted almost exclusively on the Niagara Peninsula, but it is produced as a varietal wine by only a few wineries. It can yield a well-flavored, aromatic wine with good acidity, but these wines rarely achieve much structure or notable character. Generally, the table wines made with Vidal Blanc are blends, mostly in the International Domestic Blend category. Vidal Blanc is the variety most used for Ontario Icewine. Its acidity offsets the sweetness, and it provides pungent tropical and soft fruit flavors.

Chardonnay: Chardonnay is planted throughout Ontario’s wine regions, where it produces wines with classic Chardonnay flavor profiles, led by apple, pear, and citrus. Most Ontario Chardonnay is made using some oak during maturation and fermentation, but few examples could be described as oaky.

Riesling: First commercially cultivated by the Mosel’s Weis family, Riesling established the Niagara Peninsula as a vinifera-growing region and drew attention to Ontario table wines. Ontario Rieslings, which are mostly dry or off-dry in style, feature bracing acidity with often luscious flavors of tropical fruit and soft stone fruit. Riesling is also used for Icewine and late-harvest wines.

Cabernet Franc: Although it is Ontario’s most planted red variety, Cabernet Franc has only recently attracted attention. As elsewhere, it was usually blended with Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, but now many producers are making varietal wines, sometimes in several tiers or from single vineyards. Ontario Cabernet Franc is medium bodied and features red fruit, some spiciness, and soft tannins. It consistently ripens well, resulting in wines without green pepper or leafy notes.

Merlot: Most Ontario Merlot is definitively cool climate in style. Instead of showing the textural plushness characteristic of warmer-climate Merlot, these wines tend to be taut in texture, with well-defined red fruit flavors and very fresh natural acidity. Many varietal Merlot wines are produced, and the grape is also used as an important component in blends. Plantings of Merlot have been increasing more quickly than those of other varieties in Ontario.

Pinot Noir: Pinot Noir is Ontario’s most prestigious red variety, and many producers use it for their top-tier wines and bottle by vineyard or, in a few cases, by vineyard parcel. Ontario Pinot Noir tends to be midrange in color and flavor intensity—not as dark and concentrated as warmer-climate Pinot Noir but with more weight and flavor concentration than examples from Quebec. Overall, these wines are characterized by layered cherry flavors, with some spiciness, and have low or moderate tannins in their youth.

Grapes growing for Icewine in Ontario (Credit: Wines of Ontario)

Baco Noir: Although Baco Noir ranks ninth among the top 10 varieties grown in Ontario, it is important as a hybrid variety with which several producers have had great success. It is also a popular grape: more varietal, VQA-certified Baco Noir was produced in 2023 than varietal Cabernet Franc or Merlot. Baco Noir shows red and dark fruit, and smoky and gamy notes, and has moderate tannins.

Sauvignon Blanc: Varietal Sauvignon Blanc is the fourth most produced VQA-certified wine in Ontario (after Chardonnay, Pinot Gris, and Riesling), and examples from the Niagara Peninsula are particularly notable. It tends to have good textural weight, understated but defined green and citrus flavors, and bright acidity. But Sauvignon Blanc is susceptible to cold, and, in the past decade, many vineyards have been replanted in higher locations (to avoid frost damage) or replaced after vines were damaged or killed by episodes of very cold weather.

Grapes used in Ontario Icewine: Most Ontario Icewine is made from Vidal Blanc or Riesling, both of which have the natural acidity needed to balance the intense sweetness of Icewine, although Riesling delivers markedly higher levels of acidity than Vidal Blanc. In 2023, Vidal Blanc accounted for 69% of all Ontario Icewine, Riesling for 22%, and Cabernet Franc for 7%. The remaining 2% was mainly Pinot Noir and Cabernet Sauvignon.

The Grapes of Quebec

Quebec’s vineyards are predominantly planted to hybrid varieties, but no single variety has overwhelming representation. The most planted varieties, Vidal Blanc and Frontenac Noir, each account for 10% of vineyard surface. The tendency among Quebec producers is to blend hybrid varieties, rather than to produce varietal wines. More vinifera varieties, especially Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, are being planted and bottled as varietal wines, but it will be a long time before they account for a meaningful percentage of Quebec’s vines, if they ever do.

Although wines made from hybrid varieties were long considered inferior to wines made from vinifera varieties, there is increasing consumer acceptance of wines made from hybrids in Canada as elsewhere. This alone might encourage Quebec producers to continue working with hybrid varieties, but planting hybrids is also reasonable in the context of climate change. Quebec, like other Canadian wine-producing provinces, has had short periods of intensely cold temperatures that kill vinifera vines, and hybrid vines are generally more tolerant of cold than vinifera.

Vidal: Vidal’s winterhardiness makes it well suited to Quebec’s climate, and it can result in good-quality wines, though they lack the structure to be excellent. It is an aromatic variety that has high natural acidity, and the wines show complex flavors of apple, pear, and honey, sometimes with a little sweetness.

Frontenac Noir: Frontenac Noir is a Minnesota hybrid that does well during Quebec’s cold winters. It is a high-sugar, high-acid variety that produces wine with intense flavors of dark fruit and berries. It is produced as a varietal wine, and it is used in red blends and for rosé wines as well.

The Grapes of Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia’s vineyards, like Quebec’s, are overwhelmingly planted to hybrid varieties. By far the most important is L’Acadie Blanc, a hybrid of Cascade and Seyve-Villard 14-287 that was created in 1953, at the Vineland Research Station, on the Niagara Peninsula. It was sent to Nova Scotia for testing and was named for Acadie, the name of the French colony established in the early 1600s.

L’Acadie Blanc: By far the most important variety in Nova Scotia, L’Acadie Blanc, is also the most important grape in Tidal Bay wines, and it is widely used in the province’s increasingly notable sparkling wines. Often referred to as Nova Scotia’s Chardonnay, it delivers more palate weight than other white hybrids, a concentrated flavor profile, and high acidity, which suits the mandated style of Tidal Bay wines and the province’s sparkling wines. It is cold-hardy to minus 25 degrees Celsius (minus 13 degrees Fahrenheit).

British Columbia

British Columbia includes a wide range of growing conditions for wine grapes, including maritime, continental, and desert environments. Most are influenced by water, whether the Pacific Ocean, rivers, or lakes.

(Credit: If So Studio)

British Columbia has 10 geographical indicators and 12 sub-geographical indicators, designated by the British Columbia Wine Authority. The GIs are Fraser Valley, Gulf Islands, Kootenays, Lillooet, Okanagan Valley, Shuswap, Similkameen Valley, Thompson Valley, and Vancouver Island. Of these GIs, only two have sub-GIs: the Okanagan Valley has 11 and Vancouver Island has 1. When wines are certified as satisfying the requirements of the British Columbia Vintners Quality Alliance (BC VQA), the GI is shown on the label as, for example, BC VQA Vancouver Island.

The most important region by far is Okanagan Valley GI, which has almost 11,000 acres of vines that represent about 86% of British Columbia’s vineyard area. The next most important appellation, the Similkameen Valley, has only 6%; Vancouver Island has 4%; and the remaining six GIs collectively account for 4%.

Okanagan Valley GI

Okanagan Valley GI is named for Okanagan Lake, one of the main influences on the area’s climate. About 135 kilometers (84 miles) long and 4 to 5 kilometers (2.5 to 3 miles) wide, the lake is a deep body of water created by repeated glaciations. Its maximum depth is about 230 meters (750 feet), but, even close to land, the water is often more than 100 meters (300 feet) deep. Okanagan Lake remains relatively warm even in winter, and it has a moderating influence on nearby vineyards.

Although Okanagan Lake is the principal geographic feature of Okanagan Valley GI, the boundaries of the GI extend well beyond the lake itself. The GI runs on a north-south axis for about 250 kilometers (150 miles), from the US border at Washington State to about 60 kilometers (40 miles) north of the northern end of Okanagan Lake, along the Okanagan River, which provides most of the inflow to the lake. Okanagan Lake itself drains, via a continuation of the Okanagan River, into three smaller lakes to the south: the Skaha, Vaseux, and Osoyoos Lakes.

Okanagan Valley GI encompasses a range of soil and climatic conditions, making it difficult to generalize about the region. Overall, however, it lies in the rain shadow of the Coast Mountains and the Cascade Range. Within this pattern of low precipitation, there are higher rates in the north, where relatively cooler temperatures provide conditions suitable for grape varieties such as Riesling and Chardonnay. In the south, there is less rainfall as well as Canada’s only desert, the Osoyoos Arid Biotic Zone. Annual rainfall here is less than 250 millimeters (10 inches), and the southern part of the GI is planted mainly with red varieties, such as Merlot, Syrah, and Cabernet Sauvignon.

In recent years, weather conditions attributed to climate change have severely affected grape harvests. In December 2022 and January 2024, extremely cold temperatures from the polar region struck Okanagan Valley GI and the nearby Similkameen Valley GI. In December 2022, 45% of vines suffered long-term damage, and 29% needed to be replaced. Wine production fell between 50% and 60% in 2023. The return of these frigid temperatures in January 2024 compounded the effects of the previous winter, and it is expected that in 2024 there will be virtually no wine production in Okanagan Valley GI. If these weather events continue, even irregularly, producers will need to consider measures that are more radical than simply replanting with the same varieties.

Forest wildfires have also become more common and more extensive in the past decade. Although only a small number of wineries have been directly affected, the risk of smoke in vineyards and smoke taint in finished wines is high each summer.

Okanagan Valley GI has 11 sub-GIs, designated by the British Columbia Wine Authority to acknowledge districts with distinctive climatic conditions, soil types, and resulting wine styles.

Golden Mile Bench Sub-GI

Harvest at Culmina in Golden Mile Bench (Credit: If So Studio)

The first of the Okanagan Valley’s sub-GIs, Golden Mile Bench, was established in 2015. It is located on the west side of the valley, south of the town of Oliver, in the warm, southerly part of the Okanagan Valley. The Golden Mile Bench receives sunshine in the morning rather than in the afternoon, making it cooler than the east side of the valley—a benefit in a region where summer temperatures can exceed 40 degrees Celsius (100 degrees Fahrenheit). Because it is well off the valley floor, it is nearly free of frost year-round.

The soils are mainly well-draining loam with stones, gravel, and sand, with four alluvial fans divided by creeks. The six wineries in the Golden Mile Bench farm a total of 325 hectares (800 acres) of vineyards. They are planted with many varieties, but Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Pinot Gris, and Chardonnay are especially important.

Golden Mile Slopes Sub-GI

Just below and continuing south of the Golden Mile Bench sub-GI, the Golden Mile Slopes sub-GI includes the vineyards around Deadman Lake. It is located on the west side of the valley, so it receives plentiful morning sun but is shaded in the late afternoon. The GI shares the warm climate of the southern Okanagan Valley, with cooling breezes at night running down the mountain to the west, but it can be vulnerable to extremes of heat in the summer and cold in the winter.

Sand and gravel soils are most common here, along with alluvial fan deposits. Vineyards are mainly situated on coarse, stony soils. About 165 hectares (400 acres) are planted, with roughly 60% devoted to red varieties. Merlot and Cabernet Franc account for nearly half the acreage. The other important grapes are Syrah and Pinot Gris.

Naramata Bench Sub-GI

Naramata Bench in Okanagan Valley (Credit: If So Studio)

The Naramata Bench sub-GI is located at the southern end of Okanagan Lake, on the east bank, running from the city of Penticton to the community of Naramata. It presents as a series of benches that protrude into the lake, ending with bluffs that descend to the water. These benches offer a gently rolling surface with varying orientations, and most are completely planted with vines to within a few meters of the bluff. From this shoreline, the land rises gently and then more steeply for about 2 kilometers (1.25 miles).

The Naramata Bench area receives hot sun in the afternoon, although the vineyards on the benches and lower slopes near the lake benefit from lake breezes. Frosts are rarely a problem in this region. The soils are mainly silty loam, with gravel prominent at higher elevations.

There are more than 40 wineries in the Naramata Bench sub-GI, and they cultivate about 250 hectares (620 acres) of vines. The main varieties are Merlot, Pinot Gris, Chardonnay, and Pinot Noir.

Okanagan Falls Sub-GI

Named for the town of Okanagan Falls, this sub-GI lies along the eastern side of the Okanagan River, between Skaha Lake and Vaseux Lake. It has a diversity of soils and mesoclimates, but generally the days are warm and the nights are cool during the growing season. There are about 10 wineries in this sub-GI, and they farm a total of 160 hectares (400 acres). The main varieties are Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Pinot Gris.

Skaha Bench Sub-GI

The Skaha Bench sub-GI extends about 10 kilometers (4 miles) south of the city of Penticton along the eastern side of Skaha Lake. With slopes facing west, vineyards benefit from the long afternoon sunlight during the growing season. Skaha Lake moderates temperatures, and the area is cut by valleys that drain the cold air, resulting in long frost-free periods.

The light surface soil sits on a glacial lake bed of silt and fine sand. There are about 10 wineries in this sub-GI, with a total of 75 hectares (185 acres) of vines. The most planted varieties are Chardonnay, Merlot, Pinot Gris, and Pinot Noir.

East Kelowna Slopes Sub-GI

The East Kelowna Slopes sub-GI is southeast of the city of Kelowna, toward the northern end of Okanagan Lake. It is an area of northwest-facing slopes and terraces, and, even though this is a northern wine region, the slopes provide good air drainage that contributes to a long growing season. Some vineyards close to Okanagan Lake benefit from its moderating effects.

The soils on the slopes and terraces where most vines are planted are primarily coarse gravel and sand. About 80 hectares (200 acres) are planted with vines, and the most important varieties are Pinot Noir, Gewürztraminer, Riesling, and Chardonnay.

Lake Country Sub-GI

Lake Country is the Okanagan Valley’s northernmost sub-GI. Running north-south on the east side of Okanagan Lake, it has cool-climate conditions, but the vineyards are exposed to the afternoon sun in the growing season. Along with the moderating effect of the lake, the west-facing slopes provide good air drainage.

The soils are predominantly lake-bottom, with gravel and sand at upper elevations. There are 100 hectares (250 acres) planted. Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris, Riesling, and Chardonnay are the key varieties.

South Kelowna Slopes Sub-GI

The South Kelowna Slopes area is southeast of the city of Kelowna, on the eastern side of Okanagan Lake. Vineyards generally face northwest. This is a cool-climate area, but vineyards close to the lake benefit from its moderating influence, which lengthens the growing season. The soils are generally glacial sediment with upper layers of gravel and sand.

About 120 hectares (300 acres) are planted with vines. The main grapes are Pinot Noir, Riesling, Chardonnay, and Pinot Gris.

Summerland Bench Sub-GI

Located on the western side of Okanagan Lake, the Summerland Bench sub-GI contains an extinct volcano, Giant’s Head Mountain. The soils are generally coarse, with a mixture of sand, silt, and gravel providing good drainage. Vineyards cover 60 hectares (150 acres). The main varieties are Gewürztraminer, Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris, and Chardonnay.

Summerland Lakefront Sub-GI

The Summerland Lakefront sub-GI lies along about 12 kilometers (5 miles) of the western shore at the southern end of Okanagan Lake, opposite the Naramata Bench. The vineyards face east and southeast and benefit from the cooler morning sun and the moderating effects of the lake.

A total of 65 hectares (160 acres) are planted, and Gewürztraminer, Pinot Noir, and Pinot Gris are the most important grapes.

Summerland Valleys Sub-GI

With the highest elevations in the Okanagan Valley, between 500 and 700 meters (1,650 and 2,300 feet) above sea level, the Summerland Valleys sub-GI is a distinctly cool area. The soils are a diverse mix, including gravels and fine sand. There are about 60 hectares (150 acres) planted, especially to Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Kerner.

Similkameen Valley GI

Little Farm Winery in Similkameen Valley (Credit: If So Studio)

The Similkameen Valley is over the Coast Mountains from the Okanagan Valley, just west of the town of Osoyoos, but instead of running north-south, it runs northwest to southeast. This provides opportunities for some south-facing vineyards, including a long stretch near Cawston that has south-facing to west-facing slopes. Other vineyards are located on lower slopes near the Similkameen River. The soils are varied and often formed by fluvial fans, and they include stony, gravelly, and silty loams. Many vineyards have stones on the surface.

Like the southern Okanagan Valley, this is a warm GI that is hot and dry during the growing season. The tall surrounding mountains and the reflectivity of the rock faces help maintain warmth even after the sun sets. Winds along the valley help moderate temperatures, but the valley is dry and warm enough that organic agriculture and viticulture are very successful. There are several distinct mesoclimates here.

There are 22 wineries in Similkameen Valley GI, farming a total of 310 hectares (770 acres). The main varieties planted are Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Chardonnay.

Vancouver Island GI

Vancouver Island lies off the west coast of the British Columbia mainland, in the Pacific Ocean. At its closest point, it is 56 kilometers (35 miles) from the coast, but the ferry from Vancouver, on the mainland, to Victoria, the largest city on Vancouver Island and British Columbia’s capital city, travels 117 kilometers (73 miles) and takes about three hours. The island is largely uninhabited and covered with forest, and half its population lives in Victoria.

The Influence of Water on Canadian Wine

Growing conditions in most of Canada’s wine regions are influenced by water in one form or another. In general, these bodies of water moderate the temperatures in nearby vineyards, especially in the spring and autumn, lengthening the growing season and permitting the growing of later-ripening varieties. Lake Ontario influences the Niagara Peninsula region by sending breezes that raise land temperatures in winter, spring, and autumn, and lower them in the summer. This lake effect is less perceptible in vineyards farther from the lakeshore, but it is present to some degree in all vineyards between the Niagara Escarpment and the lake. Even though many parts of Okanagan Valley GI are generally warmer than the Niagara Peninsula, Okanagan Lake and the smaller lakes to its south are important influences on vineyards along their shores and several miles from them.

The effects of water are evident, too, in vineyards planted on small islands, including the Gulf Islands, between Vancouver Island and mainland British Columbia, and Pelee Island, in Lake Ontario. The oceans and their inlets on each side of Canada send breezes over many regions, such as the Fraser Valley, in British Columbia, and the valleys close to the Bay of Fundy, in Nova Scotia. Rivers are also important influences in many of Canada’s wine regions, in British Columbia, Ontario, Quebec, and Nova Scotia.

Despite common misconceptions, Canada is not covered with snow year-round, but winter temperatures are challenging almost everywhere, and, regardless of the influence of water, vines in some regions must be buried or covered during the cold months. In almost all Canadian wine regions, water has an influence that is critical for the cultivation of grapes.

There are about 30 wineries on Vancouver Island, about half of them in the Cowichan Valley sub-GI, which is an hour’s drive north of Victoria. There are other pockets of wineries farther north, near Nanaimo and Saanich, and a few near Victoria.

The climate of Vancouver Island is generally mild, but there are many mesoclimates. Levels of precipitation vary, with western areas having lower levels because a high mountain range on the west coast creates a rain shadow. Summers can be warm, with maximum daily temperatures around 30 degrees Celsius (85 degrees Fahrenheit), but evenings can be cool, resulting in variable diurnal swings.

Cowichan Valley sub-GI

The Cowichan Valley sub-GI was created in 2020, when it became the first sub-GI outside the Okanagan Valley. There are about a dozen wineries, with a total of 30 hectares (75 acres) planted with vines. The most common varieties are Ortega, Bacchus, and Gewürztraminer. This region is warmer than most of Vancouver Island; Cowichan means “the warm land” in the Hul'qumi'num language of the First Nations of the area.

Gulf Islands GI

Gulf Islands GI comprises several islands in the Strait of Georgia, between Vancouver Island and the mainland, and in some of the deep inlets of the coast. The first winery was established on Saturna Island, in 1995, and there are now 12 vineyards across six of the islands: Salt Spring, Pender, Saturna, Quadra, Gabriola, and Bowen. In total, about 45 hectares (110 acres) are planted with vines.

The climate in the Strait of Georgia is mild, but there can be water shortages during the summer. The main varieties here are Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris, Chardonnay, Gewürztraminer, and Ortega.

Fraser Valley GI

The Fraser River flows east to west as it reaches the coast and empties into the Pacific Ocean south of Vancouver. The main climatic influence in this area is the ocean itself, which moderates temperatures in the valley and has made it the most important agricultural region in British Columbia. Because of the proximity of the ocean, there is a relatively narrow diurnal temperature range during the growing season, and a lower risk of frosts during spring and autumn and of damage to vines during winter. The humidity of ocean breezes, however, increases the susceptibility of vines to diseases.

There are high ridges along the banks of the Fraser River, and the soils are dominated by sandy loam and clay that help drain the region’s relatively high precipitation. But the Fraser Valley has many mesoclimates, some with more limited rainfall. It is the same with growing degree-days: the overall average is 900, but some districts reach considerably higher numbers. Langley Central, for example, has 1,017 growing degree-days.

There are 42 wineries in Fraser Valley GI, more than 10% of British Columbia’s total. One draw is the proximity to Vancouver, about an hour’s drive away (the Okanagan Valley is a four-hour drive from Vancouver), which increases wine tourism. There are 80 hectares (200 acres) planted, and wineries farm very small areas, only 2 hectares (5 acres) on average. The main varieties planted are Siegerrebe, Pinot Gris, Pinot Noir, and Bacchus.

Thompson Valley GI

The inland Thompson Valley GI is centered on the city of Kamloops. The vineyards are all located along the Thompson and the North Thompson Rivers, east and north of Kamloops, respectively. There are several mesoclimates, but, in general, growing conditions are cool and the location is semiarid, because the Coast Mountains provide a rain shadow effect.

The GI was created in 2018 and has only four wineries. There are about 40 hectares (100 acres) of vines. Key grapes include Pinot Noir, Riesling, Chardonnay, Marquette, and Maréchal Foch.

Kootenays GI

Kootenays GI is located east of Okanagan Valley GI. Vineyards sit along the Kootenay River, the Arrow Lakes, and Kootenay Lake¬¬¬. The GI has five wineries, and they farm vineyards totaling roughly 50 hectares (125 acres). The main varieties planted are Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris, Riesling, and Gewürztraminer.

Lillooet GI

Centered on the town of Lillooet, this small GI follows river valleys, especially the Fraser River, which flows through the town. The climate is similar to that in parts of the Okanagan Valley, with long, hot, dry summers, but the nights here tend to be cooler.

There are only two wineries, with about 20 hectares (50 acres) of vines. The main varieties are Riesling, Pinot Noir, Cabernet Franc, Chardonnay, and Pinot Gris.

Shuswap GI

At 50.7 degrees north, Shuswap GI includes some of the northernmost vineyards in North America. It is located just north of Okanagan Valley GI and is based on the city of Salmon Arm. The main geographical feature is Shuswap Lake, where vineyards are planted on the shores. This is a region of high precipitation and generally cool growing conditions that favor hybrid varieties.

The GI has nine wineries, and they cultivate just over 40 hectares (about 100 acres) of vines. The main varieties planted include Maréchal Foch, Ortega, Siegerrebe, and Pinot Noir.

Ontario

As Canada’s most populous province, with 15 million of the 40 million national population, Ontario is by far the most important wine market in Canada. The drive from the center of Toronto to many vineyards in Canada’s principal wine region, Niagara Peninsula, takes only an hour.

Along with Ontario itself, which is a provincial viticultural area, there are three viticultural areas: Niagara Peninsula, Lake Erie North Shore, and Prince Edward County. All are near the US border and influenced by one of the Great Lakes: Niagara Peninsula and Prince Edward County by Lake Ontario, and Lake Erie North Shore by Lake Erie. The southern end of Niagara Peninsula GI is the Niagara River, which marks the border with the US, while Prince Edward County GI, on the north shore of Lake Ontario, faces New York State, and Lake Erie North Shore GI faces Ohio across Lake Erie.

Niagara Peninsula GI

Niagara Peninsula GI lies at the western end of Lake Ontario. Although it is referred to in the GI and elsewhere as a peninsula, the narrow piece of land that separates Lake Ontario from Lake Erie is, strictly speaking, an isthmus. What can suggest that it is a peninsula is the Niagara River, which is the outflow of the Niagara Falls to Lake Ontario. The river runs through a deep ravine and is quite broad, but it is not, in geographical terms, a big enough waterway to divide the isthmus sufficiently to create a peninsula. Niagara Peninsula GI runs west-east along the north shore of the Niagara isthmus, roughly between the town of Grimsby and the Niagara River.

Regional Appellations of Niagara Peninsula (Credit: Wines of Ontario)

The Niagara Peninsula has about 5,500 hectares (13,600 acres) of vines. Key to its viticultural success is the interaction of Lake Ontario with the Niagara Escarpment, a ridge that rises about 100 meters (300 feet) above the lakeshore plain and sits between 2 and 12 kilometers (1 and 7 miles) back from the lake. Lake Ontario is broad and deep, and it does not completely freeze over during the winter. In the summer, lake temperatures are cooler than land temperatures, while in winter, the lake is warmer than the land.

Westerly onshore breezes—cooler than temperatures over land in summer and warmer in winter—blow from the lake over the low-lying and gently sloping plain between the lakeshore and the Niagara Escarpment, and they moderate land temperatures in both seasons. This effect is amplified when the breezes hit the face of the escarpment, are forced upward, and then roll back down over the plain in a convection pattern. This not only moderates land temperatures in summer and winter but also extends the growing season by providing earlier warming in spring and slower cooling in autumn. At the same time, the breezes lower the risk of vine- and fruit-damaging frosts.

These impacts vary in intensity throughout Niagara Peninsula GI and were important in determining the boundaries of its 10 sub-GIs. Generally, the influence is greatest in areas closer to the lake. Overall, the GI is still a cool-climate grapegrowing region, as indicated by the varieties that do best there, including Riesling, Chardonnay, Cabernet Franc, Gamay, and Pinot Noir. Summer temperatures, however, can climb above 30 degrees Celsius (85 degrees Fahrenheit) in July and August.

The Niagara Peninsula sub-GIs have a range of growing degree-days, from 1,523 to 1,637, and the overall average is 1,590, which places the GI in the same broad category as Bordeaux and Alsace. But the Niagara Peninsula has colder winters than these regions. Despite the year-round moderating effect of lake breezes, vines are often damaged by frost, and many producers have installed wind machines to use when temperatures drop.

The polar vortices—sudden, short-lived, and dramatic drops in temperature, as very cold temperatures from the polar regions are forced southward—have also challenged the region. Recent examples were in January 2022 and February 2023. Both damaged and killed vines, with some producers losing three-quarters of their vines, especially Merlot, Sauvignon Blanc, and Syrah. These polar events have promptedp research into the temperatures at which buds of various varieties are damaged and decisions to replant with varieties that are more cold-hardy.

In 2005, Niagara Peninsula GI was divided into 10 independent sub-GIs. The decision was preceded by years of discussions. Proponents argued that sub-GIs would enable producers to highlight the local conditions that their wines embodied, while opponents argued that sub-appellations in Europe were established after centuries of experience with vineyard sites and varieties, not after a few decades. There were also practical considerations. Some wineries had adopted names referring to the topography of the peninsula, and it was thought that it was important to develop a formal system of GIs named for geographical features before winery use became widespread.

The key work in defining the appellations was undertaken by Anthony Shaw, a researcher at the Cool Climate Oenology and Viticulture Institute at Brock University. Shaw divided the GI into 10 sub-GIs and 2 regional GIs, which are groupings of 3 or 4 sub-GIs. All the independent sub-GIs were named for physical features, such as the generally flat land on the shore of Lake Ontario and the area’s benches, or elevated terraces that project from the face of the Niagara Escarpment. The sub-GIs are Beamsville Bench, Twenty Mile Bench, Short Hills Bench, Lincoln Lakeshore, Creek Shores, Vinemount Ridge, Niagara Lakeshore, Four Mile Creek, St. David’s Bench, and Niagara River. The regional GIs are Niagara Escarpment, which comprises the first three of these sub-GIs; Niagara-on-the-Lake, which comprises the last four, and was named for the town of Niagara-on-the-Lake; and, added in 2024, West Niagara, which contains the final three GIs of the region along with all those in the Niagara Escarpment.

Niagara Escarpment Regional GI

Beamsville Bench Sub-GI

The Beamsville Bench is the smallest of the Niagara Peninsula’s sub-GIs in area, and it occupies one of the benches that extends from the north-oriented face of the Niagara Escarpment. The bench slopes down gently toward Lake Ontario before the land drops to the level of the lakeshore plain, creating a small bluff between 40 and 60 meters (130 and 200 feet) high. The bench is divided by several streams, used seasonally for irrigation, and ravines that result in steep north- and east-facing slopes. The deep soils are a mix of rocks, silt, gravel, and clay, with shale, limestone, and sandstone. The upper layers retain water effectively, which is useful in the dry summer months, and the subsoils drain well.

The Beamsville Bench benefits from a continuous flow of air thanks to the convection pattern of lake winds blowing against the face of the escarpment. The relatively high elevation of the bench above the plain, along with these breezes, moderates humidity as well as daytime and nighttime temperatures. Temperatures begin to rise in May, peak in July and August, and can begin to fall significantly in late October.

There are 16 wineries in this sub-GI, and the main grape varieties are Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Riesling.

Twenty Mile Bench Sub-GI

The name of the Twenty Mile Bench sub-GI refers to the distance between it and the Niagara River. In this case, the immediate point of reference is the Twenty Mile Creek, which empties into Lake Ontario 20 miles (32 kilometers) west of the estuary of the Niagara River. The topography of the Twenty Mile Bench differs from that of the other grapegrowing benches in that it is a double bench formation and a series of short slopes that extend high up the Niagara Escarpment.

Vineyard in Twenty Mile Bench, Niagara Escarpment (Credit: Wines of Ontario)

The glacial soils here are deep clay and till, with a significant proportion of limestone and shale. They are reasonably well draining, and their density and their ability to retain water are helpful during the drier phase of the growing season.

The vineyards in the sub-GI are generally planted on north-facing slopes and benefit from long periods of sun exposure during summer and autumn, as well as the influence of the circulating breezes from the lake that moderate temperatures year-round. These conditions ensure gradual warming in the spring and cooling in the autumn, and they limit the diurnal temperature range. The slopes on the western side are generally shorter and steeper, and they provide excellent air drainage, so the vineyards there are less susceptible to frosts. A long growing season with moderate and stable temperatures offers good conditions for many grapes to ripen fully. Common varieties grown by the nine wineries in the Twenty Mile Bench are Cabernet Franc, Pinot Noir, Riesling, and Chardonnay.

Short Hills Bench Sub-GI

The Short Hills Bench is farther from Lake Ontario than the Beamsville Bench and the Twenty Mile Bench, and it benefits less from the breezes blowing off the lake. It is characterized by the softly undulating, flat-topped hills for which the sub-GI is named. The valleys between the hills were formed by streams that still flow seasonally from the Niagara Escarpment. The hills themselves present long, gentle slopes with varying orientations, but the Short Hills Bench sub-GI is notable for having 90% of the Niagara Peninsula’s rare south- and southeast-facing vineyards, where vines are planted north-south for maximum sun exposure.

The soils of the Short Hills Bench are complex and vary widely among sites. The 45-centimeter (18-inch) top layer is mostly clay and lies on top of 9 to 12 meters (30 to 40 feet) of clay and silt. The clay provides good water retention, and the valley provides effective drainage during periods of high precipitation. In some districts, there is a subsoil of sand and gravel that drains well and protects the deep roots of older vines from excess water.

The Short Hills Bench sub-GI warms early in the spring and maintains fairly high daytime temperatures throughout the growing season. This is one of the warmest areas on the Niagara Peninsula. Temperatures cool at night, with a diurnal range of 13 degrees Celsius (23 degrees Fahrenheit) and more. Toward the end of the growing season, temperatures fall sooner here than in other sub-GIs, but there are more hours of sunshine. Icewine harvests often occur earlier here than elsewhere.

There are only two wineries in the Short Hills Bench sub-GI, and the main varieties planted are Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Gamay.

Niagara-on-the-Lake Regional GI

St. David's Bench Sub-GI

The St. David’s Bench sub-GI is the easternmost of the four bench-based sub-GIs of Niagara Peninsula GI. Located 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the shore of Lake Ontario, it is farther inland than the others. Most vineyards are planted on long, north-facing slopes in the upper portion of the bench and along its southern boundary against the Niagara Escarpment. The St. David’s Bench tends to warm earlier in the spring, thanks to being sheltered by the Niagara Escarpment and the effective drainage of cold air down the slopes of the bench.

Temperatures in the vineyards toward the end of the growing season tend to be cooler than elsewhere on the peninsula. Frequent high-pressure systems and generally clear and sunny weather, aided by steady air circulation, maintain moderate temperatures until September.

Several streams flowing from the base of the escarpment cut through the bench. They swell in early spring with snowmelt and spring rains but become dry beds during the summer. The upper layers of soils in this sub-GI are deep silty clay and clay loam, with a bedrock of red sandstone. The clay soils drain slowly and hold the spring moisture well.

The St. David’s Bench has seven wineries, and the most planted varieties are Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Merlot, and Syrah.

Niagara Lakeshore Sub-GI

Niagara Lakeshore is a shallow sub-GI whose southern boundary is only three kilometers (two miles) from Lake Ontario, its northern boundary. Its western limit is the Welland Canal, and, in the east, it ends at the town of Niagara-on-the Lake, where the Niagara River flows into Lake Ontario. The sub-GI benefits from the interaction of the lake and the escarpment, with circulating breezes that reduce the daytime heat in summer and raise the cooler land temperatures at night. In winter, warmer breezes from the water reduce the risk of frosts.

Temperatures in Niagara Lakeshore remain cool as late as April, begin to rise slowly in May, and begin to fall in October. A band of clouds along the shoreline in early autumn acts as insulation, keeping the days slightly cooler and the nights somewhat warmer. The long growing season allows for late-ripening varieties, such as Cabernet Sauvignon, to succeed.

The topography of Niagara Lakeshore is relatively flat, with slopes running south to north to the lake, but with a virtually imperceptible gradient. This ensures uninterrupted exposure to sunlight throughout the growing season. The soils are mainly clay and silt over bedrock of red shale, but there are areas of sandy soils near the lake that allow deep root penetration and have low water-retention capacity. There are also patches of clay loam in the middle of the sub-GI that hold water well and retain heat into the early autumn.

There are 10 wineries in the Niagara Lakeshore sub-GI, and the main varieties are Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, and Cabernet Sauvignon.

Four Mile Creek Sub-GI

The Four Mile Creek is the largest sub-GI of the Niagara Peninsula, and it is known for its red wines. It is a virtually flat plain between the Niagara Lakeshore sub-GI and the St. David’s Bench sub-GI, with its northern boundary nearly three kilometers (two miles) from the lakeshore and the bluff created by the St. David’s Bench to the south. Because of this north-south depth, Lake Ontario has a variable influence over the vineyards. Days are cool and nights are warm, and the flatness of the topography ensures full exposure to sunlight during the growing season.

The plain is composed of very gentle slopes—there are only 6 meters (20 feet) of difference between the lowest and highest elevations—oriented in many directions. The only notable physical features in this essentially flat landscape are the valley of the Four Mile Creek and a few seasonal streams that drain water from some of the vineyards. The soils are dominated by red shale with high silt and clay content that retains water for the vines during the dry months of July and August.

There are 15 wineries in the Four Mile Creek, where conditions allow the cultivation of many varieties, especially Chardonnay, Riesling, and Pinot Noir.

Niagara River Sub-GI

The Niagara River sub-GI is a narrow strip of land (about 1 kilometer, or 0.6 miles) running north-south, with the gorge of the Niagara River as its eastern boundary. It starts at the town of Niagara-on-the-Lake in the north and ends in the south at the town of Queenston, at the border of the St. David’s Bench sub-GI. It is characterized by long, gentle slopes that generally face east, toward the river, providing early morning sun exposure during the growing season. Most vineyards are planted on these slopes.

The main climatic influence is the broad, fast-flowing Niagara River, which runs through a steep-sided gorge from the Niagara Falls to Lake Ontario. The river creates convection currents that draw cooler air into the gorge from the vineyards, especially those closest to the bank of the gorge. This moderates vineyard temperatures, reduces the risk of late-spring and early-autumn frosts, and generally extends the growing season. The effects of Lake Ontario are stronger at the northern end of the sub-GI, where lake breezes moderate temperatures throughout the year.

The soils of the Niagara River sub-GI are generally dominated by red shale with varying sand, silt, and clay content, but their drainage qualities differ. In the north, soils tend to hold water well, which is an advantage in the dry summer months. In the south, where there are more fine sands, drainage is more effective, which encourages the vines to root deeply.

The Niagara River sub-GI has six wineries, and the main varieties are Riesling, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, and Cabernet Sauvignon.

West Niagara Regional GI

Lincoln Lakeshore Sub-GI

The northern boundary of Lincoln Lakeshore is the shore of Lake Ontario, while its southern limit is the foot of the bluffs formed by the Beamsville Bench and part of the Twenty Mile Bench. It is effectively a plain that slopes gently down toward the lake and is cut by seasonal streams, notably the Thirty Mile, Forty Mile, and Fifty Mile Creeks. They provide water to the vines, especially as snow melts in the spring, and drainage during the growing season.

The main climatic influence is the lake, which sends cooling breezes over the vineyards in the summer and warmer breezes to moderate temperatures in the colder months. The result is a long growing season, with moderate and stable temperatures that begin to rise in May and to fall in October. During the summer months, the lakeshore location is the meeting point of the cool breezes from the lake and the warmer air rising from the land, and localized air circulation patterns tend to produce small diurnal temperature variations.

During the summer months, the vineyards are fully exposed to the sun. In autumn, as in Niagara Lakeshore, it is common to see a line of clouds along the shoreline, which keeps days cooler and nights warmer. Winters in this sub-GI are also moderate, making the area suitable for some varieties that are less cold-hardy. For the same reason, tender fruits, especially peaches, plums, and cherries, thrive here.

The soils vary widely in content and depth and sit on a base of red shale. Half the sub-GI consists of light sandy soils that drain from well to moderately well and warm early in the spring. Other parts of the sub-GI have concentrations of red clay loam, which retains water effectively.

There are 13 wineries in the Lincoln Lakeshore sub-GI, and the main varieties are Cabernet Franc, Chardonnay, Pinot Gris, and Merlot.

Creek Shores Sub-GI

The Creek Shores sub-GI is surrounded by water on three sides: Lake Ontario to the north, the Twelve Mile Creek to the east, and the Twenty Mile Creek and Jordan Harbor to the west. No part of the sub-GI is more than five kilometers (three miles) from Lake Ontario, which moderates temperatures in the vineyards throughout the year. Lake breezes and cool north winds warm the land slowly in April and May, and warmer summer temperatures begin in June and peak by the end of July. The growing season extends well into the first half of October. The topography ensures sun exposure from early morning to evening.

Creek Shores extends toward the shore of Lake Ontario, dropping about 20 meters (65 feet) in five kilometers (three miles). It comprises a series of gentle slopes, some short and some long, that have many orientations and are divided by seasonal streams that provide drainage of the spring runoff into Lake Ontario. Most vineyards are planted on the rich fertile plain where the riverbeds of former creeks broaden, and where they receive maximum exposure to sunlight. The numerous streams produce a highly dissected landscape, with well-drained lighter soils distributed in several long, narrow bands that are oriented north-south. Interspersed are patches of loamy soils that are thick and porous and allow deep root penetration by vines.

The Creek Shores sub-GI has 10 wineries, and the most planted varieties are Gamay, Cabernet Franc, Chardonnay, and Riesling.

Vinemount Ridge Sub-GI

Unlike the other Niagara Peninsula sub-GIs, Vinemount Ridge sits on top of the Niagara Escarpment, rather than being located on one of its benches or on the plain between the escarpment and the shore of Lake Ontario. It lies mainly on the Vinemount Moraine, a long, narrow, east-west ridge composed of rocks and sediment deposited by glaciers 13,000 years ago. It is less than a kilometer (about a half mile) wide, sits at a height of more than 200 meters (650 feet) at the top of the escarpment, and gradually falls along slopes to the south. The slopes are bisected by seasonal streams that help drain surface water and groundwater.

Vineyards here generally face south, with some facing east, unlike most on the Niagara Peninsula, which are largely oriented toward the north. The southerly exposure provides early warming in the spring and high daytime temperatures throughout the growing season. There is little to no lake effect here, because breezes from Lake Ontario rise after hitting the face of the escarpment, rather than blowing over the ridge at its top. The result is a relatively short growing season. Vineyards are cooled at night by prevailing southwesterly winds, but there is still greater diurnal temperature variation in Vinemount Ridge than in the vineyards below the escarpment that benefit from the lake effect. There are various mesoclimates, however, thanks to different elevations and exposure to winds.

The soils are dominated by silty, clay-loam till. They have high water-retaining properties, which is beneficial during the summer, but the underlying moraine drains well.

There are seven wineries in Vinemount Ridge, and the main varieties are Riesling, Pinot Noir, and Chardonnay.

This regional appellation also contains Short Hills Bench, Beamsville Bench, and Twenty Mile Bench

Prince Edward County GI

Vineyard in Prince Edward County (Credit: Wines of Ontario)

Prince Edward County, which lies south of the city of Belleville and about 200 kilometers (125 miles) east of Toronto, became a GI in 2007. Most of the area included in the GI is a peninsula on the north shore of Lake Ontario, but it also includes Amherst Island and a strip of land off the peninsula, on the mainland. There were several vineyards in Prince Edward County in the late 1800s, but, during most of the 20^th century, the land was planted with fruits and vegetables, and there were dozens of canneries.

Today, the economy of the County (as it is known locally) is based on wine and tourism. The second generation of wineries is quite recent. Vineyards began to be planted in the 1990s, and the first commercial wineries opened in 2001. Three years later, there were only 4 producing wineries, but by 2023 there were more than 50. The increase in the number of wineries in the early 2000s, along with the attention they were getting, persuaded Ontario’s wine authorities to waive the preconditions regarding minimum production volumes to qualify for GI status. Most producers are small, and only about 400 hectares (1,000 acres) are planted with vines.

Many tourists come to Prince Edward County to visit Sandbanks Provincial Park, which includes a long, sandy beach, the world’s largest baymouth barrier sand dune formation, areas for watching bird migration, and hiking trails. Wine tourism is important to producers, and, in the past decade, infrastructure in the form of accommodations and restaurants has developed. Many of the tourists travel from Toronto, a two-hour drive away.

Sitting at a latitude of 44 degrees north, Prince Edward County is Ontario’s northernmost GI, so it is generally cooler than the other two. Like the others, it is heavily influenced by water, in this case Lake Ontario, which surrounds the peninsula on three sides, and the meandering Bay of Quinte, which looks more like a river and separates the peninsula from the mainland. With inlets and coves, Prince Edward County has 800 kilometers (500 miles) of shoreline, and no vineyard is more than 10 kilometers (6 miles) from water. There are also a few small lakes on the peninsula.

Proximity to water is especially important in the frequently hot summers, when the southwesterly breezes from Lake Ontario prevent the temperature on land from rising much above 20 degrees Celsius (70 degrees Fahrenheit). Overall, this is a cool-climate region, with 1,366 growing degree-days, making it much cooler (by more than 200 growing degree-days) than the Niagara Peninsula region.

Winters in Prince Edward County are much colder than those in Ontario’s other GIs, and vines must be buried or protected by geotextiles. Even so, the climate has caused devastation in Prince Edward County vineyards. In February 2014, very cold temperatures damaged many vines, as they did in other Ontario regions, and in May 2015 a severe frost caused widespread losses. Some producers lost all their vines, while others lost 50%.

Because of the uncertainty of the climate, many Prince Edward County wineries regularly buy some of their grapes from sources in the Niagara Peninsula region, where winters are generally more clement, and truck them to their wineries. Ontario wine law enables producers to label wines by the GI or sub-GI where the grapes were grown, and it is not uncommon to see wines labeled with the name of a Prince Edward County producer and a Niagara GI or sub-GI.

Prince Edward County GI presents an irregular landscape cut by shallow valleys and ridges that provide various orientations for planting vineyards. The bedrock is a broken layer of limestone, and the overlying soils are sandy and clay loams embedded with rock and shale fragments. This composition provides good drainage to the limestone. Producers have noted that the very variable growing conditions point to distinct districts in Prince Edward County, and, though it is a very small GI, there could be pressure to create one or more sub-GIs within it.

The most planted varieties in Prince Edward County GI are Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Cabernet Franc, and Pinot Gris.

Lake Erie North Shore GI

As its name suggests, Lake Erie North Shore GI sits on the north shore of Lake Erie, the shallowest of the Great Lakes. The north shore of the lake runs southwest to northeast, and the GI covers the shoreline between the towns of Amherstburg and St. Thomas, a distance of about 200 kilometers (125 miles). Lake Erie North Shore GI includes one sub-GI, South Islands, a group of nine islands in Lake Erie. The largest, Pelee Island, is densely planted with grapevines, while the others are small, uninhabited, and not planted with vines.

Vineyard in Lake Erie North Shore (Credit: Wines of Ontario)

Lake Erie North Shore was a wine-producing region in the late 1800s and early 1900s, but, for most of the 20^th century, the major crop cultivated was tobacco. Wine production resumed in the 1980s. Most of the vineyards are planted close to the arc-shaped shoreline at about 42 degrees north—the same latitude as the border between California and Oregon—making this the southernmost Canadian wine region.

At the western end of this GI, the land is influenced by three bodies of water: Lake Erie to the south, the Detroit River to the west, and Lake Saint Clair to the north. The GI is divided by seasonal streams that are little more than a trickle in summer. The terrain is composed of several gentle south- and southeast-facing slopes with varying elevations. There are no physical features to obstruct the southwest breezes from Lake Erie, and the whole GI benefits from their moderating influence.

This is Ontario’s warmest wine region, with a long growing season, but winter conditions can still be dangerous. A cold snap in January 2014 resulted in the loss of over 80% of the vintage. In February 2019, temperatures falling to minus 24 degrees Celsius (minus 11 degrees Fahrenheit) damaged many vines, especially Merlot, Sauvignon Blanc, and Syrah.

Lake Erie North Shore GI has 16 wineries, and the main varieties include Cabernet Franc, Riesling, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Merlot.

South Islands Sub-GI

South Islands comprises nine islands in Lake Erie, but only one, Pelee Island, is planted with vines. This island was the location of one of Canada’s first wineries, founded in 1866. It was originally three islands with marshes between them, before the marshes were drained in the 1880s to create a single landmass. But the center of the island is lower than the outside coastline, giving the topography the appearance of a reef, and three-quarters of the land is below the level of Lake Erie. A system of pumps that still operates was installed in the 1800s to prevent the depression from filling with rainwater.

Grapevines have been important here since the 1980s, and the island became a GI in 2005, when Ontario’s GIs were created. But in 2015, because all the vineyards were owned by one winery that bore the name of the island, it was decided that the island (and the nearby uninhabited and uncultivated islands) should instead be a sub-GI of Lake Erie North Shore, renamed South Islands. Pelee Island is about 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the north shore and is reachable by ferry, except between January and April. It is Canada’s southernmost inhabited territory.

Pelee Island has a distinct climate because of its location. Lake Erie is a shallow lake that warms quickly in the spring and stays warm until the autumn. This results in a growing season that is about 30 days longer than it is on the mainland, which benefits late-ripening varieties. Harvests here usually begin two or three weeks before they do in other Ontario wine regions, often in August. Vineyards receive uninterrupted sunshine. Pinot Noir, Cabernet Franc, and Cabernet Sauvignon are important grapes among Pelee Island’s 200 hectares (500 acres) of vines.

Emerging Regions in Ontario

There are dozens of wineries located outside Ontario’s GIs. The counties of Norfolk and Haldimand, on the shore of Lake Erie to the northwest of Lake Erie North Shore GI, have vineyards planted on sandy soils and gentle slopes that benefit from a relatively long growing season. North of Toronto, some wineries have opened near the south shore of Georgian Bay, the northeastern arm of Lake Huron. Here, several mesoclimates suitable for viticulture have been identified. A third region is known as Huron Shores, specifically referring to the eastern shores of the lake. Warm summers favor agriculture in general, and relatively heavy, regular snowfall protects vines from the winter temperatures. In eastern Ontario, there are a dozen wineries within about 100 kilometers (60 miles) of Ottawa, Canada’s capital. Most rely on hybrid varieties, but there has also been success with Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.

Some of these regions could eventually reach the scale of production needed to create a GI under Ontario wine law. In the meantime, wines made from grapes grown in these regions that satisfy all VQA requirements can be labeled VQA Ontario.

Quebec

Quebec is an extensive province that has one-fifth of Canada’s population and a per-capita rate of wine consumption that is higher than that of any other province: about 24 liters annually, compared with 18 liters in British Columbia and 14 liters in Ontario. But in terms of wine production, it ranks a distant third behind Ontario and British Columbia. The Quebec wine industry includes about 150 wineries, mostly small producers. In all, they cultivate about 800 hectares (2,000 acres) of vines.

Although some wine was made commercially in the 1800s, the modern Quebec wine industry dates to the 1980s, when there was renewed interest in viticulture. By 1990, there were about 75 wineries, many with vineyards planted on land originally intended for other purposes, and often without great viticultural or winemaking expertise. Since 2000, there have been substantial changes, including more deliberate matching of varieties and sites, a certification of quality in 2009, the adoption of an IGP wine law in 2018, and a new level of professionalism.

Vineyard in Quebec (Credit: Adobe Stock)

The main challenge that Quebec wineries face is the typically very cold winters, when temperatures occasionally fall below minus 30 degrees Celsius (minus 20 degrees Fahrenheit) at night during January and February. This is cold enough to kill vinifera vines and many hybrid varieties, so growers need to bury their vines with soil or cover them with geotextiles. It is expected that over the longer term, by the middle of the 21^st century, climate change will make some parts of Quebec more suitable for viticulture. A 2017 report suggested that within about 20 years, vineyards in the Montérégie region south of Montreal, in the west near Gatineau, and near the banks of the St. Lawrence River would be the main beneficiaries of climate change and would have longer growing seasons and more frost-free days. The report predicted that, because of these changes, vinifera varieties would become more common, especially early ripening varieties, such as Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Gamay.

Wineries are scattered throughout the province, but they are mainly in southwestern Quebec, between the St. Lawrence River and the border with the United States. There are vineyards as far west as the city of Gatineau, across the river from Ottawa, and as far east as Quebec City. Nine largely informal regions have been identified based on geographic and climatic features and existing concentrations of wineries. The Conseil des Vins du Québec (Quebec Wine Council) expects more regions to emerge.

Vallée des Outaouais: This region, located in the west, has soils of sand, gravel, and pebbles, the residue of postglacial seas. The climate is continental, with cold winters, hot summers, and abundant rainfall.

Deux-Montagnes: In this area, west of Montreal, the landscape is mainly flat with a few gentle hills, and mainly marine sediment soils. It is near four bodies of water (Deux-Montagnes Lake, Lake Saint-Louis, the Ottawa River, and the St. Lawrence River) that moderate temperatures. The snowfall is often heavier here than it is in regions to the south, providing extra protection to the vines in winter.

Vallée-du-Richelieu: This valley, which extends east of Montreal to the US border, is rich in clay with deposits of stones and gravel. The region has the most frost-free days of any wine region in Quebec—between 205 and 212 annually.

Piémont Appalachien Sud: In this area near Lake Champlain, on the US border, most of the soils are glacial sediments. Climatic conditions vary within the region. Vineyards near Lake Champlain benefit from its influence, while the conditions at higher-altitude vineyards are markedly cooler.

Piémont Appalachien Nord: The soils in this long strip of land running north-south around Drummondville are glacial deposits, often calcareous in the west and gravelly in the east. In the southern portion, the snow cover is deeper and the growing season shorter.

Versants Montérégiens: This patchwork of districts east and south of Montreal encompasses 10 hills surrounded by deposits of sand and gravel, where most vineyards are planted. Summers are hot and winters are cold.

Plateaux des Appalaches: This region is composed of a series of plateaus around Sherbrooke, ranging from 150 to 450 meters (500 to 1,500 feet) in height, with soils that tend to be rocky and stony. Overall temperatures are cooler here than in lower-lying regions, and the region has relatively high rainfall and snowfall.

Lac Saint-Pierre: This long region stretches along both banks of the St. Lawrence River between Montreal and Trois-Rivières, especially Lake Saint-Pierre, which is essentially a body of water created where the St. Lawrence River widens. Most vineyards in this area are planted near the lake, which moderates temperatures. The soils are mostly marine sediment with sand and clay.

Québec et les Berges du Saint-Laurent: This region extends along both sides of the St. Lawrence River upstream and downstream of Quebec City and includes the Île d’Orléans. There are limestone sand and shale deposits where vineyards are planted, while the Île d’Orléans is mostly loam with clay, sand, and gravel content. The river moderates temperatures throughout the year.

Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia is the most populous of Canada’s Atlantic provinces and by far the most important for wine. This region, with a cold to cool climate, is essentially a peninsula surrounded on three sides by water: the Atlantic Ocean, the Bay of Fundy, and the Northumberland Strait, which separates it from Prince Edward Island. These bodies of water have a moderating effect on nearby vineyards, and most vineyards have been planted near water. Even so, winters can be very cold, snowfall can be heavy, and coastal Nova Scotia occasionally has severe hurricanes that sweep in from the south. Summers can be warm, but the growing season is relatively short. Across the areas where grapes are grown, there is an average of 1,000 growing degree-days.

Vineyard in Nova Scotia (Credit: Adobe Stock)

In all, 63 grape varieties are cultivated in Nova Scotia, but 5 account for 56% of the total harvest tonnage: L’Acadie Blanc (30% of the total), New York Muscat (8%), Chardonnay (7%), Riesling (6%), and Vidal Blanc (5%). There are 58 grape growers and 20 wineries, down from a peak of 22 in 2015. There are also six fruit (nongrape) wineries. In all, 485 hectares (1,200 acres) are planted with vines, with about 170 hectares (420 acres) of them at wineries. The wineries are scattered among seven defined districts. The two most important are the Annapolis Valley and the Gaspereau Valley, which together comprise half of Nova Scotia’s wineries.

The Annapolis Valley runs east-west along the south shore of the Bay of Fundy and is open to the Minas Basin, an inlet of the Bay of Fundy, at its eastern end. Carved out by a glacier, the valley floor is 10 kilometers (6 miles) wide and lies between two ridges. Sheltered from offshore winds, and with winter temperatures moderated by breezes from the Minas Basin, the Annapolis Valley is the warmest wine area in Nova Scotia. The south side, farther inland, is especially warm, and that is where most of the wineries are located.

The neighboring Gaspereau Valley is exposed to the Minas Basin, benefiting from its moderating influence on valley temperatures. The fast-flowing tides of the Bay of Fundy, which has the highest tidal range in the world, mean that it never freezes, and it sends year-round breezes and humidity along the 12-kilometer (7-mile) length of the valley. During the growing season, the south-facing vineyards receive long hours of afternoon sunlight.

The five other districts are the Avon River Valley and the LaHave River Valley, on the Minas Basin; Bear River, near the Bay of Fundy; Marble Mountain, on Cape Breton Island; and the Malagash Peninsula, on the Northumberland Strait. Each of these regions has from one to three wineries.

Nova Scotia has gained attention for its white and sparkling wines. The best-known white is Tidal Bay, generally a blend of hybrid varieties (some vinifera varieties are also permitted) that has a style profile regulated by law. (See the section on wine law, above.) Fourteen of Nova Scotia’s wineries make a Tidal Bay wine. The sparkling wines are generally made in the traditional method, and, though some are blends of vinifera varieties (usually Pinot Noir and Chardonnay), others are wholly or partly made from hybrid varieties, especially L’Acadie Blanc.

Bibliography

Dube, Gaëlle, and Karine Pedneault. “Le Québec en mode viticole: Cépages hybrides et viticulture nordique à l’aube du XXIe siècle.” Fruits Oubliés 6 (2014): 9-18.

Phillips, Rod. The Wines of Canada. Oxford: Infinite Ideas Classic Wine Library, 2017.

Roy, Philippe, Patrick Grenier, Evelyne Barriault, Travis Logan, Anne Blondlot, Gaétan Bourgeois, and Diane Chaumont. “Probabilistic Climate Change Scenarios for Viticultural Potential in Quebec.” Climate Change 143 (2017): 43-58.

Compiled by Rod Phillips (June 2024)

Edited by Stacy Ladenburger

Tags: Preview

Pacific Northwest

Jonathan Eichholz — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 13:21:12 GMT

Current Revision posted to Expert Guides by Jonathan Eichholz on 8/14/2026 1:21:12 PM

Washington State
Washington East of the Cascades
Understanding Washington’s Vineyard Geology
Wine History in Washington
Washington Grape Varieties
Washington AVAs
Oregon
Oregon AVAs
Idaho

Washington State

Washington is the country’s second-largest producer of vinifera wines. While still in California’s shadow, Washington State provides 5% of the total US domestic wine output, and production continues to grow in leaps and bounds. State wine grape acreage has more than doubled in this century, rising from 24,000 acres in 1999 to over 60,000 acres in 2019. In 1999, then-WA Wine Commission Director Steve Burns announced that a new winery was opening its doors every 13 days in the state, and the growth rate has sustained: by 2020 the number of state wineries had jumped from 160 to over 1,000. 2016 was a record harvest—272,000 tons of fruit—but with the state adding an average of 2,500 acres of vines each year over the past decade, the record likely won’t last long.

For perspective, compare the entire state of Washington to California’s Napa Valley AVA: Washington has approximately 14,000 more acres of vineyard land and in 2019 produced about 42,000 more tons of fruit. And Napa Valley produces only 4% of California’s wines! Not only is Washington is a much smaller producer than California overall, but it has a narrower focus: the state lacks the giant bulk wine industry that drives California, instead placing emphasis on premium to luxury production. Washington also has a younger, less developed industry. Vineyards often comprise only a portion of a working farm’s activities, and a small minority of wineries are estate projects. Vineyard Manager Kent Waliser of Columbia Valley’s Sagemoor Vineyards puts it succinctly: “Wineries are not connected to the vineyards.” Many are even located in or around Seattle, far from the fruit itself, and most are small or medium-sized in scale, releasing fewer than 12,000 cases a year. There are, however, a few large wineries in play: Ste. Michelle Wine Estates (Chateau Ste. Michelle, Columbia Crest, etc.) is the state’s largest producer, accounting for nearly 60% of Washington’s total output, and the world’s largest producer of Riesling. Other big players making wines under their own labels include Hogue Cellars, Hedges Family Estate, K Vintners, and Gallo, which entered the WA business with its purchase of the Columbia Winery. In 2013, each of these brands sold at least 250,000 gallons, equivalent to more than 100,000 cases of wine. In the same year, Ste. Michelle Wine Estates alone sold over 7 million cases. These few large wineries—and parent corporations like Precept Wines (Canoe Ridge, Waterbrook, Willow Crest)—are the driving forces behind Washington’s current growth.

Washington East of the Cascades

Water is the limiting thing.

- Mike Sauer, Red Willow Vineyard

Most of Washington’s vinifera vineyards are located east of the Cascade Mountains within the broad Columbia Basin, the watershed of the Columbia River. These central and eastern winegrowing regions, which all lie at or above the 46th parallel, share a fairly uniform, arid continental climate, with minor variations from region to region. The region's hot summers—in which average afternoon temperatures can hit 103° F—and additional hours of summer sunshine promote rapid sugar ripening, while cool nights preserve acid. The average diurnal variation in Columbia Valley is 28° F, but in some low areas nighttime temperatures can drop by 40° F or more. Frigid winters serve to mitigate disease pressures, as many vineyard pests simply cannot survive the cold. Phylloxera, for example, is virtually unknown in the state, kept at bay by the severe winters, inhospitable sandy soils, and the great physical distances from one vineyard to the next. And with annual rainfall hovering in the 6- to 12-inch range, eastern Washington’s dry climate naturally suppresses mildews and other fungal infestations. Winter and the dry climate may stymie pests, but they present their own challenges, too. Despite reasonably abundant irrigation water, water rights can be very difficult for growers to acquire, while dry-farming in most parts of arid eastern Washington is a physical impossibility.

Why is rainfall so scarce in eastern Washington? As Pacific air hits the Cascade Range it is pushed upward, cooled, and condensed into clouds, which quickly unleash their moisture as precipitation. This creates a rain shadow effect for the Columbia River Basin in eastern Washington—the western slopes of the Cascades receive over 80 inches of rainfall annually, yet 50 miles to the east the climate is suddenly desert-like. Yakima Valley, near the eastern foothills of the Cascades, receives 1/10th of the rainfall poured on those western slopes. The Cascades are also responsible for the Columbia Basin’s continental climate, as they block the moderating maritime air from moving further inland. However, winters are not as absolutely bone-chilling as they are further inland: the Rockies to the north and east of the Columbia Basin shelter the region from icy polar air masses. It’s cold—but the vines can survive if the grower is vigilant and the vineyard is situated appropriately. Timing is a critical factor, too: if temperatures plunge too soon, before vines have hardened for the winter, the cold can be much more damaging.

Elevation and aspect play a big role in mitigating cold and maximizing sunlight. In south-central Washington, the low-lying topography of the Columbia Basin is striated by east-west ridgelines—an area known to geologists as the Yakima Fold Belt, encompassing much of Washington’s vineyard acreage. The ridgelines, or anticlines, can rise to 4,000 ft. while the valley floors (synclines) between them rarely exceed 1,000 ft. above sea level. The formations are the result of tectonic compression during the Miocene Epoch: over time, the anticlines folded upward and the synclines buckled between them as the earth’s crust compressed. For a time, ancestral rivers pushed through the rising anticlines, carving water gaps, until their paths were redirected. Today, these anticlinal ridges, pierced by eroded water gaps, constrict airflow and produce a temperature inversion layer as cool air bottlenecks within the syncline basins, unable to escape. Valley floors, such as those in Yakima Valley and Walla Walla Valley, therefore tend to have greater frost pressure, wider diurnal temperature variations, and lower wintertime temperatures. A move upward in elevation, past the 1,000-foot mark, has given vineyards a chance to go the distance—growing degree-day, temperature, and frost-free day averages all typically increase with elevation in eastern Washington. Aspect compounds its significance: those vineyards on the south side of anticlinal ridges in AVAs like Red Mountain, Wahluke Slope and Horse Heaven Hills are the warmest, and the recipients of the most sunshine, in all of Washington.

Surviving the Winter

Vines find shelter from the worst frosts and freezes at higher elevations, while viticultural techniques like dual-trunk training and buried canes also serve as “insurance” in the most brutal winters. If a vine’s canopy dies during a cold snap, own-rooted vines can grow anew but a year’s harvest will be lost. Dual-trunk training and buried canes both mitigate such losses and can potentially give growers uninterrupted harvests. With dual-trunk training, used throughout Washington, growers train two separate trunks on the same vine in parallel, just an inch or two apart, from the ground up. According to winemaker Brian McCormick of Memaloose, “statistically, you can get winter damage to one but not the other, even though they are growing in the same spot.” Vines are particularly susceptible to severe crown gall affliction after a hard freeze—with two trunks one’s chances of losing an entire vine canopy is halved. Alternatively, growers may bury fruiting canes over winter in the soil. If the canopy dies over winter, the grower can pull the fruiting cane up from under the soil and still get a crop the following year. This technique is typically employed with low-trained cordon vines. These training techniques, coupled with the move to higher elevation and post-harvest irrigation, steel Washington’s vinifera vineyards and wine industry through the long winter.

Red Willow Vineyard, Yakima Valley AVA.

Fire and Water: Understanding Washington’s Vineyard Geology

Two major geologic forces have shaped the bedrock material throughout the entire Columbia Basin: a period of frequent and powerful volcanic eruptions occurring millions of years ago, and the much more recent Missoula Floods. First, the volcanoes: from 17 to six million years ago, during the Miocene Epoch, hundreds of basalt lava flows poured forth from fissures throughout eastern Washington and western Idaho, blanketing a 65,000-acre area spanning both states and northern Oregon. The total volume of the period’s volcanic eruption surpassed 700 cubic miles—the largest such flows ever documented—and the ground beneath it sunk under the basalt’s weight. At its deepest point in the Pasco Basin, the basalt layer reaches 12,000 ft. below the surface of the earth, and little is known about the crust beneath it. In an indirect way, the basalt bedrock plays an important role in modern wine quality: it formed the foundation that was later compressed and folded into anticlines through which ancestral rivers tried to pass. One might say the folded, uplifted bedrock of the Columbia Basin actually impacts wine by subtly shifting climate; by creating the right circumstances for temperature inversions, warmth at elevation, and the like! Its strict impact as a contributor of minerals for uptake through the vine is a separate debate, hinging on its depth. Do the vines’ roots extend deep enough to acquire dissolved minerals directly from basalt bedrock? In some areas soil depth is shallow enough to allow the rooting zone to interact with weathered bedrock, but in many cases it is not. And the basalt is overlaid by sedimentary material resulting from a different geologic event: the post-glacial, cyclical flooding of Lake Missoula.

As the last ice age slowly came to an end, the great glacial Lake Missoula formed in western Montana, penned in by a massive dam of ice that was part of the retreating Cordilleran Ice Sheet. Between 18,000 and 12,000 years ago, the dam repeatedly broke as impounded water behind it overwhelmed and broke the ice, unleashing catastrophic floods two or three times each century. According to geologist Kevin Pogue, the flood discharge “sometimes exceeded 10 times the combined flow of all modern rivers,” and the Missoula Floods raced southwest across Washington. At the Wallula Gap, a water gap in the basalt anticline marking the southern edge of the Pasco Basin, each successive flood hit a bottleneck. As water backed up behind it, submerging large swaths of eastern Washington under hundreds of feet of water, sediment scooped up along the entire pathway of the flood was deposited. The waters slowly drained out the Wallula Gap, spit westward through the Columbia Gorge. This happened over and over again, for thousands of years, carving deep channels into the basalt in some areas while deposits of gravel and other fine flood sediments accumulated in others. These nutrient-rich deposits, known as Touchet beds, are over a hundred feet deep at the lowest points of the Columbia, Walla Walla, and Yakima Valley floors, but they quickly thin along the anticlines’ slopes. Land above 1,200 ft. stayed dry; in such higher-elevation sites basalt will be much nearer the surface.

Above the basalt bedrock and flood-deposited sedimentary layers is windblown loess that forms the region’s silt loam soils. (Loess is a silt-sized particle, and silt loams are textured with high percentages of both silt and sand.) As the flood cycle subsided, winds from the southwest blew across a landscape essentially devoid of vegetation, eroding the flood deposits and creating a layer of post-glacial loess, ranging from several to dozens of feet deep, throughout the Columbia Basin. Thus, vineyard soils in the Columbia Basin are “eolian”—shaped by the force of wind. Commonly comprised of loess-derived silt loams over Missoula Flood sedimentary deposits, they can be very fertile and nutrient-rich. Similar soils in the Willamette Valley are preferred for agricultural purposes other than wine grapes, but Washington’s desert-like climate limits vine vigor. Cement-like hardpans of calcium carbonate are also common, further restricting root depth and nutrient uptake.

Wine History in Washington

Origins

In 1825, the modern-day state of Washington was a jointly occupied territory to which both the British and the American governments laid claim. Early in that year, fur traders established Fort Vancouver as an outpost of the British Hudson’s Bay Company on the north shore of the Columbia River, and on its grounds they planted the region’s first vineyard. These may have even been vinifera grapes, as the vines were likely grown from seed purchased in England. It would be an early, but solitary, blip on the radar. After the US gained sole control over Washington with the Oregon Treaty of 1846, further attempts at viticulture were sporadic. An early foray into commercial winegrowing in Walla Walla Valley occurred in the 1860s, but most grapes grown in the 19th century in Washington were destined for the table, not the glass.

Whatever nascent wine industry Washington may have enjoyed by its admission into statehood in 1889 was shuttered by three successive waves of prohibition. “Local option” prohibitions appeared in various localities from 1909, the state prohibited the manufacture and sale of alcohol statewide in 1914, and national Prohibition put a final nail in the coffin in 1920. Repeal in 1933 did not create an immediate resurgence in winemaking in the Evergreen State. While there were over three-dozen wineries operating in the state by the end of the 1930s, the wines they produced were uncomplicated, fortified, sweet, and made from native varieties, not vinifera. Most were located on the “wet” side of the Cascades in the Puget Sound area. After two dry decades Washington recovered the ability to produce wine but lost the knowledge to sustain vinifera in its northerly climate. Commercial vinifera vineyards would not reappear until the 1960s.

The WSLCB

As Washington exited Prohibition, its legislature opted to regulate alcoholic beverages as a control state. With its passage in 1934, the Steele Act established the Washington State Liquor Control Board to act as sole wholesaler of all wines and spirits. The bill was modified one year later to allow Washington-made wines to be sold by private distributors, generally at a lower cost. While a modern advocate of “buying local” might applaud the decision, the protectionist measure insulated Washington wines from out-of-state competition and decreased the need for winemaking improvements. Tax breaks for in-state wines followed while quality flat-lined. The WSLCB maintained its monopoly over out-of-state wine distribution until 1969, when the privilege of private distribution was finally extended to all wines, regardless of place of origin. The resulting influx of competitively priced wines from other states and countries, coupled with important research in areas suitable for vinifera grapegrowing, spurred Washington’s wine industry with an immediate need to improve and the tools to do so.

Washington’s Wine Pioneers

The late Dr. Walter Clore, formally recognized by the State Legislature as the “Father of Washington Wine,” spearheaded efforts in Washington to prove that vinifera grapevines could withstand the harsh Washington winters. In 1937, Clore accepted a horticultural position at a Washington State University irrigation research station in Prosser, WA. Among other crops, he worked with Concord vines—a major cash crop for eastern Washington—and studied mechanical grape harvesting. At the urging of William Bridgman, who had cultivated Muscat vines on Snipes Mountain since the 1910s, Clore planted an experimental plot of vinifera with cuttings from Bridgman’s vineyard at the Prosser facility in 1940. His interest in European grape varieties grew, and in 1960 he partnered with ex-Napa winemaker Charles Nagel to begin cultivating experimental vinifera vineyards around the state. Previous experiments in the 1950s were mostly unsuccessful—cold snaps every few years would destroy entire vine canopies, and sometimes kill the root systems too—but Clore proved to a young generation of pioneering winegrowers that the vine, if sited appropriately, could survive the deep freezes of Washington winters. His name is invariably linked, as mentor and consultant, to many of today’s old-time growers and most of the state’s oldest vinifera vineyards.

As Clore’s interest in vinifera viticulture began to bear fruit, a small group of university friends and amateur winemakers took interest, amidst the pervasive sweet fortified styles of the time, in dry table wine production. They dabbled in home winemaking in the 1950s and founded Associated Vintners in 1962. In 1963 the enterprise ventured into viticulture, planting the Harrison Hill Vineyard near William Bridgman’s property on Snipes Mountain. (Both plots are currently owned and managed by Upland Estate.) Associated Vintners attracted the attention of legendary California winemaker André Tchelistcheff, who arrived in Washington in 1967 to sample the group’s wines. Associated Vintners, emboldened by his praise, bonded a winery and began to sell their wines commercially, while Tchelistcheff himself began consulting for another project—American Wine Growers, a conglomeration of two post-Prohibition Puget Sound fruit wineries making a transition to vinifera wine. These two companies represent the first wave of successful modern Washington wineries; today, Associated Vintners is known as Columbia Winery and American Wine Growers is Chateau Ste. Michelle.

Other vinifera vineyards began to appear around the state in the late 1960s and early 1970s—in Yakima Valley, Red Mountain, Horse Heaven Hills, the Columbia Gorge, and Walla Walla Valley. And a few more wineries appeared: by 1981 there were 19 in the state. Tchelistcheff continued to consult for Ste. Michelle, and Columbia Winery named British Master of Wine David Lake as head winemaker in 1979. He stayed on through the 2005 vintage, and his name is now revered as one of the state’s great guiding forces in wine. A second MW, Bob Betz, worked for Chateau Ste. Michelle for two decades prior to launching his own eponymous winery in 1997. An almost avuncular figure in Washington today, Betz has witnessed the entire arc of the modern wine industry and is one of Washington’s most prominent spokesmen and advocates.

Washington Grape Varieties

In Washington, red and white varieties each account for roughly half of the state’s acreage. Chardonnay, Riesling, Pinot Gris, Sauvignon Blanc, and Gewürztraminer are the state’s five most planted white varieties; Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah, and Cabernet Franc are the state’s most planted reds (in descending order). Overall, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot are in the lead—the two grapes comprise about one-third of the state’s total acreage. Unlike Oregon, no single variety completely dominates outsider perceptions about the state’s wine industry, and many different grapes, from ultra-cool climate crossings like Siegerrebe to late-ripening varieties like Petit Verdot, can grow in different corners of the state. The range of mesoclimates available within one AVA, even one vineyard, allows varieties separated by hundreds of miles in Europe to ripen fairly successfully next door to one another in Washington State. Numerous vineyards in eastern Washington have Riesling planted on one end and Cabernet Sauvignon on the other!

In a half-century of winegrowing Washington State has shifted from a commercial reliance on white varieties, borne out of the supposed necessities of climate, to a celebration of its reds. As a young industry in the late 1960s and 1970s grappled with devastating winter freezes every few years, growers were often unwilling to plant anything other than hardy northern European grapevines or hybrids. White varieties ruled. Gewürztraminer, for instance, was the grape that first piqued Tchelistcheff’s interest in 1967. And Riesling was an obvious choice for the climate as well as the source of the first real infusion of national recognition for the industry. When a 1972 Ste. Michelle Riesling bested its competition in a blind tasting hosted by the Los Angeles Times, it generated much local pride, and growers rushed to plant the grape. The first red variety in Washington State to gain widespread popularity as a varietal wine was Merlot, in the 1980s. By the early 1990s, on the strength of bottlings from Leonetti Cellar and others, Merlot had been anointed as Washington’s signature wine. Today, however, it has taken a backseat to Cabernet Sauvignon, which surged on the strength of ebullient critical reception and 100-point wines in the 2000s. Syrah and Rhône-style blends in the 2010s have begun to perk trade interest, and Riesling is reemerging as a bright spot in the state. Yet as active as today’s sommeliers are in proselytizing for Riesling, much of the general public still expects the wine to be inexpensive and sweet. One Columbia Valley vineyard manager laments: “It’s sad; as well as we grow Riesling and as many different styles as we can make, you just can’t sell it for much. And, frankly, we don’t have as many good white winemakers as red winemakers in the state of Washington.”

Washington AVAs

Columbia Valley

AVAs: Columbia Valley (WA/OR), Yakima Valley, Red Mountain, Rattlesnake Hills, Snipes Mountain, Walla Walla Valley (WA/OR), The Rocks of Milton-Freewater (OR), Horse Heaven Hills, Wahluke Slope, Lake Chelan, Ancient Lakes of Columbia Valley, Naches Heights, Royal Slope, Rocky Reach, The Burn of Columbia Valley, White Bluffs, Candy Mountain, Goose Gap

Encompassing 99% of Washington’s vineyards, the Columbia Valley gained AVA status in 1984, and it, like the Columbia Gorge and Walla Walla Valley AVAs, slips over the Oregon state line. Following the contours of the Columbia Basin, the Columbia Valley AVA is a massive appellation of eleven million total acres—just about one-third the size of the entire state of Washington! Its 59,000 acres of vines are mostly located in the valley’s various nested AVAs (listed above). Puget Sound, Columbia Gorge, and the Lewis-Clark Valley are the only AVAs in WA that are not contained within Columbia Valley.

Most of Columbia Valley’s important vineyard areas are discussed in more detail under subsequent AVA entries below, but 5,000 acres of vines and a few key vineyards remain outside of any nested AVAs. Since the addition of Royal Slope AVA (Stillwater Creek) and White Bluffs AVA (Dionysis et al.), many of these sites have found nested AVA's to call home. Chateau Ste Michele's Cold Creek is one of the last sites outside of a nested AVA. Cold Creek Vineyard is located east of Yakima Valley, the 850-acre vineyard lies in one of the state’s warmest areas, and it is a flagship site in the company’s portfolio. It is also a historic site for the state: its oldest Cabernet Sauvignon vines date to 1973.

Yakima ValleyPost

AVAs: Yakima Valley, Red Mountain, Snipes Mountain, Rattlesnake Hills, Candy Mountain, Goose Gap

Union Gap marks the northern entrance to the broad, desert-like Yakima Valley, which was approved in 1983 as Washington’s first AVA. The Yakima Valley stretches almost 70 miles in length along the course of the Yakima River and encompasses five nested AVAs: Rattlesnake Hills, Snipes Mountain, Red Mountain, Candy Mountain, and Goose Gap. Yakima Valley is the state’s third-largest AVA in total size and home to nearly one-third of the state’s total planted acreage—over 18,500 total acres of vines. Most vineyards are clustered north of the town of Prosser, in an arc stretching between Snipes Mountain and Red Mountain. Yakima Valley is a bountiful agricultural region, with numerous apple and stone fruit orchards, Concord grape vineyards, and hops fields. (Over 75% of the nation’s hops are grown here.) Its vineyard parcels are massive, numbering in the hundreds of acres, yet a single vineyard may constitute only a portion of a grower’s whole farm. In Red Willow Vineyard, where the state’s first Syrah went into the ground in 1986, grower Mike Sauer reserves his upper slopes for wine grapes; in the lower, frost-prone areas he cultivates orchard fruits or Concord grapes for juice and jam. This pattern occurs throughout the valley. Most of the valley’s current vineyard owners are the latest generation in a line of farmers, and land once considered infertile (or planted to another crop) has been repurposed for grapevines. Other top vineyards in Yakima Valley include the neighboring parcels of Boushey and Otis—the latter is home to WA’s first Cabernet Sauvignon vines, planted in 1957. Dick Boushey, one of the state’s most revered viticulturists, sings a familiar refrain in Washington: “Winter damage is the big Achilles heel here. I moved my vineyards up into the hills where it is a little warmer, and the risk of freeze and frost is lessened.” Most vineyards in Yakima now lie along the slopes, from 1,000-1,400 ft. elevation, rather than in the valley below, where the cold winter air settles. When touring the valley one will see smudge pots and wind machines, but rarely are they used in the vineyards; instead, growers employ these anti-frost devices for fruit trees—cherries and apples can still fetch more money than grapes in Yakima Valley.

Red Mountain AVA.

Despite Washington’s frequently brutal winters, Yakima Valley is a reasonably warm growing region overall, and Red Mountain, a triangular-shaped AVA on the valley’s eastern end, basks in the state’s hottest growing climate. During the 2013 growing season, Red Mountain measured 1866 (°C) degree days—nearly 200 more than the western sector of Yakima Valley. Red Mountain, rendered a dullish red in the springtime by abundant cheatgrass, is the state’s most densely cultivated AVA. Over half of its 4,040 acres are planted to the vine. The area’s first grapevines went into the ground in 1975, when John Williams and Jim Holmes respectively established Kiona and Ciel du Cheval vineyards, just weeks apart from one another. Holmes estimates that Cabernet Sauvignon currently comprises about 70% of the Red Mountain plantings, and the region is highly regarded for the tannic, deeply colored styles of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and other Bordeaux grapes that it produces. “Red Mountain could be nicknamed Parker Place,” Holmes quips, “We don’t have to fuss to make big, rich, phenolic wines. We have to fuss not to!” Almost sixteen hours of high summer sunshine a day, a windy and arid climate, and high pH, nitrogen-poor soils conspire to create compact clusters, to limit berry size, and to heighten phenolic development. Meanwhile, elevation, significant diurnal shifts, and the moderating influence of the nearby Yakima River promote the retention of acidity in the region’s red wines. Red Mountain’s more acclaimed estate producers include Col Solare (Owned by Tuscany’s Antinori. Formerly a collaboration with Washington’s Chateau Ste. Michelle), Force Majeure, and Upchurch Vineyards. Producers throughout the state source fruit from celebrated Red Mountain sources like Ciel du Cheval, Kiona, Klipsun, and others.

Snipes Mountain, approved for AVA status in 2009, is a raised fold—an anticline—in the middle of the Yakima Valley, just slightly larger than Red Mountain. The AVA’s boundaries are defined by elevation: 750 ft. on the southern slope and 820 ft. on the northern slope mark the low end of the growing region, and vines drape the hillsides almost all the way up to the mountain’s summit at 1,310 ft. It's a young AVA, but an old growing region: the oldest vinifera plantings in the state of Washington, William Bridgman’s small plot of 1917 Muscat of Alexandria vines, are located on the Upland Vineyards property on Snipes Mountain. Todd Newhouse, owner of Upland, farms 750 acres of wine grapes in the appellation, including a 1963 block of Cabernet Sauvignon vines known as Harrison Hill, and he drafted the AVA petition. Upland today farms over three-dozen varieties, many of which are machine-harvested and sold to Chateau St. Michelle for value bottlings, but a few “first-tier” blocks are treated with more precision and detail, and wind up in vineyard-designate bottlings from producers like Smasne and Maison Bleue. With 750 of the AVA’s 900 planted acres, Upland forms the core of the appellation, and it is to date the only estate producer in the AVA—Newhouse recently started bottling his own wines under the Upland label.

The Rattlesnake Hills, which earned AVA status in 2006, rise to an elevation of more than 3,000 ft. along the north bank of the Yakima River, fanning north and west of the town of Zillah. Vineyards are planted between 850-1,600 ft. As on Red and Snipes Mountains, vineyards in the Rattlesnake Hills are protected from winter’s icy grip and fall and spring frosts by elevation and the higher, snowcapped Yakima Range to the north, which blocks the full impact of cold Arctic blasts. Like the rest of the Yakima Valley, the Rattlesnake Hills lie in the rain shadow of the Cascades, and annual rainfall may be as little as six inches per year. The region is slightly cooler than Red Mountain and the south slopes of Snipes Mountain, and Riesling has historically been an important variety here. It went into the ground in 1968 alongside Cabernet Sauvignon in Morrison Vineyard, the Hills’ first parcel of vinifera grapes. Top vineyards in the appellation today include Andrew Will’s estate Two Blondes Vineyard and Côte Bonneville’s Dubrul Vineyard. In a residual sign of the rather pronounced local opposition to the creation of this AVA, both producers label their estate wines with the Yakima Valley AVA, not as Rattlesnake Hills.

Candy Mountain is Washington's smallest AVA, approved in 2020. It is a south-facing slope located southeast of Red Mountain AVA. The border of the Yakima Valley AVA was extended by 72 acres to fully accommodate this new addition.

Goose Gap, was approved in 2021. At that time, the appellation included two commercial vineyards and roughly 1,800 acres of vines. The vineyards here are predominantly north-facing, and as a result, harvest is typically later than for the surrounding area.

Walla Walla Valley

AVAs: Walla Walla Valley, The Rocks of Milton-Freewater

Walla Walla Valley AVA is the easternmost of Columbia Valley’s nested AVAs, and one-third of its total acreage lies across the state line in Oregon. Most producers, however, are located in and around the bustling college town of Walla Walla itself, on the Washington side. The valley—whose name means “many waters” in a local native tongue—lies to the east of the confluence of three rivers (the Columbia, Walla Walla, and Snake Rivers) and the Wallula Gap, that bottleneck of the Missoula floods through which the Columbia now flows. Buttressed by the Blue Mountains on its eastern border, the Walla Walla Valley AVA spans from 400 to 2000 ft. above sea level in elevation—although vineyards are not really feasible below 850 ft. because of frost pressures—and rainfall picks up dramatically toward the east. The Blue Mountains act as a rain shadow, and locals assert that one inch of annual rainfall is gained for every mile traveled eastward. Two subregions of the valley nearest the Blue Mountains, Mill Creek and the North Fork of Walla Walla Valley, are current hotspots that may one day achieve their own AVA status.

With the exception of The Rocks of Milton-Freewater AVA (see next paragraph) and some of the steepest hillside slopes, the Walla Walla Valley is covered in loess, frequently reaching 25-30 ft. in depth. At Leonetti’s Loess Vineyard in the foothills of the Blue Mountains, the soil extends 50 ft. or more in depth. It’s an arable, fertile soil, but in Washington’s arid to semi-arid environment this does not have to be a drawback. Figgins explains: “Loess can hold up to three inches of water per square foot, but it is still free-draining. The myth that vines need poor soils is just that—a myth. Fertile valley floors may not be great for vineyards, but that’s because the soils are heavy and wet. Reasonable soil nutrition shouldn’t be the limiting factor. Water is.”

Not long ago Walla Walla Valley was more associated with onions than fine wine. Its modern development as a winegrowing region began with Chris’ father, Gary Figgins, who in 1974 was the first to plant vinifera in the valley. In 1977, Figgins founded Leonetti Cellar, and Rick Small planted an acre of Chardonnay—the genesis of Woodward Canyon Winery, established by Small four years later. Figgins and Small, along with L’Ecole founder Baker Ferguson and Waterbrook founder Eric Rindal, are the “founding fathers” of modern viticulture and winemaking in Walla Walla. Official recognition as Washington’s second AVA followed in 1984, yet overall growth was slow. Only a dozen wineries existed in Walla Walla by the mid-1990s, but a second wave of new producers finally emerged by the century’s end, led by Christophe Baron’s Cayuse (est. 1997) and Norm McKibben’s Pepper Bridge (est. 1998). McKibben and his partners worked with Bordeaux varieties on the valley floor, producing some of the valley’s most lauded Bordeaux-style wines in some years but succumbing to frost and winter freeze in others; Baron focused on Rhône varieties and pushed viticulture into a barren, cobblestone-covered, nearly flat area across the Oregon border now known as “the Rocks.” Crediting Cayuse’ reputation and wines, and in recognition of the uniqueness of the area’s cobbly loam, the 3,770-acre Rocks of Milton-Freewater area, located entirely in Oregon’s Umatilla County, received AVA status in early 2015. About 325 acres are under vine. Old riverbed soils in the young AVA recall the galets of Châteauneuf-du-Pape; today, Rhône-style wines from the Rocks show earthy, savory aromas, often with higher alcohol and lower acidity than those produced elsewhere in the valley.

In the 21st century Walla Walla’s ranks of producers swelled to include notable new projects like Waters Winery, Gramercy Cellars, Va Piano, Buty Winery, àMaurice, Rotie Cellars, Amavi, and Chris Figgins’ eponymous estate label. Major vineyard sites include the 200-acre Pepper Bridge site on the valley floor and the north-facing, 170-acre Seven Hills Vineyard overlooking the Rocks in Oregon. Development of an adjacent site in Oregon (SeVein) is currently underway; upon completion it will include nearly 2,000 contiguous acres of vines, effectively doubling the AVA’s total acreage. In 2015 the entire valley claims only about 2,000 acres of vines, yet more than 100 producers call the AVA home. Sommeliers should therefore be careful with assertions of Walla Walla character as many of the region’s wineries have to supplement Walla Walla fruit with additional sources throughout the state. Woodward Canyon, for instance, pulls in Cabernet fruit from Sagemoor and Champoux Vineyard in the Horse Heaven Hills, and Gramercy’s Greg Harrington MS sources Syrah from its Washington birthplace, Red Willow.

Like Yakima Valley, Walla Walla Valley is alive with agriculture, albeit with a little less horticultural diversity. Sweet onions, asparagus, and garbanzo beans are common crops, but wheat is easily the dominant cash crop in the region—and the source of a longstanding, embittered rivalry for grape-growers. Wheat fields have surrounded Walla Walla for over a century; today, plots of grapevines are only infrequent interruptions, bright carpets of green thrown over an otherwise monochromatic, amber late summer landscape. Fourth- and fifth-generation wheat farmers may view winegrowing as a luxury, not a commodity; encroaching vines become an invitation to urbanization and competition for water and land. Sevein, the AVA’s largest new vineyard development, occupies a former wheat field in Oregon, where local farmers unsuccessfully challenged it in court, citing the project’s small parcel sizes (40-acre blocks) as violations of the state’s minimum acreage requirements for farm use. Yet despite fears of increasing traffic and population driven by multiplying wineries and expanded wine tourism, winegrowers have arguably promoted a heightened sense of land stewardship. They have taken more concrete steps toward sustainability and have been understandably intolerant of commercial practices like the aerial application of pesticides or fertilizers. In 2004, a group of Walla Walla wineries founded Vinea, the Winegrowers’ Sustainable Trust, an organization committed to promoting sustainability—if not wholly organic practices—amongst its members. Vinea provides guidelines and guideposts to move toward sustainable, environmentally friendly practices in the vineyard, and the organization collaborates with Oregon’s LIVE (Low Input Viticulture and Enology) to conduct certification. In turn, LIVE certification is accredited by the International Organization for Biological Control of Noxious Plants and Animals (IOBC), and its standards embrace those of Salmon-Safe, a group dedicated to the protection of Pacific Northwest watersheds. Over two-thirds of Walla Walla’s wine grape acreage is currently under the Vinea umbrella, if not yet actually certified.

Walla Walla Valley AVA.

Horse Heaven Hills

The boundaries of the Horse Heaven Hills AVA begin at the southern ridgeline of Yakima Valley and extend southward to the banks of the Columbia River. It’s a wind-whipped, almost treeless anticline running westward from the Wallula Gap halfway to the Columbia Gorge—horse heaven, perhaps, but the living wild horses are long gone. It is, however, home to one-quarter of the state’s grapevine acreage, and more is surely on the way. Producers throughout the state cite the warm Horse Heaven Hills as a promising area for future development, and the region’s Cabernet Sauvignon is a regular recipient of effusive critical praise. Champoux Vineyard, first planted by in 1972 Don Mercer in consultation with Walter Clore, is the appellation's standard-bearer for quality fruit, supplying top names like Quilceda Creek and Andrew Will. Other preeminent sites include Alder Ridge, Phinny Hill, Canoe Ridge—which houses Ste. Michelle’s red winemaking facilities and resembles an overturned canoe—and Longshadows’ Benches Vineyard, which hugs the high basalt cliffs overlooking the Columbia itself, a stone’s throw from the Wallula Gap. Ultimately, Horse Heaven Hills is a reminder of the disconnect between vineyard and winery in WA: in 2015 the AVA may have more than 17,000 acres under vine but only a dozen of the state’s 850+ wineries call the region home.

The region’s climate is overall slightly warmer than the western end of Yakima Valley but slightly cooler than Red Mountain. Many vineyards enjoy southern aspects as elevation rises from 200 ft. at the river’s edge to 1,800 ft. at its northern boundary, soaking up summer sunshine at this northern latitude. Its gentle, unprotected hills are the constant recipient of winds funneled inland through the Columbia Gorge. Wind and low rainfall keep fungal pressures low and berries small and thick-skinned. Proximity to the river moderates the extremes of summer highs and winter lows, but frost can still be a danger—in 2010 a frost swept the hills at Thanksgiving, eradicating 30 acres alone at Champoux Vineyard and slimming the following year’s yields throughout the appellation.

Wahluke Slope

North of Yakima Valley, the Columbia River takes a sharp eastward turn and the gentle grade of the Wahluke Slope AVA (pronounced WAH-luke, without the “e”) rises from 425-1,480 ft. above its banks, cradled within the river’s crescent bend. It is a recently discovered, warm growing region exciting interest for the quality of its red grapes, including Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Syrah. The AVA’s petitioners described the 81,000-acre Wahluke Slope as an “isolated island of wine production,” hemmed in by the Saddle Mountains on the north, the Hanford Reach National Monument to the east, and the Columbia River on the west and south. Its prime position lends the small AVA a broad, almost uniformly south-facing aspect; soils are also fairly homogenous throughout the AVA, consisting of deep, well-drained, windblown sands. Rainfall here barely scratches six inches a year, necessitating irrigation—Wahluke Slope, which means “watering hole” in a native tongue, is the driest AVA in all of Washington.

The region’s first commercial vineyard was Weinbau, planted in 1981 by Germany’s F.W. Langguth Erben, a company best known today for its “Blue Nun” brand. The company hoped to capitalize on the early interest in Washington Riesling, but sold its shares in the vineyard not long after entry into the state. Today, Weinbau is one the sites in the Sagemoor portfolio. Milbrandt Vineyards was another early arrival to the Wahluke Slope; grapegrowing brothers Butch and Jerry Milbrandt purchased their first vineyard in 1997 and now farm over 700 acres in the AVA. Overall, the Wahluke Slope is home to more than 9,000 vineyard acres, and two-thirds of its acreage is devoted to red varieties.

Ancient Lakes of Columbia Valley

At the time of the TTB petition, Ancient Lakes of Columbia Valley, a rectangular-shaped AVA granted in 2012, contained six wineries, six vineyards, and a total 1,399 acres of vines. Like Wahluke Slope, it is incredibly arid, but despite its proximity it is considerably cooler—its temperatures are moderated by a series of 35 glacial lakes that knife through the region. Thus, white grapes are the focus here: Riesling is its most planted variety and white varieties altogether account for 80% of the region’s vines. Milbrandt Vineyards is the AVA’s largest operation, farming two of the six original vineyards and almost half of its acreage.

Lake Chelan

Lake Chelan AVA is located almost 75 miles due north of Ancient Lakes. Established in 2009, it is the northernmost nested AVA within Columbia Valley and the basin’s only growing region falling outside the area impacted by the Missoula Floods. Lake Chelan, like the Ancient Lakes, is a glacial lake responsible for moderating temperatures in this northerly AVA—summertime highs are blunted and frost and freeze worries are lessened. Average temperatures here are about 4° F less than in Wahluke Slope to the south, while wintertime lows are essentially equal. Pinot Noir and Riesling have emerged as early favorites in the young AVA. The region's first vines appeared in 1998, and as of the early 2010s only a few hundred acres are planted.

Royal Slope

Royal Slope AVA is a newer Washington appellation, approved in 2020. Royal Slope is located between the Wahluke Slope AVA and the adjacent Ancient Lakes of Columbia Valley AVA, and is considerably cooler than the former, and warmer than the latter. At the time of approval, Royal Slope included more than 1,900 acres of vines, 13 vineyards, and a winery. The most notable of these vineyards is Stillwater Creek. More than 20 grape varieties are grown in the region.

Naches Heights

Naches Heights AVA, just northwest of Yakima Valley, is one of the least significant of the Washington appellations east of the Cascades. The first commercial plantings went into the ground in 2002 in Naches Heights, and the region achieved AVA status in 2012. Currently, there are just a few vineyards in the region, and less than 40 acres of vines.

White Bluffs

The White Bluffs AVA, along with The Burn of Columbia Valley AVA, were approved in 2021. White Bluffs is located on a plateau on the eastern side of the Columbia River, just north of Kennewick. Owing to the elevation, the area is slightly warmer and less frost-prone than the surrounding area. In 2021, White Bluffs included roughly 1,100 acres of vines, and one winery. This new AVA houses the legendary Sagemoor Vineyards. Founded in 1968, it encompasses four sites and 1,100 acres of vines just north of the Tri-Cities. Sagemoor itself, Dionysus, Bacchus, and Gamache—face south or southwest along the banks of the Columbia River. Sagemoor has been a major fruit source for the Washington wine industry for decades, and today the farm sells grapes to 75 different wineries, from Long Shadows to Gallo and Ste. Michelle Wine Estates.

The Burn of Columbia Valley

The Burn of Columbia Valley AVA lies between the Horse Heaven Hills and Columbia Gorge AVAs, on the north side of the Columbia River. While it is adjacent to the Washington-Oregon border, the appellation is contained entirely within Washington State. The area is one of the warmest in the Columbia Valley, however, persistent winds delay maturation, and grapes from this area are often harvested later than elsewhere.

Rocky Reach

Rocky Reach AVA was approved in 2022. It is located in the northern aspect of the Columbia Valley between Ancient Lakes and Lake Chelan. The AVA is located at a lower elevation alongside the Columbia River. Its 112 planted acres feature gravel and loess soils over granitic bedrock.

Columbia Gorge

Columbia Gorge AVA is, alongside Puget Sound and the Lewis-Clark Valley, one of only three AVAs in the state of Washington that does not fall within the larger Columbia Valley region. The AVA, positioned along the Oregon and Washington shorelines of the Columbia River as it cuts through the basalt foothills of the Cascades, is a region of majestic, dramatic scenery with Oregon’s Mount Hood as its backdrop and sentinel. As one moves 25 miles through the Gorge from The Dalles, OR (about five miles outside the AVA’s eastern border) toward Hood River, OR, the landscape shifts abruptly from the dry desert scrub of eastern Washington to the verdant conifer forests, hidden waterfalls, and lush scenery so emblematic of the Pacific Northwest. Unsurprisingly, rainfall quadruples in a forty-mile span from east to west, increasing from eight inches annually to 36 or more at the AVA’s western end—some of the only dry-farmed vineyards in the state of WA are cultivated in Columbia Gorge. The mile-wide Columbia River acts as a moderating influence, suppressing rising springtime temperatures and pushing back budbreak to late April, while simultaneously holding onto warmth in the fall, allowing for grape harvests through Halloween and reducing the worry of early autumn frosts. Apart from Puget Sound, Columbia Gorge is Washington’s (if not Oregon’s) coolest appellation. Temperature and rainfall aside, wind is the region’s defining climatic feature: Columbia Gorge, the most popular windsurfing destination in North America, is whipped by winds from the west all summer long, as the hot interior pulls cool coastal winds inland through the gap in the Cascades. The constant winds greatly reduce fungal pressure in the otherwise wet climate of the western Gorge.

There is at least one block of century-old Zinfandel vines in The Dalles, but the story of modern viticulture in the Gorge begins, as it does elsewhere in Washington, with Walter Clore and a 1968 experimental planting of Pinot Noir. That dry-farmed vineyard, now known as Atavus, lies at 1,700-ft. elevation on a lower shoulder of Mt. Adams and gives a glimpse of the potential for Pinot Noir north of the Columbia River. Chardonnay and Gewürztraminer also do extremely well in a growing climate that rarely exceeds an average growing season temperature of 60° F. Great examples of all three varieties surface from another old site, the 75-acre Celilo Vineyard. Planted in 1972 on Underwood Mountain—a cool subregion located entirely on the Washington side—Celilo is the Gorge’s most notable fruit source, supplying producers from Woodward Canyon in Walla Walla to Ken Wright in Willamette Valley. Columbia Gorge’s other key subregion, Hood River Valley, lies on the Oregon side. White grapes outnumber reds in the Columbia Gorge, but no single variety has as of yet emerged as the region’s champion. Chardonnay, Gewürztraminer, and Pinot Noir are impressive, but Riesling, Cabernet Franc, Syrah, Gamay, Zinfandel, and others all show promise too. The best wines from the region remain inherently food-friendly; they are usually lighter in style, vibrant, aromatic, bright, and seemingly more akin to those of the Willamette Valley than the eastern AVAs of Washington state. Wineries look equally toward Portland and Seattle for their primary markets. Top current producers to watch include Syncline, Memaloose/Idiot’s Grace, and Analemma. Exciting small projects are emerging with each passing year, as this region, now barely in adolescence, finds its voice.

Puget Sound

Most of Washington’s modern wine regions lie to the east of the Cascade Mountains, but before irrigation became readily available only western Washington, in and around Puget Sound, could easily support vines. In 1872 Lambert Evans, a homesteader on Puget Sound’s Stretch Island, planted the region’s first notable vineyard. His vines prospered and a favored black labrusca hybrid, Island Belle, became one of Washington’s first commercially successful grapes. Lambert’s widow sold the Stretch Island property to Charles Somers in 1918, and in 1933 his estate became Washington’s first bonded winery, St. Charles. Some of his original vines were still standing a century later, in the 1970s.

Today Puget Sound AVA is Washington’s second-largest but most sparsely planted AVA—its five and a half million acres are home to only about 120 acres of vines. The most prominent vineyard areas are on islands in the sound, including San Juan, Bainbridge, and Lopez. Early-ripening varieties—often Germanic crossings like Madeline Angevine, Müller-Thurgau, and Siegerrebe—fare best in the rainy, cool climate west of the Cascades, and red grapes outnumber whites by a margin of two-to-one. Few producers make wine in the AVA; in fact, the most prominent stop in Puget Sound wine country is Woodinville, a small town just northeast of Seattle—home to Chateau Ste. Michelle, Columbia Winery, and a growing bevy of tasting room outposts for wineries located in the more remote eastern reaches of the state. Woodinville’s Hollywood Schoolhouse and Warehouse districts—two separate clusters of tasting rooms, each hosting dozens of wineries—have revived the fortunes of this small agrarian community, but the town’s few small (AVA) vineyards are just showpieces.

Oregon

The state of Oregon was, at the close of 2018, home to almost 36,000 acres of vines, with 1,165 total vineyards and 793 wineries. Oregon wineries crushed 79,685 tons of fruit in 2018. In Oregon, much commercial focus is on Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris, which in 2018 accounted for 71% of the state’s vineyards. Pinot Noir alone provided 64% of the state’s 2018 total harvest. By early 2020, the state claimed 21 AVAs in whole or in part. Four skirt the borders of Washington and Idaho in eastern Oregon; the remainder fall along the western side of the Cascade Range, stretching from California to Washington in three nearly parallel growing regions, the Willamette Valley, Umpqua Valley, and Rogue Valley. The Willamette Valley is by far the state’s most important growing region: in 2018 it produced about 70% of the state's grape harvest. Oregon’s elevator pitch is pretty clear: the state makes Pinot Noir, and lots of it, mostly in the Willamette Valley.

Oregon AVAs

Willamette Valley

AVAs: Willamette Valley, Chehalem Mountain, Dundee Hills, Eola-Amity Hills, Laurelwood District, Lower Long Tom, McMinnville, Mount Pisgah Polk County Oregon, Ribbon Ridge, Tualatin Hills, Van Duzer Corridor, Yamhill-Carlton District

Many now believe that the Willamette Valley is the finest location in the United States for the Pinot Noir grape variety.
-from “The Winemakers of the Pacific Northwest,” published in 1977.

The Willamette Valley, a broad valley bounded by the Coast Range on the west and the Cascades on the east, was the end of the road for thousands of 19th-century pioneers traveling westward by wagon along the Oregon Trail. A land of promise then, the valley floor and its hillsides today are a patchwork of cropland: farmers grow every type of berry, hops, Christmas firs, hazelnut trees, and—of course—vinifera grapevines. The 3,430,000-acre Willamette Valley AVA itself essentially follows the contours of the V-shaped valley as it stretches 120 miles southward from the suburbs of Portland, through the towns of McMinnville and the state capital of Salem, to its narrowest point south of the city of Eugene. (A 10,000-acre extension southward, principally designed to incorporate the vineyards of King Estates, Oregon’s largest producer, was approved in 2016.) The northern valley between Salem and Portland is home to almost 85% of the AVA’s Pinot Noir, and all but one of the Willamette Valley’s ten smaller, nested AVAs are also located here, roughly encircling McMinnville. While some consumers tend to associate all of Oregon with Pinot Noir—and the grape does show up all over the state—it is this 40-mile-long, half moon-shaped corridor, amidst the foothills of the Coast Range in the northwestern valley, where the state’s reputation for world-class Pinot Noir was forged.

The Willamette Valley was among the first areas of the Pacific Northwest to grow grapes. As fur traders from Fort Vancouver retired, many traveled south across the Columbia and settled in the valley, bringing cuttings from the fort and establishing early vineyards near the Willamette River. There is evidence of a still appearing in the valley in 1835—whose owners professed to turn any good wine into brandy—but these early forays into viticulture, in a remote and lawless region of the world then claimed by both Britain and the young US, are difficult to substantiate. If the original Fort Vancouver vines were vinifera, the composition of the Willamette’s vineyards would change substantially with the steady arrival of American settlers in the 1840s. In 1847, amidst a treasure trove of other young fruit and nut trees that laid the foundation for many modern orchards, the settler Henderson Luellen brought a wealth of American vine cuttings to the valley. A horticulturalist named A.R. Shipley imported both American and vinifera grapes into Oregon in the 1860s, and by 1869 the Oregon State Fair was awarding prizes for “foreign” and American grapes. There is evidence of winemaking in the mid-19th century, but it is unclear just how much actual wine was produced from these early American vineyards in the Willamette Valley—the favored grapes were V. labrusca varieties like Concord and Catawba, and the favored use was for the table.

The modern story of the Willamette Valley begins in the mid-1960s with a cast of two: David Lett and Charles Coury. Like Richard Sommer in Umpqua Valley, both men traveled north from California seeking cooler climes for the grapevine. In 1965 Lett brought Pinot Noir to the Willamette Valley, establishing the original Eyrie Vineyard on a south-facing slope in the Dundee Hills in 1966. In 1965 Coury purchased an acreage and established his vineyards in the northernmost reaches of the valley, just northwest of the modern Chehalem Mountains AVA boundary. As patriarchs of winemaking in the Willamette Valley, the two men held divergent perspectives: Coury’s winemaking interests lay in modernizing production and providing everyday appeal, while Lett was seemingly more artisanal and introspective. According to his son (and current Eyrie winemaker) Jason Lett, David’s attraction to the Dundee Hills’ potential followed “years of careful climatic research.” Coury’s founding role has been diminished, perhaps unfairly, by the history books, and his vineyards today are part of David Hill Winery. Lett’s name, on the other hand, has been enshrined: he produced a 1975 Eyrie “South Block” Pinot Noir that entered competitions in Paris in 1979 and Beaune in 1980, finishing in third and second place, respectively. The second tasting, in which Eyrie competed amidst a blind flight of Burgundy grands crus assembled by Robert Drouhin, brought the Beaune négociant closer to purchasing Oregon property. Lett’s response to the sudden spotlight, inexplicably, was to take his “South Block” Pinot Noir off the market—for the next 27 years!

By the mid-1970s, a handful of other early pioneers had joined Coury and Lett in the Willamette Valley. Dick Erath planted his first vineyard in 1969, and Dick Ponzi founded Ponzi Vineyard in 1970. David Adelsheim planted his first vines among the Chehalem Mountains in 1972. Oregon geologist Scott Burns keeps it simple: “In the early days, it was just two Dicks and two Davids.” But interest was growing, and other projects slowly came online. Myron Redford planted the first vineyard in the Eola-Amity Hills in 1970 and launched Amity Vineyards in 1974. Oak Knoll, a fruit winery located just 18 miles west of Portland, produced its inaugural vintage of Pinot Noir in 1973. Elk Cove was founded in 1974. Sokol Blosser harvested the estate’s first vintage in 1977 and the Casteel family of Bethel Heights planted their first vines in the same year. In 1984 John Paul founded Cameron Winery and John Thomas planted his now-legendary, eponymous vineyard. Ken Wright started Panther Creek in 1986. Many of these early pioneers, like Coury and Lett, ventured north from California, dreaming of world-class Pinot Noir. Their early aspirations gained validation in 1987, when Robert Drouhin purchased an estate in the Dundee Hills and declared that his family would grow Pinot Noir in two places—Burgundy and Oregon. His daughter Véronique made Domaine Drouhin’s first Oregon wine the following year. By 1990, there were 70 bonded wineries in Oregon, and most of them broke ground here, in the Willamette Valley.

The original Eyrie Vineyard in Dundee Hills.

Part of the Willamette Valley’s allure, reinforced by the Drouhin family’s Dundee Hills purchase in 1987, is in its climatic similarity to Burgundy. The two regions nearly align in terms of latitude, as the 45th parallel runs right through the northern Willamette Valley. They are broadly similar in both degree-day averages—Burgundy and the Willamette Valley both fall into Region I—and annual growing season temperatures. However, these averages are achieved differently. The Côte d’Or’s season is compressed and shorter; it sees summer temperature spikes that surpass those of Willamette Valley, and its temperatures rise and fall more sharply in the spring and fall. Data compiled by Greg Jones (Dept. of Environmental Studies, Southern Oregon University) illustrates the point: on average, budbreak in the Willamette Valley occurs one week before budbreak in the Côte d’Or, yet véraison and harvest typically begin later, five to seven days after commencing in Burgundy. Amount and timing of rainfall in Burgundy and Oregon also differ. In Salem, average annual rainfall is approximately 40 inches (1020 mm). Rainfall may dip slightly in the western areas nearest the Coast Range, but overall the Willamette Valley has a wetter climate than Burgundy. Most of its precipitation, however, occurs in the winter months, whereas more than 50% of Burgundy’s annual rains fall during the growing season. Rot therefore becomes less of a worry in Oregon’s dry summers than to the vignerons of Burgundy. Concomitantly, day length in Burgundy and the Willamette Valley are similar, but summer rainfall in Burgundy affects total sunshine hours. And finally, with a run of recent hail-shattered vintages in the Côte de Beaune, Oregon vintners can breathe a sigh of relief—the Willamette Valley might see hail impact a vintage one year out of 50.

LIVE

In 1997, a small group led by Ted Casteel of Bethel Heights and Carmo Vasconcelos of Oregon State University created the Low Input Viticulture and Enology (LIVE) Program. The non-profit organization is committed to a more sustainable future for its member wineries and promotes an overall reduction in the number of raw materials—from water to chemical fertilizers and pesticides—required in the vineyard and winery. LIVE offers third-party sustainability certification for vineyards and wineries in Oregon (since 1999) and Washington (since 2006). Wineries may use the LIVE logo on labels, provided the winery is LIVE-certified and at least 97% of the grapes come from a LIVE-certified vineyard. Wines produced in non-certified wineries may add this phrase instead: “made with LIVE-certified grapes.” Many of Willamette Valley’s top wineries now carry LIVE certification.

About 50% of Oregon’s total vineyard acreage has been certified as sustainable through third-party agencies like LIVE, but the Willamette Valley faces its fair share of pest problems. Bird pressure, for example, is perennially high as the Willamette Valley is positioned in a migratory pathway. If left unchecked, a single flock can peck apart an entire vineyard on its journey south, and birds are particularly damaging in later harvests. Grape rust mites are a nuisance in the springtime, and rodents like gophers and voles are a constant headache for growers. Below ground, phylloxera made its first recorded appearance in the Willamette Valley in 1990, and many of the Willamette Valley’s most historic, own-rooted vineyards now live with infestation. While its overall spread remains thankfully spotty, most growers choose to replant with resistant rootstocks in precaution. And unlike Burgundy, where soil tilling is usually a necessary part of the sustainable arsenal, tilling has become an unfashionable practice in the Willamette Valley. Here growers don’t need to return life to a dead soil; breaking up the topsoil only contributes to the spread of phylloxera, nematodes, and other undesirable bugs while ruining the water-holding capacity of a soil in Oregon’s dry summers.

How does the Willamette Valley compare to the Columbia Valley, its northeastern neighbor? It shares some climatic features with the western Columbia Gorge, but its growing conditions are markedly different from most of Washington’s wine regions. West of the Cascades, the Willamette Valley does not wrestle with the extremes of hot or cold that characterize the Columbia Valley, nor is it wracked by aridity. Dry-farming is possible, and irrigation is often used sparingly; it is applied principally to establish young plants, to navigate the driest periods in late summer, and to endure those years in which drought conditions manifest. Mold and rot are certainly less pronounced than in Burgundy, but the Willamette Valley faces greater pressure from powdery mildew and botrytis than eastern Washington. Growers must spray vigilantly. One of the clearest distinctions drawn between Washington and the Willamette Valley, however, is a line in the soil. The Missoula Floods that washed through Washington and poured out the Wallula Gap flooded the Willamette Valley as well, and the original AVA boundaries were marked to match the floodwaters’ reach. In Washington, growers rely on the nutrient-rich soils but cope with extreme water stress—they need soil vigor because they are farming a desert. In the Willamette Valley, where soil moisture is rarely a problem, growers instead rely on nutrient-depleted soils to restrain vine vigor. To do this, most vineyards are planted on slopes above 275 ft., raising them up from the flood-deposited soils and frost-prone valley floor. 800-900 ft. is generally the maximum elevation for quality red wine vineyards in the Willamette Valley. In contrast, at that elevation the Columbia Valley’s vineyards would still face a desperate struggle against frosts and freeze!

In the Willamette Valley, there are four major soil types derived from four different underlying geologies. Three of them—uplifted marine sediments, volcanic soils, and loess—are reasonably nutrient-poor and important for quality wine production. Notably, there is no limestone or marl in the Willamette Valley.

Uplifted Marine Sediments: More common on the western side of the valley, these nutrient-poor soils are derived from sandstone and shale that once composed the ocean floor—the entirety of western Oregon was under the sea until the rise of the Coast Range and Cascades about 15 million years ago. Layered marine sediments thus form the oldest bedrock in the Willamette Valley. The Willakenzie series in the northern Willamette Valley and the Bellpine series in the south are examples of soils derived from uplifted marine sediment. They tend to be sandier and thinner than the volcanic soils. Pinot Noir wines produced on marine sedimentary soils are typically noted as darker in color and fruit profile.
Volcanic Soils: As the Cascades rose upward some 15-17 million years ago, lava flows poured westward from the chain’s highly active volcanoes, covering the still-submerged valley floor in basalt. Today’s reddish volcanic soils are depleted and weathered, formed atop this underlying basalt parent rock. The Jory series, named for Jory Hill in Salem, is the best-known volcanic soil type in the Willamette Valley (and the state’s “official” soil, thanks to Scott Burns). The Nekia series, a shallower volcanic soil, is also common in the area. The volcanic soils in the Willamette Valley tend to contain more clay and therefore have a higher water-holding capacity than other soil series in the region. Tasters often ascribe a lighter color and a red fruit profile to Pinot Noir wines produced on volcanic soils here.
Loess: A windblown soil, loess swept into the Willamette Valley over the last 2.6 million years and is now anchored onto many of the northeastern-facing hillsides of the northern valley. Unlike the young loess soils of Washington, these reddish silt soils predate the last ice age and are often intermixed with basalt-derived soils and marine sediments rather than the more fertile flood sediments. Examples include the Laurelwood, Cornelius, and Cascade series.
Missoula Flood Deposits: These flood-borne sediments arrived as recently as 12,000 years ago, as the cyclical Missoula Floods roared through the Wallula Gap and the Columbia Gorge, spilling out into the valley. Today about 10% of the Willamette Valley’s vineyards are on these low-lying, deep, fertile soils; they compose the valley floor and are best purposed for other forms of agriculture. Woodburn is the primary series.

In the Willamette Valley, growers have borrowed viticultural techniques and plant material from both Burgundy and California, but the result has been to create a distinctive and evolving Pinot Noir culture for Oregon. The valley’s oldest Pinot Noir vineyards were planted by UC Davis grads with the Wädenswil (UCD 1A and 2A) and Pommard (UCD 4 and UCD 5) clones of Pinot Noir—cuttings taken from their alma mater. The Pommard clone was an early favorite, as it seemed to generate lusher, darker fruit and spice flavors, even as Eyrie’s eye-opening “South Block” Pinot Noir was a product of Wädenswil. Ultimately, however, most early planting decisions were based strictly on availability and a clone’s resistance to disease. Understanding of a clone’s impact on final wine character became more widespread with the arrival of the Dijon clones in the 1980s. David Adelsheim had convinced Raymond Bernard to share his new clones of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay with Oregon’s young winemaking scene years earlier during a visit to Burgundy, and his efforts finally bore fruit: Bernard’s clones, nicknamed “Dijon” from the shipping container’s return address, made their (legal) debut in the United States in 1984. After a short quarantine at Oregon State University, the new clones—including 113, 114, 115, 667, and 777—were made available for commercial planting in 1988. With the introduction of the Dijon clones, Willamette Valley Pinot Noir producers could significantly expand the winemaking palette for Pinot Noir.

The architecture of the Pinot Noir vineyard in the early days was also borrowed from California: the earliest vineyards were own-rooted, planted at low densities with 10-12 ft. between rows, and trained along high trellises. Nowadays, one sees different approaches. Most new Pinot Noir vineyards are planted on phylloxera-resistant and devigorating rootstocks. Spacing between the vines, while rarely as tight as the 1x1 meter (3x3 ft.) plantings of the Côte d’Or, has shrunk considerably: modern vineyards often leave 3.5-7 ft. between rows and 3-5 ft. from one vine to the next. Canopy height has been reduced as well. As growers seek to limit vigor through density, rootstock choice, cover crops and restricted tillage, older trellising systems designed to control vigor by dividing the canopy become less attractive. Thus, once-common trellising systems like the Lyre or Oregon’s own Scott Henry have been replaced by Guyot training and a vertical trellis in newer plots. Finally, one factor of site selection itself is changing: classic sites—and some of the best Pinot Noir vineyards in the Willamette Valley today—are south- or southeast-facing, but growers are beginning to look more seriously at the north slopes, eyeing an uncertain future climate.

As a wine, it is difficult to pinpoint an exact Willamette Valley style of Pinot Noir, as it is subject to every manner of winemaker interpretation. One can say that Willamette Pinot generally has brighter acidity and lower pH than its cousins in California, yet it exhibits greater fruit ripeness than the wines of Burgundy. Alcohol levels typically fall into the 13-14% range, and in some years and some vineyards chaptalization is required—it is legal in Oregon, unlike in California. Some are more tannic than others, driven in part by a vineyard’s proximity to the windy Van Duzer Corridor (see McMinnville and Eola-Amity Hills, below). As in any other Pinot Noir-growing region, one can find adherents for whole cluster fermentations (e.g. Cristom and White Rose) but the “classic” style is more likely de-stemmed. And while some lavishly oaked high-end wines exist (from producers like Domaine Serene, Antica Terra and the new, ultra-ambitious Chapter 24) many of the region’s most emblematic wines are limited in this regard—an economic reality for some, a stylistic choice for others. What one can say without equivocation is that this was the first great Pinot Noir wine region to emerge in the United States, and likely the first region in the world to prove that great Pinot Noir can be made outside the confines of Burgundy.

Dundee Hills AVA (est. 2004):

The Dundee Hills AVA encompasses a 12,500-acre, vine-covered mass of hills rising above the flat northwestern Willamette Valley floor near the town of Dundee. The AVA’s elevation ranges from 200 ft. to 1,067 ft.—the highest summit in the hills. Originally, the proposal called for a “Red Hills of Dundee” AVA, reflecting the hills’ nearly uniform red Jory series soils. The hills’ elevation limits frost exposure, provides better air drainage to shield against botrytis, and brings the vineyards up and out of the valley floor’s vigorous flood-borne soils. With 2,225 acres under vine, the Dundee Hills is the most densely planted region in Oregon, and the most historic. It is the site of the original Eyrie Vineyard—as well as four newer vineyards in the winery’s portfolio, all tended by the Jason Lett, David’s son—and its neighbors include Sokol Blosser, Domaine Drouhin, Archery Summit, and Domaine Serene. Famed sites include Maresh Vineyard, Abbey Ridge, and the Thomas Vineyard. Pinot Noir in the Dundee Hills has the potential to produce the Willamette Valley’s most delicate and perfumed wines.

Yamhill-Carlton District AVA (est. 2004)

The horseshoe-shaped AVA surrounds the communities of Yamhill and Carlton, located north of McMinnville and west of the Dundee Hills AVA. Nestled in the foothills of the Coast Range, the AVA’s soils are derived entirely from uplifted marine sediments, and the appellation ranges from 200-1,000 ft. in elevation. Major wineries within the AVA include Elk Cove, Ken Wright, and Penner-Ash. Shea Vineyard is the AVA’s most important site.

Chehalem Mountains AVA (est. 2006)

A 20-mile-long uplifted range of hills and ridges just 19 miles southwest of Portland, the Chehalem Mountains protrude from the foothills of the Coast Range, framed by the Tualatin River and the Willamette Valley floor. The Chehalem Mountains rise in elevation from 200 ft. to 1,633 ft. (the summit of Bald Peak, the highest point in the Willamette Valley) and collect more rain than the lower-lying areas of the valley floor. Capped by madrone forests—which early pioneers mistook for laurel—the northern flanks and hillsides in the range are covered with wind-deposited Laurelwood soils, and experience the coolest average temperatures of any winegrowing hillsides on the western side of the valley. Soils on the southern and western slopes are more typically derived from volcanic or marine sedimentary layers, and grapes tend to ripen earlier. Dick Erath planted the region’s first vineyard in 1968, and Erath’s fellow Willamette Valley pioneers Ponzi and Adelsheim are among the producers calling the Chehalem Mountains AVA home today. The Ribbon Ridge and Laurelwood District AVAs are located within the Chehalem Mountains AVA.

Ribbon Ridge AVA (est. 2005)

The Ribbon Ridge AVA is a single spur extending southward from the Chehalem Mountains. It reaches 683 ft. in elevation, and at 3,500 acres it is the smallest AVA within the Willamette Valley. Soils on Ribbon Ridge are predominantly Willakenzie series, and rainfall is slightly lower than in the nearby Dundee Hills and Yamhill-Carlton District AVAs. With about 620 acres currently under vine, it is home to only a few producers, including Beaux Frères and Brick House. However, its small size makes it one of the most densely planted areas in the entire Chehalem Mountains AVA.

McMinnville AVA (est. 2005)

Named for the town on its northeastern edge, McMinnville is located in Yamhill County and is the westernmost of the Willamette Valley’s nested AVAs. It sits squarely in the mouth of the Van Duzer Corridor, a gap in the Coastal Mountains through which cool, constant Pacific winds blow. One winemaker describes the Van Duzer winds as “catastrophic”; the effect is to denude vines, to reduce berry size and crop load, to produce thicker skins, and to create general stress for the vine and grower. Vineyard sites often occupy east-facing slopes in shelter from the west winds. The constant gusts do reduce fungal issues and create denser, more tannic Pinot Noir wines, loaded with darker fruit flavors and pigment. With open access to the coast’s cooling influence, McMinnville experiences the greatest diurnal shift in the entire Willamette Valley: nighttime temperatures can plummet in the summertime by 40-50° F. Rainfall is also slightly less here than in AVAs further east as the Coast Range creates its own small rain shadow effect, and McMinnville has no defining geology—its vineyards lie on a complicated tangle of marine sedimentary and volcanic layers. With the Van Duzer Corridor's impact recalling Mistral winds, this may be an interesting location for Syrah in the future.

Eola-Amity Hills AVA (est. 2006)

The Eola and Amity Hills are clustered between the towns of Amity and Salem. Eola-Amity Hills was one of the last of the region’s nested AVAs to gain TTB approval—after encountering opposition from Eola Hills Wine Cellars, the petitioners added “Amity” to push it through. The name Eola, however, allows one to more accurately infer the AVA’s chief climatic element: wind. Like windblown “eolian” soils, the name Eola is derived from Aeolus, Greek god of winds, and the AVA itself sits directly east of the Van Duzer Corridor. The winds aren’t as punishing as in McMinnville, but Pinot Noir from the region nonetheless tends to exhibit a more rugged tannic structure, deeper color, and more pronounced acidity than in areas further north. As in McMinnville, the coastal winds increase in the afternoons, and the AVA experiences one of the widest diurnal shifts in all of Willamette Valley, with slightly cooler average temperatures than most other areas further north. Thus, despite its hot summer afternoons and southerly location, Pinot Noir often ripens one to two weeks later here than in the Dundee Hills.

Vineyards on the AVA’s eastern hillsides are typically planted on basaltic soils—Nekia series soils are most common—while the western hillsides contain more marine sediment. Only a few vineyards are planted on the extreme western slopes; most lie among the hills or along their far eastern flanks, shielded from the direct battery of wind. Evening Land’s Seven Springs Vineyard, Domaine Serene’s low-elevation Jerusalem Hill, and Roserock, a site purchased in late 2013 by Domaine Drouhin, are important sites fanning along the hills’ eastern edge. The AVA’s densest cluster of vineyards, however, lies in the center of the hills, just north of Spring Valley Creek. Here, Bethel Heights, Justice Vineyard, Temperance Hill, and Argyle’s Spirit Hill—a high-elevation site employed in sparkling wine production—are adjacent to one another, marking the core of the AVA.

Van Duzer Corridor AVA (est. 2019)

Bounded by the Eola-Amity Hills to the east and the Coastal Range to the west, the Van Duzer Corridor AVA is a more recent addition to the cohort of nested Willamette Valley AVAs. It is named for the low point in the coastal hills that funnels in the cold winds that shape the region. The Van Duzer Corridor AVA sits at lower elevation than the surrounding AVAs and is characterized by marine sedimentary soils. One of the coldest and windiest areas in the Willamette, the area was once considered too marginal for grapegrowing, but the high natural acidity and concentration of the fruit produced under these conditions is gaining greater appreciation. Van Duzer, Johan, and Firesteed were among the first wineries to make their homes in the region.

Two additional nested appellations, the Laurelwood District and Tualatin Hills AVAs, were approved in 2020. These new AVAs are located just outside of Portland, within the Willamette Valley AVA, and share characteristic Laurelwood-loess soils. Lower Long Tom AVA, Willamette's southernmost appellation, was approved in 2021. In 2022, Mount Pisgah Polk County Oregon AVA joined the ranks of nested AVA's within the Willamette.

White Wines in the Willamette Valley

Clearly this is Pinot Noir country, and David Lett receives credit for planting the Willamette Valley’s first Pinot Noir grapes. However, in 1966 he also planted the first commercial plot of Pinot Gris in North America, and an Eyrie 1970 Pinot Gris was the first wine in the United States to carry the name of the now-commonplace variety on the label. Pinot Gris, Oregon’s leading white grape and second most planted variety overall, has continued to experience great success in the marketplace, and is produced in various styles—some fruit-driven, some more textural and spicy, some dry, some finished with a little residual sugar. Still, many wineries view Pinot Gris as an entry-level wine and look to other white varieties to produce wines of contemplation.

For a region so acclimated to Pinot Noir, the Willamette Valley historically has struggled with its usual bedmate Chardonnay. In the 20th century many sought to emulate the tropical flavors and rich textures then popular amongst California Chardonnay producers but lacked the warmth and ripeness to do so successfully. Willamette Valley producers have benefitted from a return to elegance as a preference in Chardonnay style, less reliance on new oak, and a greater diversity and savvier understanding of clonal material. The original Chardonnay material, a Wente selection from Napa’s Spring Mountain Vineyards, came with David Lett in 1965. At David Adelsheim’s behest, Dijon Chardonnay clones arrived in the 1980s and were first released from quarantine at the end of the decade. They were immediately adopted by Argyle, Domaine Drouhin, and others, and have adapted more successfully in the cooler climate of the Willamette Valley than in California. Today most new plantings are Dijon clones, but growers are increasingly exploring the potential of massale selections as the clones adapt to their new home in Oregon. Willamette Valley Chardonnay has long been sidelined, but in the 2010s Oregon’s second most planted white variety is experiencing a revival of fortunes.

Riesling and Pinot Blanc are the Willamette’s third and fourth most planted varieties, respectively, and both are capable of generating great wines. As in Washington, Riesling became a popular variety in the 1970s and once accounted for almost one-quarter of the young wine state’s total production. Richard Sommer first planted Riesling in Umpqua Valley in 1961, but today most of the 700-odd acres of the variety are cultivated in the Willamette Valley. The Oregon Riesling Alliance, a trade organization, counts over three-dozen wineries as members; most are likewise located in the northern Willamette Valley. (Brooks Winery, located in the Eola-Amity Hills, is one of the grape’s most passionate advocates in the state, producing numerous single vineyard bottlings across the entire spectrum of sweetness.) Pinot Blanc is also showing promise, despite a total state acreage of fewer than 250 acres in 2014. The grape had a rougher entry into Oregon—the “Pinot Blanc” among David Lett’s original UC Davis cuttings turned out to be Mélon de Bourgogne, and the real thing wasn’t available for commercial planting until the mid-1980s. Cameron Winery produced Oregon’s first Pinot Blanc in 1988.

Southern Oregon

AVAs: Southern Oregon, Rogue Valley, Umpqua Valley, Red Hill Douglas County Oregon, Elkton Oregon, Applegate Valley

Past Eugene, the southern Willamette Valley tapers to a point and the landscape becomes progressively more mountainous as one nears the California border. The Cascade, Coast, and Klamath Ranges merge and tangle, creating numerous small, sheltered valleys. Amidst these mountains two winegrowing regions, the Umpqua Valley and Rogue Valley, form the 2,285,000-acre Southern Oregon AVA, an aggregate AVA stretching 125 miles from south of Eugene to the California border. Its northern boundary is nearly adjacent to the last southern sliver of the Willamette Valley AVA, yet the two regions are worlds apart in terms of recognition. When wine consumers—and frankly, much of the trade—hear Oregon, they immediately think of Pinot Noir and its home base, Willamette Valley. Wines from the south are unknown. The Southern Oregon AVA thus debuted in 2004 to arm its various winegrowing regions with a cohesive identity in the marketplace, a means of differentiation. It represents a reversal of the typical approach, in which a broad winegrowing region is first delimited and sub-regions gain individual AVA acceptance afterward. Here, the Umpqua Valley and Rogue Valley AVAs were already in place, granted in 1984 and 1991, respectively.

The climate of Southern Oregon AVA’s valleys has more in common with inland Northern Californian regions—think Lake County—than the Willamette. The growing season here is truncated, with a greater danger of early fall frosts than in the prime vineyards of the Willamette Valley. Diurnal shifts are often greater, and growing degree-day medians across the southern AVAs tend to be 100-300 higher (°C) than in the Willamette Valley’s AVAs. In those smaller areas where most grapes are actually grown, degree-day averages throughout a season can be closer to 1000° higher. Nonetheless, the AVAs of Southern Oregon are generally considered Region I, and Pinot Noir still represents about one-fifth of the total plantings in the southern part of the state—and it’s a poorly kept state secret that a lot of this fruit supplements the production of wineries further north. Syrah, Merlot, and Pinot Gris also enjoy substantial acreage in the south, prodded along by its slightly warmer climate. Greg Jones, who authored the Southern Oregon AVA petition, draws some comparisons between the climates of Ribera del Duero in Spain and the Umpqua Valley; as such Tempranillo shows great promise in Southern Oregon and makes up about 5% of the total vineyard.

Umpqua Valley

AVAs: Umpqua Valley, Elkton Oregon, Red Hill Douglas County, Oregon

The Umpqua Valley AVA surrounds the city of Roseburg in Douglas County, at the heart of Oregon’s timber industry. It encompasses the entirety of the Umpqua River watershed and its many interconnected valleys—the “hundred valleys of the Umpqua,” formed by the river and its tributaries as they meander toward the ocean. The AVA is 65 miles long by 25 miles wide, and it contains two nested AVAs: Elkton Oregon AVA, its coolest and wettest sector; and Red Hill Douglas County, Oregon AVA, a remote area with only a small handful of vineyards, where the ground is colored red by Jory soils.

As in other parts of Oregon, winegrowing in the Umpqua Valley has 19th-century roots. In modern-day Red Hill Douglas County, Jesse Applegate planted the region’s first vineyard near the town of Yoncalla in 1876. His grapes were likely destined for the table, but two German immigrants, Edward and John Von Pessl, planted vinifera vines and actually produced wines near Roseburg in the 1880s. Adam Doerner followed suit a decade later. Doerner’s winery survived Prohibition and its founder’s death, remaining in operation through 1965—long enough to witness the beginning of a new age in Umpqua, and Oregon, wine.

In 1961, Richard Sommer discarded his UC Davis colleagues’ criticisms of Oregon’s suitability for quality winegrowing, and bought a farm in Umpqua Valley. Sommer planted Oregon’s first Pinot Noir grapes (right next to a plot of Cabernet Sauvignon) and established what is now the state’s oldest estate winery, Hillcrest Vineyards. Spurred by Sommer’s successes, Paul Bjelland founded the now-defunct Bjelland Vineyards in Umpqua Valley in 1968 and the Oregon Winegrowers Association in 1969. Scott Henry, inventor of the double-curtain trellising system that bears his name, founded Henry Estate in Umpqua Valley in 1972. Jonicole Vineyards (now Spangler) broke ground in 1973. In a region known historically for its lumber and cattle, wine grapes slowly gained a new foothold. Today, there are about 1,500 acres of wine grapes in Umpqua Valley and nearly three-dozen producers of wine. Abacela, founded by Greg Jones’ father Earl in the mid-1990s, is the appellation’s leading producer, making a case for world-class Tempranillo in Oregon. The estate vineyards of King Estates, the largest producer in Oregon and a key early proponent of Pinot Gris, are positioned just outside of the Umpqua Valley AVA boundary, southwest of Eugene.

Rogue Valley

AVAs: Rogue Valley, Applegate Valley

Rogue Valley AVA is Oregon’s southernmost winegrowing region, comprising the Valley of the Rogue River itself and those of three tributaries: Illinois Valley, Applegate Valley, and Bear Creek Valley. Overall, the Rogue Valley is the warmest winegrowing region in all of Oregon, with some areas recording Region II heat summation levels comparable to Bordeaux. In warmer years, like 2013 and 2014, the heat summation tallies can even reach levels commensurate with Region III. The region’s most densely planted areas are the hillsides of the Applegate Valley, an independent AVA since 2000; and Bear Creek, the warmest and most inland of Rogue Valley’s sub-regions, stretching between Medford and Ashland. The Illinois Valley is nearest to the coast, where the climate can be cooler and rainy, but the sheer size of the Klamath Range limits maritime influence throughout much of the AVA. The peaks here tower above those of the Coast Range further north, often reaching 7,000-8,000 ft. in elevation and sapping moisture from the Pacific air. In their rain shadow, Applegate Valley and Bear Creek Valley are the driest winegrowing areas west of the Cascades in Oregon, recording as little as 10-18 inches annually in some years. In Applegate Valley vineyard elevations ascend to almost 2,000 ft. above sea level, making it the highest point for viticulture in Oregon as well.

The Rogue River cuts due west through the Klamath Mountains at Grants Pass, making it the only true east-west river system south of the Columbia in Oregon (although its tributary rivers all flow northwest). Its valleys, etched deeply into the surrounding mountains, drew their first wave of white settlers in 1851 with the discovery of gold at Rich Gulch. Peter Britt, a Swiss photographer and horticulturalist, was among them; he settled near Medford and in the mid-1850s planted the region’s first vineyard with Mission grape cuttings from California. Britt founded Valley View Winery in the 1870s and planted a wealth of new vinifera grapes, possibly even Pinot Noir. But Prohibition killed the small Rogue Valley wine industry, and in the modern era the Rogue Valley got a slower start than the Umpqua Valley. A smattering of tiny vineyards appeared by the early 1970s, and in 1978 Siskiyou Winery (Illinois Valley) and a new, unrelated Valley View Winery (Applegate Valley) were bonded as the first wineries in the Rogue Valley’s modern rebirth as a winegrowing region.

By the end of the 2000s, the Rogue Valley AVA contained over 40 wineries and more than 110 vineyards. Average vineyard plots tend to be smaller in the Rogue Valley than in the Umpqua Valley—often six or seven acres apiece rather than 18 or 20—but the AVA’s most famous vineyard site, Del Rio, is also its largest, with 375 acres of vines. Several major producers are based in the Rogue Valley, including Bridgeview and Foris, and the smaller biodynamic estate Cowhorn has emerged as a quality leader for Rhône-style white and red wines in the region.

Idaho

While Washington and Oregon dominate the conversation about Pacific Northwest wines today, some of the region’s most celebrated early wines were actually produced in Idaho. In 1872 the French-born Louis Delsol pioneered commercial grapegrowing in Lewiston, a town near the Washington border and today part of the Lewis-Clark Valley AVA. In Hiram Taylor French’s History of Idaho, the early 20th-century historian claims he planted vinifera, such as the Muscat grape Black Hamburg. Inspired by Delsol’s successes, an Alsatian immigrant named Robert Schleicher established a vineyard spanning over 100 acres in the early 1880s. He imported Bordeaux varieties and the resulting wines won awards from Seattle to St. Louis. Such promising beginnings, however, were snuffed out by the years of Prohibition. Wine grapes completely disappeared from Idaho until a Snake River Valley vineyard was planted in 1970.

The Snake River Valley AVA, approved in 2007 and shared with Oregon, is the heart of Idaho’s modern, nascent wine industry. Within the Snake River Valley, Eagle Foothills AVA was approved in late 2015 as the first viticultural area located entirely within the state of Idaho. The Lewis-Clark Valley AVA, Idaho’s historical center of viticulture, finally achieved AVA status in early 2016. It is located further north and crosses the Washington border.

Bibliography

Gregutt, Paul. Washington Wines & Wineries. 2nd Ed. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2010

Pinney, Thomas. A History of Wine in America From the Beginnings to Prohibition. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1989

Purser, J. Elizabeth and Lawrence Allen. The Wines of the Pacific Northwest. Vashon Island, WA: Harbor House Publishing, 1977.

Thanks to the Washington Wine Commission, Greg Harrington MS, Chris Figgins, Jason Lett, Mimi Casteel, and Greg Jones for their help in reviewing this guide

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Viticulture

GuildSomm Admin — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 18:26:19 GMT

Current Revision posted to Expert Guides by GuildSomm Admin on 8/13/2026 6:26:19 PM

Domestication of the Grapevine
Vine Anatomy
Grapevine Taxonomy
Climate
Soil
Vineyard Establishment
A Year in the Vineyard
Vineyard Operations
Pests & Diseases
Farming Philosophies
The Future of Farming
Bibliography

Grapes are a unique agricultural product. While more than half go toward the production of wine, they are also grown to be dried into raisins or eaten fresh. Grapes command more return per acre than almost any other plant, and in 2018, a single hectare of grand cru vineyard in Burgundy cost over seven million dollars on average. Further, unlike many crops that are planted each growing season, vineyards are a long-term investment—they require several years to become established and are designed to survive for decades.

Unlike many commodity plants, the profitability of wine grapes is driven by quality, which includes the grape’s ability to convey a unique sense of place. While other agricultural crops look to new varieties for flavor improvement, disease resistance, and adaptations to climate, most wine producers rely on a small number of established cultivars. Site selection and vineyard practices, however, are critical, since improvement is achieved through management of the vine’s environment.

Domestication of the Grapevine

Grapes were one of the first fruits to be domesticated by humans. In ancient times, they were prized for their high levels of sugar, a source of both nutrition and novelty. Most of the grape varieties used in wine production belong to a single species, Vitis vinifera, which was first domesticated from wild grapevines, called Vitis vinifera subsp. sylvestris (or Vitis sylvestris), at least 7,000 years ago in the land between the Black, Caspian, and Mediterranean Seas. As nomadic people settled into an agrarian lifestyle, they carried grapevines south to Mesopotamia. Domestic vinifera grapes were spread from the Fertile Crescent throughout the Mediterranean and Europe, driven by the westward migration of farming communities and, eventually, the expansion of the Roman Empire. Vitis sylvestris is native to Europe and Western Asia, and wild grapevines still inhabit these areas. Some evidence indicates that there may have been other centers of domestication of Vitis sylvestris, including sites in the Iberian Peninsula and Southern Italy.

Over time, a collection of grape varieties was generated through the process of evolution, breeding, and human selection. Today, roughly 10,000 grape cultivars exist, with over 1,400 in commercial production, and grapegrowing has spread to hospitable zones throughout the world.

Grapevines are lianas: unlike trees, they do not produce extensive wooden support systems but are instead “structural parasites,” climbing on trees for support. They are also phototrophs, or sunseekers, and invest most of their energy into producing leaves and tall shoots, since rapid vertical growth is essential for competition with other plants for vital sunlight. In nature, grapevines invest little energy in fruit production, yielding just enough scraggly clusters to ensure proliferation. Wild vines are also dioecious, which means that both male and females plants exist, and successful fertilization relies on wind and insects for pollination. Male plants bare no fruit, and female plants are only fruitful when a male plant is nearby.

By contrast, since domesticated grapevines are cultivated for their fruit, they have been selected and managed to be prolific. Hermaphroditic, self-pollinating varieties were likely chosen initially, since these vines would have reliably produced more fruit. In addition to high yields, the selection of vines suitable for agriculture favored those with other beneficial characteristics, including large clusters, adaptations to the growing environment, and resistance to disease. The ability to attain the high sugar concentrations necessary for wine production, as well as taste, aroma, and appearance, also factored into selection. Analogous to a house cat and a lion, domestic vines have diverged significantly from those found in nature.

Hills in the Napa Valley (Photo credit: Jennifer Angelosante)

While the romantic notion of a vineyard paints it as a natural space with little intervention, it is more akin to a highly cultivated garden, organized for both ease of use and optimization of yields and fruit quality. Rows facilitate management and allow tractors and other equipment to access the vines easily. Grapes are propagated vegetatively, generally grafted to a different species’ roots, and trained into small shrubs to facilitate management. Annual pruning dictates the number of shoots that will form in the following year and where they will be located. Growers often impose moderately stressful conditions, such as limited water availability, to encourage the vine to limit its vegetative growth and concentrate its energy on fruit production. By taming and training them, humans have coaxed vines to defy their nature in order to be cultivated effectively for food and wine production.

Vine Anatomy

Grapevines are perennial, deciduous plants that have a permanent woody frame consisting of a trunk, cordons, canes, and spur positions. Below the ground, an extensive root system anchors the vine and provides an interface with the soil, which supplies water and nutrients to the plant. A vine’s root system is mostly located within the top three feet of soil and consists of mature roots, which survive year to year, and smaller feeder roots, which grow anew each year. Often, Vitis vinifera is grafted onto a phylloxera-resistant rootstock. Grafted vines consist of an above-the-ground portion called the scion, which is joined to the rootstock at the graft union, visible a few inches above the vineyard floor. Some rootstock species develop deep root systems, while others grow more laterally.

Credit: Laura Perrone

A grapevine’s trunk is analogous to that of a tree; it’s the permanent, vertical structure. Cordons, canes, or spur positions may be attached to the trunk, though the vine’s form will ultimately depend on pruning decisions made during the first few years of the vine’s life.

A cane-pruned vine after winter pruning, with dormant buds visible along the cane
(Photo credit: GuildSomm)

Canes are shoots grown in the previous growing season that have lignified, or turned brown. After pruning, they are generally one to four feet long. Spurs, however, are canes that have been trimmed to a length of several inches. Cordons are horizontal extensions of the trunk and have a number of spur positions located along them. Along a cane, there are dormant buds, and spurs generally contain between one and three buds. During the growing season, these buds develop into fruiting shoots. Every few inches along each shoot, there are nodes, which resemble knuckles, and the portion of stem between nodes is called the internode. Leaves, buds, clusters, and tendrils are joined to each shoot at the node. Collectively, all of the vegetative green growth that develops during the growing season is called the canopy.

Two types of buds are located at each node, between the leaf and the stem: lateral buds and dormant buds. Each bud contains a highly compressed potential shoot. Lateral buds develop into shoots called laterals during the current growing season. These are side shoots that branch off of the main fruiting shoots. They are typically non-fruiting but may produce small clusters known as second crop. Laterals are often trimmed or removed through canopy management to prevent overcrowding and shading. Dormant buds, also called latent buds, spend the year maturing and develop into shoots in future years. As a rule, the dormant buds that formed last year, on canes and spurs from one-year-old wood, are the most fruitful. Dormant buds on older wood may also develop into unwanted shoots called suckers. Generally, suckers will not produce any fruit, and they are removed while they are small.

Credit: Laura Perrone

At each node, a single leaf develops, adjacent to the buds. Leaves are the powerhouse of grapevines, where photosynthesis takes place, and petioles are their stems, connecting leaf and shoot.

A small lateral shoot and dormant bud are visible in the “elbow” at the node between the leaf and main shoot (Photo credit: Jennifer Angelosante)

Clusters are located at nodes near the base of the vine. Most shoots contain between one and three clusters, with two being most common, though the typical number varies by grape variety. Carignan, for example, is known for producing three clusters per shoot. The area of the vine where the fruit is growing is described as the fruit zone. Long, thin coils called tendrils support the vine by wrapping around and attaching to trellises, trees, or other supports. Technically, they are modified flower clusters, though the two bear no resemblance to each other. Clusters and tendrils develop along each shoot in a “hit, hit, miss” pattern. The first few nodes closest to the base of the vine typically have neither. Then, every two nodes have either a cluster or a tendril, while every third node has neither, with the pattern continuing up the shoot.

In the beginning of the season, inflorescences, or flower clusters that resemble immature grape clusters, are found on each fruitful shoot. These clusters were actually initiated within the buds during the previous growing season, with the number of clusters determined at that time. Every flower has the potential to be fertilized and become a berry during bloom, and flower clusters are transformed into grape clusters at fruit set. The stem of the cluster is called the rachis. Berries have a thick waxy coating known as bloom that protects the fruit from disease, prevents berry dehydration, and collects yeasts and other microbes useful during fermentation; within most berries are two or three seeds.

Ampelography is the science of identifying grape varieties based on morphology. Clusters and berries vary in shape and size, and, along with leaf characteristics and the vine’s overall growth patterns, these attributes are used to identify grape species and varieties based on their unique patterns.

Grapevine Function

Plants create sugar from carbon dioxide and light through the process of photosynthesis, which takes place primarily in the leaves but may occur in any green plant tissue. Afterward, sugar is transported throughout the vine to be used for growth and development, and also into the fruit during ripening. Plants have a fluid transport system akin to veins in humans. The xylem carries water and nutrients from the roots throughout the vine, while the phloem carries sugar from the leaves throughout the plant.

A subsequent reaction, respiration, converts sugar into usable energy called adenosine triphosphate, or ATP. This reaction requires oxygen and releases carbon dioxide and is required for vine growth and development. It occurs in every part of the plant, including the roots, both day and night.

During photosynthesis, carbon dioxide in the environment is taken in through microscopic pores in the leaves called stomates. When the stomates are open, water vapor is released from the plant into the atmosphere through transpiration. During periods of stress, especially hydric stress, the vine will close its stomates to conserve water, halting photosynthesis and slowing respiration.

Vine Balance

A vine with ample water and nutrients will develop a large canopy with fast-growing shoots. Vine vigor refers to the amount of vegetative growth produced by a vine, and it is assessed through several markers, including shoot length and diameter, the number of shoots per vine, and the vine’s tendency to produce laterals and suckers. Vigor may be quantified through pruning weight, which is literally the weight of the material that is removed from the vine at pruning, sampled across a selection of vines.

Excessive vegetative growth can be detrimental to fruit quality and quantity. Overly vigorous vines put too much energy into growing shoots and leaves, resulting in a large, shady canopy. Shaded buds will develop into less productive shoots, reducing the overall quantity of fruit over time and exacerbating the imbalance. Fruit quality is often compromised through increased disease pressure and lack of light in the fruit zone.

A vine’s capacity is the optimum amount of fruit, or yield, it is able to produce, given its specific conditions. Vines that carry too much fruit for their frame may not be able to successfully ripen it, especially in marginal climates, and will weaken over time, further reducing capacity. On the other hand, if too little fruit is left, the vine will become more vigorous, and the amount of fruit produced will gradually decrease. There is a general belief that balanced vines make balanced wines. Vine balance considers vegetative versus fruit growth. The Ravaz Index, the ratio of fruit weight to pruning weight, is one metric used for assessment. Ratios of 4 to 10 are generally considered balanced. Growers also look at the length of shoots and internodes, targeting three- to four-inch internodes and roughly four-foot shoots.

Growers coax vines toward balance through planting decisions, including choice of rootstock and trellis systems, as well as vineyard operations, such as pruning and irrigation. Balanced vines pay off, maximizing yields and fruit quality. Yet it’s important to recognize that balance can take many forms. Larger vines have more capacity for fruit production, and vines grown on fertile soils will have more vigor and thus more capacity than those grown on weaker soils. In this scenario, the vine may be more balanced carrying five tons per acre rather than half of that. Appropriate yields should not be prescribed without understanding the conditions of the site.

Grapevine Taxonomy

Vitis vinifera, also called the European grapevine, includes many of the wine and table grapes. It belongs to the family Vitaceae, along with other common vine plants like Boston ivy and Virginia creeper. Most cultivated grape species belong to the genus Vitis and have 38 chromosomes, while others belong to the genus Muscadinia, formerly considered a subspecies of Vitis, with 40 chromosomes. Beyond vinifera, several other Vitis species are significant in viticulture. Vitis rupestris, Vitis riparia, and Vitis berlandieri are common rootstock species, and Vitis labrusca, Muscadinia rotundifolia, and Vitis amurensis are occasionally used in winemaking. Within each species, there are many cultivars, often called varieties in a wine context.

A selection of grape species and cultivars; those cultivars not marked as hybrids are crossings. Note that Muscadinia is considered by some to be a sub-genera of Vitis. (Credit: Laura Perrone)

Both species and varieties have been interbred. The offspring of two varieties belonging to the same species are known as crossings, and examples include Chardonnay, Riesling, Merlot, and almost all other cultivars used in winemaking. The products of interspecies breeding are called hybrids; rootstocks and niche wine grapes like Rondo, Chambourcin, and Vidal Blanc are examples. Crossings and hybrids have been bred to incorporate the desirable characteristics of both parents. For instance, Frontenac is a hybrid that combines the cold hardiness and resistance to fungal diseases of Vitis labrusca, with a flavor profile more similar to vinifera. (Labrusca varieties are often marked by a grapey flavor described as “foxy” that is generally not preferred in wine.) Throughout history, grape breeding has occasionally been intentional but more often occurs in nature.

Cultivars

Crossings of Vitis vinifera are responsible for the tens of thousands of cultivars that exist. Pinot Noir, Savagnin, and Gouais Blanc are old varieties, believed to be closely related to Vitis sylvestris, and found in the lineage of many common European grape varieties. Most crossings arose naturally, but a few well-known examples are products of breeding. The teinturier grape Alicante Bouschet, whose durability and deep color made it popular with home winemakers during Prohibition, was produced by crossing Petit Bouschet, also an intensely colored teinturier with thick skins, with fruit-forward Grenache. Müller-Thurgau, once a very important variety in Germany, was produced from Riesling and Madeleine Royale in an attempt to develop an earlier-ripening grape with Riesling-like aromatics. South Africa’s signature grape, Pinotage, was bred to combine the elegance of Pinot Noir with the hardiness and productivity of Cinsault.

From an evolutionary perspective, vinifera grape varieties are organized into three proles, indicating the primary center of their cultivation, evidenced by their physical characteristics. Proles pontica, which includes Zinfandel, Furmint, and Vermentino, is native to the Aegean and Black Seas and has more jagged leaf blades; white hair on the underside of the leaves; mid-sized clusters; and small-to-medium, round berries. Proles occidentalis is native to Western Europe and includes most international grape varieties, such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Riesling. Occidentalis has convex leaves; small, compact bunches; and small, round berries. Proles orientalis is native to the Middle East, Iran, and Afghanistan and has large leaves, bunches, and berries with an oval shape. Muscat, Cinsault, and most table grape varieties are examples.

Grape varieties differ significantly from one another, both in terms of wine flavor and environmental adaptations, as a result of their unique genetics. Every variety is hardwired to produce different amounts of flavor, color, and tannin. The chemical pathways that create each of these may be upregulated, where the production of a compound is increased, or downregulated, where that production is decreased, in response to the environment. For example, grapes under water stress will produce more tannin than those with an ample water supply, even after accounting for the difference in berry size. Varieties also exhibit different behavior. Some go through budbreak a couple of weeks earlier than others, some require more heat accumulation in order to achieve ripeness, and varieties differ when it comes to yield potential, vine vigor, and tolerance to environmental stressors.

The grape varieties are usually divided into red (or black) and white grapes, though pink (or gray) versions exist as well, such as Gewürztraminer and Pinot Gris. White grapes can be further characterized as aromatic, partially aromatic, and non-aromatic, primarily resulting from the grape’s propensity to form monoterpenes, compounds responsible for flavors of rose, lychee, and orange blossom. Red grapes differ in their amount of color and its hue. In both cases, levels of acidity and tannin vary, and each grape has a unique flavor profile.

Clones

Clones are variants within a grape variety that differ slightly in terms of morphology or behavior. Grapevines are prone to mutations that arise from errors during cell division, and the genetic variation that results is the major source of clonal differences. Mutations can affect a single bud, leaf, or flower. When a bud is affected, the single resulting shoot may bear some distinction from the parent vine. Cuttings taken from this shoot would constitute a unique clone that may differ from the parent plant in terms of grape color, ripening dates, yields, berry and cluster morphology, and flavor characteristics. Viral infection also influences gene expression and is another source of clonal variation. The Gingin clone of Chardonnay that is popular in Western Australia, for example, was confirmed to have grapevine leafroll virus, believed to be responsible for some of its positive attributes, including low yields. When clonal selection is performed in a nursery, virus-infected vines are heat-treated to remove the virus before they are propagated and distributed.

Old varieties typically exhibit more clonal diversity. Pinot Noir is thought to be at least 2,000 years old, and as a result, many diverse clones exist. As mutations accumulate over time, significant changes may result in the mutant being renamed as an entirely different variety. Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc, Pinot Meunier, and Pinot Teinturier are considered by many to be separate varieties, but each is technically a clone of Pinot. Similarly, the highly aromatic, pink Gewürztraminer is a mutation of Savagnin Blanc.

Hybrids

Grape Breeding

Grape breeding is a slow, laborious process that relies on old-fashioned techniques. Parent breeds are selected and hundreds of offspring created through intentional cross-pollination. These new varieties are grown for several years, characterized, and selected for desirable traits.

Today, most breeding programs seek to create varieties that are tolerant to disease and better adapted to the effects of climate change, including drought. While new grapes struggle to gain commercial acceptance, researchers believe they still have a place in viticulture. In 2020, UC Davis released five new Pierce’s disease-resistant varieties with 97% vinifera parentage, created by Dr. Andy Walker. Although these grapes may not be accepted for winemaking, except perhaps as blending grapes, they could be planted around the perimeter of an existing vineyard to shield it from intruders.

Hybrid grape varieties allow for viticulture in environments where grapes would not otherwise grow successfully. In America in the early and mid-1800s, vinifera was interbred with native American grape species like Vitis labrusca and Vitis aestivalis that are better adapted to the cold winters and humid, disease-prone summers of much of the Eastern United States. The resulting hybrid varieties include Clinton, Catawba, Delaware, Herbemont, Isabella, Niagara, Noah, and Norton. While some of these are used for wine, many are considered better suited to fruit juice and jam on account of their foxy flavors. Hybrids tend to be high yielding, and the resulting wine is generally regarded as inferior to that of pure Vitis vinifera.

After the introduction of phylloxera and powdery and downy mildews to Europe, French researchers looked to hybrids to instill pest and disease resistance until better treatments were found. Beginning in the late 1800s, a large number of French hybrids were generated, including Baco Noir and Blanc, Chambourcin, Chancellor, Couderc Noir, Plantet, Villard Noir and Blanc, Seibel, and Seyval Blanc. These played an important role in European wine production from the late 1800s until the mid-1900s. By the end of the 1950s, hybrid grapes covered one-third of France’s vineyard area. Subsidies encouraged producers to replant vineyards to vinifera grapes, and by the late 1980s, hybrid varieties accounted for only 3% of European production. Today, most hybrids are not permitted by the EU for PDO wine production, though exceptions exist. The German Rondo and Regent, used for their disease resistance and cold tolerance, are most common.

French hybrids like Vidal Blanc, Vignoles, Chambourcin, Seyval Blanc, and Maréchal Foch are more typical in vineyards in Eastern and Midwestern North America, along with newer varieties like Cayuga White, Chardonel, Frontenac, and Traminette, which were bred to withstand winter freeze. Japan’s signature grape, Koshu, is a vinifera-dominant hybrid crossed with the East Asian species Vitis davidii. Hybrid grapes are considered by some to be more sustainable, since many are disease resistant and require significantly less use of fungicides.

Rootstocks

When a vine is grafted, some characteristics of the rootstock are conferred to the scion. While rootstocks were first developed for phylloxera resistance, today, they have other adaptations that may be beneficial to a vine, as they differ in terms of vigor, drought tolerance, resistance to pests and diseases, and adaptations to various soil conditions.

Most rootstocks are hybrids of non-vinifera grape species, especially North American varieties. Three species are frequently encountered: Vitis riparia, Vitis rupestris, and Vitis berlandieri. Other examples include Vitis champinii, Muscadinia rotundifolia, and Vitis solonis. Offspring of these species usually demonstrate characteristics inherited from both of their parents. By knowing the general attributes of each, the behaviors of their offspring can be better understood.

Berlandieri leaves (left) are dark green and leathery, those of riparia (center) are large and pale, and those of rupestris (right) are small and smooth (Photo credit: Jennifer Angelosante)

Vitis riparia is native to riparian areas, or those alongside rivers, throughout much of eastern and central North America, where it grows up trees. Because its native habitat is near water, riparia forms shallow, fibrous roots and is not drought tolerant. Riparia induces low vigor and early ripening in the scion and confers phylloxera resistance. It is easy to propagate but does not do well in lime soils. Riparia Gloire is a pure riparia rootstock.
Vitis rupestris is native to the American South. A shrubby vine that thrives in rocky creek beds and nutrient-poor areas, it grows extensive roots, resulting in drought tolerance in deep soils. Rupestris is vigorous and will induce large canopies in the scion when planted on fertile soils. It is resistant to phylloxera and somewhat tolerant of nematodes and viruses, so it may result in less virus expression. Rupestris is easy to propagate. St. George is a pure rupestris rootstock.
Vitis berlandieri is native to deep limestone soils in Texas and a good choice for use on alkaline soils. Berlandieri develops deep roots and confers some drought tolerance. It induces later ripening and has variable phylloxera tolerance. Berlandieri vines will not root from dormant cuttings so must be bred with another vine in order to be commercially viable.

An expanded list of rootstocks can be found in the Compendium

Climate

The environmental conditions within the vineyard play an important role in shaping wine expression. This phenomenon has been described as terroir. While terroir has been interpreted literally to refer to vineyard soils, most definitions have expanded to encompass the influences of climate, topography, human practices, and sometimes other external biological factors such as microorganisms and virus. Whatever the precise definition, terroir is broadly understood as the elusive quality that gives a wine a sense of place and makes it a more intriguing, unique product.

The vine’s environment fosters its growth and development. Because a vine is not able to move, it must instead adapt. These adaptations often manifest themselves as differences in fruit characteristics. As an example, water-stressed vines will develop a smaller canopy that provides less shade to the fruit. Along with a host of other differences in fruit composition, berries that develop in the sun will produce more “sunscreen” phenolic compounds. Fruit ripening dynamics, and the amount of sugar, acid, tannin, and flavor, are all impacted by environmental conditions. It is for this reason that wine is often said to reflect the place in which it’s grown.

Climate refers to the patterns and overall amount of heat, sunlight, precipitation, and wind that characterize a region. A related and often confused concept is weather, which describes these properties over a short period. Climate is the long-term average of weather over time. It is often separated into three spheres of influence: macro-, meso-, and microclimate. Macroclimate describes the climate of a larger region, spanning tens to hundreds of miles. While not well defined, mesoclimate identifies a smaller area, a single vineyard or a region that perhaps spans tens of miles and might be impacted by local geographical features like smaller bodies of water, topography, and soil conditions. Microclimate describes the environment directly around the vine and fruit. While this is influenced by the vineyard site, human practices such as trellis systems and canopy management play an important and often underappreciated role in shaping the environment.

While some climates are inhospitable to grapegrowing, many grape varieties can be grown in a range of climates and soil types. Chardonnay, for example, grows successfully across disparate regions, as it can be appreciated in a range of styles. Each climate, of course, offers its own unique challenges. Grapes grown in climates that are too warm may ripen early, at the detriment of flavor and acidity, while grapes grown in cool climates may not ripen sufficiently, also impacting flavor. Wet climates may have elevated disease pressure, while overly dry climates may not provide enough water to sustain growth.

Climate Classifications

Climate classifications consider patterns of temperature and precipitation to give a high-level synopsis of weather patterns and potential hazards. They are a convenient means of comparing regions to one another. While grapes are often associated with Mediterranean climates, some wine regions are better described as maritime, continental, or even subtropical. Mediterranean and maritime climates are moderate, with a small range between summer and winter temperatures. Continental climates have a more dramatic temperature swing throughout the year and experience the classic four seasons. Mediterranean climates have wet winters but receive little rain during the growing season, while maritime and continental climates receive rain year-round. Burgundy, Austria’s Wachau, and Mendoza are typically considered continental; Bordeaux, New Zealand’s Hawkes Bay, and Oregon’s Willamette Valley are maritime; and Tuscany, the Barossa Valley, and Stellenbosch, South Africa, are best described as Mediterranean. While labels are convenient, it’s useful to think of these classifications as a spectrum, with most regions falling in between specific definitions.

Vines are temperate plants and require a dormant season prior to budbreak. As a result, climates without sufficiently cold winter temperatures are not suitable for wine grape production. Tropical climates, for instance, have little temperature variation throughout the year and are not suited to wine grapes, but there are subtropical regions where grapegrowing occurs, including parts of eastern Australia, Madeira, and the Canary Islands. Often, grapes grown in these climates are made into fortified wines, where the effect of the vineyard site is arguably less important than the impact of winemaking.

In the EU, wine regions are classified into zones depending by climate, and certain practices including chaptalization, acid adjustments, and minimum potential alcohol requirements are governed by zone. Germany, the Loire, Champagne, Alsace, and Austria belong to Zones A and B, which are permitted to enrich wine by 3% ABV and deacidify, but not acidify. Portugal, Southern Spain, Southern Italy, and parts of Greece belong to Zone CIIIb. They may acidify, but not deacidify, and enrich to a lesser extent.

The Köppen-Geiger climate classifications divide regions into five main groups—tropical, dry, temperate, continental, and polar—and then further into subgroups based on temperature and precipitation patterns. Under this scheme, most winegrowing regions are categorized as temperate. While this is a very precise and well-defined index, it is seldomly referenced in regard to wine.

Environmental Factors

Differences in climate can be distilled into a few key properties that are fundamental to a vine’s development: heat, light, water, and nutrients. Without sufficient amounts of each of these, a vine will not be fruitful and, in extreme cases, cannot survive.

Temperature

It has been said that temperature is the metronome of plants. Heat drives vine growth and development, and many of a plant’s metabolic processes are temperature dependent. In warm climates, vines grow and develop more quickly, and fruit ripens earlier. Vine growth occurs between 50 and 95 degrees Fahrenheit, where mid-70s Fahrenheit is optimal. At lower temperatures, vines are dormant, and at temperatures over 95 degrees, vine growth and fruit ripening may shut down to conserve water. In hot weather, the microclimate around the canopy may actually be significantly cooler than the ambient temperature, as the vine cools itself through transpiration provided that it has a sufficient supply of water. Frigid temperatures can lead to injury and even vine death if precautions are not taken.

Temperature affects both the quality and quantity of grapes. At bloom, it impacts the number of berries that will develop in the current growing season as well as the number of clusters that form the following year. Warmer temperatures result in higher yields, and vines will develop more capacity to support the additional crop.

Understanding a growing region’s temperature profile, which includes both the overall amount of heat and patterns of accumulation, helps growers predict which grape varieties will be most successful. Varieties differ in the amount of heat needed to ripen. It is often claimed that the best quality wine comes from marginal climates where heat accumulation is just sufficient to ripen the grapes, with classic illustrations being Pinot Noir in Burgundy and Riesling in the Mosel. Flavor profiles are impacted, too. Warmer climates tend to yield fruitier wines, with higher alcohol, lower acidity, and softer tannins, but overripeness is a risk if harvest occurs later in the season. In cooler climates, wine may have lower alcohol, higher acidity, more astringent tannins, and fresh fruit and savory flavors; in some years, however, wines may be underripe and lacking flavor.

Heat indices are used to guide varietal selection and to compare climates, estimating the amount of heat that accumulates throughout the growing season as the product of temperature and time. In the United States, the Winkler Index is frequently used to categorize viticultural areas with similar accumulation of “growing degree days” from April 1 to October 31. A region’s degree days are calculated by taking the average daily temperature minus 50 degrees Fahrenheit from every day within this range and summing them. The correction of 50 degrees is used to acknowledge that below this temperature, little shoot growth takes place. The Winkler Index is easily employed, but because it does not account for day length, it is not applicable to all regions. Elsewhere, the Huglin Index, which accounts for latitude, is more common.

Growing degree days are calculated from April to October in the Northern Hemisphere and October to April in the Southern Hemisphere.

While heat summation is a useful metric, the pattern of heat accumulation is also important. A moderate climate with a long growing season may experience the same overall heat accumulation as a warmer climate that has a short season, but each will impact the fruit differently. Two important concepts related to heat accumulation patterns are continentality and diurnal shift. Diurnal shift describes the difference between day and nighttime temperatures. In warm climates, a large diurnal shift is often thought to be important for wine quality as it seems to preserve acidity and flavors. In marginal climates, warm nights may assist in developing acid and flavors.

Continentality is the difference between summer and winter temperatures. Continental climates have wide temperature swings throughout the year and are more prone to spring and fall frost. Continentality can be assessed by comparing the average temperature during the warmest and coolest months of the year.

Growing season average temperatures are also used to compare regions. Averages are calculated from April to October in the Northern Hemisphere and October to April in the Southern Hemisphere.

Light

Sunlight is essential for plant growth. Light in the canopy fuels photosynthesis, which drives plant growth and development and creates sugar that facilitates fruit ripening. The number of sun-exposed leaves on a vine will determine its photosynthetic capacity, where more leaves results in a higher capacity for development, as well as greater water use. About 12 to 16 leaves are required to ripen a cluster.

Metered, or dappled, sunlight improves fruit quality and quantity. Shaded buds are lessl fruitful, but ample light exposure on the shoots increases yields in the following year. Shaded berries ripen more slowly, while berries with direct light exposure can reach high temperatures, which may interfere with ripening. During a heat spike in 2017, one Napa Valley vineyard observed temperatures in excess of 140 degrees Fahrenheit in sunlit berries. Though light determines the rate of photosynthesis and therefore sugar accumulation in the fruit, other features of ripening, like acid degradation and tannin ripening, may be more tied to temperature.

Sunlight is typically considered important for flavor development. Light stimulates the production of phenolic compounds, like anthocyanin and tannin, that are considered key for red wine quality, as well as 1,1,6,-trimethyl-1,2-dihydronapthalene (TDN), the petrol flavor observed in aged Riesling. It also encourages the breakdown of pyrazine, the green bell pepper flavor associated with grapes such as Cabernet Sauvignon and Sauvignon Blanc. While sun exposure upregulates the production of certain flavor compounds, the increase in temperature can result in flavor loss, acid degradation, and sunburn.

The duration of sunlight during the day (sunshine hours) and its intensity influence vine and fruit development. Vitis vinifera is said to require at least 1,250 sunshine hours to ripen fruit. Higher-latitude regions have longer days and receive more sunshine hours, while the sunlight intensity is greater nearer to the equator. Sunlight intensity also increases with elevation, but cloud cover, pollution, and smoke can reduce the amount of sunlight that reaches the vine.

Water

Vines are incredibly resilient plants and have adapted many mechanisms to survive and potentially thrive in periods of drought. While moderate water stress is considered beneficial for wine quality, all plants need water to grow and develop optimally. Vines generally require 10 to 30 inches of rain during the growing season, though more may be necessary depending on the timing of precipitation, temperature patterns, and soil conditions. Sandy soils with low water-holding capacity, warm climates, and high-density plantings require more water. Young vines also need more frequent water additions than mature vines, as their roots are not fully developed and they cannot access water stored at deeper soil depths. Many regions receive insufficient precipitation during the growing season and rely on irrigation.

Too little water can stunt growth and development, limit yields, and delay ripening. Under severe water stress, vines close their stomates to conserve water, halting photosynthesis and plant function. Extreme drought conditions result in defoliation and, eventually, vine death. Yet wet conditions can result in excessive yields and slow ripening and encourage the vine to produce a big, vigorous canopy.

Timing is also important. An adequate amount of available water is desired early in the season so that shoots reach their full height prior to veraison, when berries change color. Once berries have formed, mild water stress helps to maintain a moderate berry size and promotes the production of phenolic compounds, which are considered integral to red wine quality. Near the end of the season, water deficit can cause dehydration, but rain near harvest can cause berries to swell and split, resulting in dilution and increased disease pressure. Late-season rain frequently reduces wine quality.

The amount of water available to the vine depends on soil conditions. Soil has a limited capacity to hold water. Heavy rainstorms can deposit a lot of water, but it may not be accessible to the vine, as some is lost through drainage or run-off. On deep soils, well-developed and deeper root systems allow a vine to source water from a larger volume of soil; shallow soils are more limited in their capacity.

The impact of water availability on vine and fruit development, and especially on wine quality, is one of the most important topics being studied in viticulture today. By providing just enough water when the vine needs it, viticulturists hope to improve wine quality and conserve precious resources.

Wind

A hoyo in Lanzarote (Photo credit: Kelli White)

Wind has a cooling and drying effect that can impact vine development. While this may help minimize disease pressure, vines may require more water, as leaves close their stomates under windy conditions to conserve water lost from the plant through transpiration. This leads to less vigorous vines and, in extreme situations, can result in delayed development. It is particularly difficult to establish a new vineyard in very windy conditions. In some instances, vine shelters and windbreaks can help protect the nascent shoots and leaves.

Along with windbreaks, other protective measures can be taken in windy climates. In Provence and the Southern Rhône, the vineyard rows may be planted parallel to the prevailing wind, with vines trained low to the ground, in order to minimize damage. In parts of coastal California, some producers have observed that rows planted perpendicular to the wind will “self-shelter,” resulting in higher sugar accumulation. Regions like Greece’s Santorini and Lanzarote in the Canary Islands have developed novel vine training systems for wind protection.

Geographical Factors

Latitude

Wine grapes generally grow between 30 and 50 degree in latitude. In lower latitudes, the vines don’t experience a dormant season, while higher latitudes are often too cold for grapes to attain ripeness, or vines may be threatened by winter freeze. Both temperature and sunlight intensity are generally higher for regions closer to the equator. Those regions further from the equator often have shorter growing seasons but longer days, which accelerates growth and development. Marginal climates may also rely on other influences that increase their viability. For instance, higher latitudes often rely on warming from bodies of water, favorable orientations, and warm air currents, while lower latitudes may benefit from cooling influences like high elevation.

Hills & Mountains

Hills and mountains can result in significant climatic diversity. The first relevant factor is altitude, which tends to reduce temperature but also increases sunlight intensity. Roughly, for every 300-foot gain in elevation, the temperature will decrease by about 1 degree Fahrenheit, and for every 1,000-foot increase, there is a 2% increase in sunlight exposure. Because cold air sinks, lower-elevation bowls trap cold air and may be more frost prone. Gravity causes soil and water to run downhill, so the bottom of the hill typically has deeper soil and more available water. Mid-slope sites are often considered best for wine quality, as they seem to have an ideal balance of soil and water conditions, along with favorable airflow to prevent frost and disease.

Vineyards in the Jura with various elevations, aspects, and orientations (Photo credit: Jennifer Angelosante)

Elevation plays a key role in diurnal shift, especially in areas prone to marine influence. Vineyards above what’s commonly called the inversion layer tend to see smaller diurnal shifts, while vineyards below this layer warm during the day and cool, sometimes drastically, at night.

Some parts of a hill are warmer and sunnier than others. Slope, or the degree of incline, is an important factor. In Côte Rôtie, inclines can exceed 55 degrees. Vineyards in the Mosel reach 70 degrees—these are considered the steepest in the world. While the sun’s position changes throughout the day and year, steeper slopes will intercept the most sunlight on average and tend to be earlier ripening. (Solar panels are positioned at an angle for the same reason.) In Burgundy, grand cru vineyards are often located mid-slope, on the steepest and earliest-ripening part of the hill.

Fog

Fog is a hallmark of many classic winegrowing regions, including Piedmont, Napa and Sonoma Valleys, and Chile’s Casablanca Valley. It generally results when warm, humid air encounters cooler air. Fog moderates temperature and can reduce the amount of sunlight reaching the vines. It also increases disease pressure. Regions that are known for botrytized wines production, such as Sauternes and Tokaj, rely on humid morning conditions for the development of noble rot.

Aspect, or orientation, is the cardinal direction that the vineyard faces. In the Northern Hemisphere, south-facing vineyards intercept the most sunlight during the day, are warmer, and usually ripen earlier than north-facing vineyards, which tend to be the coolest sites. East-facing vineyards get more morning sun, reducing early morning humidity and thus minimizing disease pressure, while west-facing vineyards are exposed during the most intense part of the day, making them more prone to sunburn. Historically, south- and southeast-facing vineyards were preferred, as these conditions facilitate ripening. Mountain ranges tend to have a windward side that experiences more weather and precipitation, with a leeward side that is drier and more protected. Alsace and Mendoza, for instance, are both located in the rain shadows of nearby mountain ranges and receive relatively little precipitation.

Bodies of Water

Many historic winegrowing regions are situated along bodies of water, as this positioning provided a means of transport as well as groundwater or a source of irrigation. As with hills, where a vineyard lies in relationship to an ocean, lake, or river will affect its climate. Water has a large heat-holding capacity and changes temperature slowly. As a result, proximity to bodies of water results in a more moderate temperature range on both a daily and annual basis. Water can also reflect sunlight onto the vines, helping vineyards to ripen earlier.

Air currents that move along water can bring cold or warm air into a region and create fog and mist that reduce the amount of sunlight reaching the vines. Viticulturally important examples include the cooling Humboldt Current off of Chile and Benguela Current in South Africa. The Gulf Stream warms much of Northern Europe, allowing grapes to ripen in locations where they otherwise might not.

Humidity is often higher near water, and this can increase disease pressure. In some cases, this is beneficial, as in morning fog that helps develop noble rot in regions known for their botrytized wines.

Fog off of the Columbia River (Photo credit: James Mantone)

Climate Change

The wine business tends to be fixated on the weather due to its profound impact on vintage variation. Because of this, grapes are considered a more sensitive barometer of climate change than other crops. The industry has collected detailed records that illustrate changes over the past 50 years, including in heat accumulation, temperature extremes, and rainfall patterns. In some areas, drought and fire are more rampant than in the past. Changes in climate could redefine quality potential and wine style in classic regions throughout the world. Thus far, they have benefited some areas. Southern England was once considered unsuitable for grapegrowing but is now showing promise for sparkling production. Classic regions in Italy, France, and Germany are producing great vintages more consistently.

Alongside any effects of climate change, significant adjustments in viticultural practices over the past 50 years have also played a role in shifting wine styles. Not long ago, many regions struggled to adequately ripen grapes. As a result, viticulture developed practices specifically intended to accelerate the ripening process, and these were widely adopted. Producers developed more efficient canopy architecture, reduced yields, irrigated less, adopted earlier-ripening clones and rootstocks, and removed diseased vines that delayed ripening. The effect of these changes on grape ripening and wine style should not be underestimated.

Today, producers are looking to viticultural practices to slow ripening. Cooler sites that were historically less desirable, like those with a north-facing aspect, may be preferred in the future. In some cases, producers are even looking to new varieties; in Bordeaux, a proposal to allow seven new grape varieties in AOC wines was put forward in 2019.

Weather Hazards

Frost

Spring frost can kill young shoots, and while new shoots will often replace the lost ones, their development is delayed and they are typically less fruitful. Frost that occurs in the fall prior to harvest will kill the leaves, which prevents the vine from being able to ripen fruit further. In this case, the fruit will not improve and should be picked right away. These frost events are often the result of an inversion layer, where cold air near the ground is trapped under warmer air.

There are several means of frost mitigation:

Site selection: Because cold air settles into areas of low elevation, especially bowls that have no way of draining, early-budding (and therefore frost-prone) varieties should be avoided on these sites.
Air circulation: Cover crops and plants growing on the vineyard floor should be mowed short prior to frost season to allow for better air circulation.
Sprinklers: Overhead sprinklers can be used to warm the surface of the vine by a few degrees. As water freezes, it releases heat, so as long as water is constantly applied during a frost event, the temperature will remain just above freezing.
Fans or helicopters: These disrupt the inversion layer to warm the environment.
Heat: Heaters and small fires are used to warm the microclimate. Many areas have banned the use of orchard heaters or “smudge pots” due to air quality concerns.
Pruning methods: Vines may be pre-pruned, where spurs are left long, or late-pruned. This encourages sacrificial buds to push early in the season, knowing that a later pruning will remove damaged tissue.

Sprinklers prevent damage during a spring frost event (Photo credit: Jennifer Angelosante)

Winter freeze can cause damage to dormant vines if temperatures fall below 5 degrees Fahrenheit. The methods described above only increase the temperatures slightly so are insufficient for protecting against winter freeze. Most vinifera vines can survive until 0 degrees Fahrenheit, but much below this, they risk death. In regions where winter freeze occurs, cold-tolerant varieties like Riesling and select hybrids may be planted. Otherwise, vines are buried each year for insulation and uncovered the subsequent spring. Recently, some producers have begun covering the vines in geothermal, geotextile blankets as an alternative means of freeze protection.

Hail

Hail regularly causes major localized damage in susceptible regions, including parts of the Loire Valley, Burgundy, Bordeaux, Piedmont, and Mendoza. Its impact on a particular growing season is dictated by the intensity of the event and the phenological stage of the vine. Hail can remove entire shoots and severely damage fruit as well as leaves, reducing the canopy’s capacity to support fruit ripening. Some regions have started using netting to protect the vines from hail. Another method is to fire hail cannons or rockets into the air, disrupting hail formation.

Drought

Shade cloth protects fruit from intense sunlight (Photo credit: Jennifer Angelosante)

Many vineyards that thrived in the past now struggle due to lack of water. As with many weather hazards, site selection is key to limiting drought risk. Where it is possible, irrigation can help mitigate damage. Many wine regions in the EU that did not previously permit irrigation, including Bordeaux, Burgundy, Barolo, Barbaresco, and Montalcino, now allow it when faced with drought conditions, though additional restrictions may apply. Drought-tolerant rootstocks such as St. George, 110R, and 140R can also be used to better adapt the vine to its environment.

Risks of warm, dry environments include sunburn, which results in caramelized flavors, and dehydration, which concentrates sugars and acid in the fruit and can lead to raisinated flavors. Except in extreme cases, the risk of dehydration is typically not until later in the season, when the fruit has begun softening. Maintaining a protective canopy can help reduce the risk of sunburn, and where this is not possible, growers are increasingly using shade cloth, or fabric that is hung in the fruiting zone after veraison, to protect the fruit from dehydration and sunburn later in the season. In extreme heat events, sprinklers or misters might be used for evaporative cooling. In Australia, some producers apply a clay-based “sunscreen” to the fruit and canopy for protection.

Fire

Forest fires that occur near wine regions are a growing problem. While vineyards often act as firebreaks and aren’t likely to burn themselves, smoke can be taken in through pores in the grapes or leaves and then translocated to the fruit any time after fruit set. This will taint the wine with an unpleasant, smoky flavor. The West Coast of North America, much of Australia, and parts of Portugal and Spain have all suffered damage from smoke in recent years. Although researchers are currently devoting attention to this topic, currently, there is no successful form of mitigation in the vineyard.

Soil

While a region’s weather varies from year to year, soil is reasonably stable. In this sense, it is the most enduring aspect of a wine’s sense of place. The basic function of soil, with respect to the vine, is to anchor it and provide it with water and nutrients. Soil conditions determine how much precipitation actually reaches the vine, since different soils absorb and hold water differently. Most critical to wine quality, soil characteristics impact vine vigor, which is driven by the availability of water and nutrients.

Vines grown in favorable soil conditions will have deep roots and balanced vigor and are able to adapt to wet and dry conditions more easily. Free-draining soils with limited but adequate water and nutrients are best for wine quality. Highly fertile soils induce too much vigor and are typically avoided, as are soils with toxicities, including high salt or aluminum concentration.

Popular Geology

As the notion of terroir has been popularized, vineyard soils have become a topic of interest for many wine enthusiasts. Wine descriptions often include information on rocks and soils found in the vineyard, such as their composition, geological age, and origins.

Vineyard soils are often described by the qualities of their underlying bedrock. All rocks are classified into three types as determined by the geologic forces that formed the parent material:

Igneous rocks like granite are formed from cooled magma and tend to be strong, resistant to erosion, and non-porous. Volcanic rocks are a type of igneous rock formed from lava. Basalt is a volcanic rock that breaks down to form highly fertile clay soils.
Sedimentary soils are formed from weathered rocks carried by wind or water and deposited in layers. Limestone, chalk, shale, and sandstone are examples. The characteristics of these soils depend on what they’re made of and how strongly they’ve been cemented together.
Metamorphic rocks are igneous or sedimentary rocks that have been subjected to heat and pressure. The category includes slate, schist, and gneiss. These rocks may be crumbly and friable or very hard, depending on the forces that shaped them and the underlying rocks’ composition.

While these types of rocks are often encountered in wine studies, the information they provide is limited, since these convenient classifications often combine dissimilar soils within a single category. Two vineyards with similar bedrock may have entirely different soils overlaying them. For example, a vineyard with granite bedrock could be overlaid with deep sandy soils or very thin soils. From a viticultural perspective, soils are characterized instead by their physical and chemical characteristics, since these properties determine the amount of water and nutrients available to the vine.

Common Geology Terms

rock: A solid aggregate of minerals.

gravel: Small pieces of rock.

soil: Weathered rock sediments combined with organic matter.

loam: Soil texture comprised of a blend of different particle sizes, including sand, silt, and clay.

aeolian: Wind-blown soil, such as loess or parna.

alluvial: Soil transported and deposited by (non-marine) surface water. Alluvial deposits have been cemented into rock.

colluvial: Soil transported by erosion and gravity.

fluvial: Soil weathered, transported, and deposited by rivers and streams.

marine: Soil deposited in ocean beds.

glacial: Soil formed and deposited by glaciers.

till: Rocks and soil deposited by glaciers.

soil pan: An impenetrable layer of soil formed from compaction or cementation, such as hardpan or calcrete.

calcareous: Alkaline soil with a high proportion of calcium or magnesium carbonate.

A soil’s geological age, which generally refers to the time period when the underlying bedrock formed, is another property that is frequently cited in wine literature. The Kimmeridgian soils developed during the Jurassic Period from marine sediments, for example, are often noted, as they famously appear in Chablis, the Aube region of Champagne, and Sancerre. Just as there is huge diversity in soil today, the sediments laid down during the Jurassic Period were not homogenous; to describe a soil by the time its parent material was formed, while interesting, is not terribly meaningful.

Physical Properties

Great wines are made from grapes grown on a range of soil types. Within individual regions, producers frequently attribute wine qualities to the rocks found in their vineyard, but more generally, rock type does not appear to be well correlated with wine’s composition or attributes. While different soils clearly contribute to creating distinct wines, many of the differences ascribed to rock type are actually the result of physical attributes of the soil.

A heterogenous mixture, soil is comprised primarily of minerals, water, air, and a small portion of organic matter. It’s made from weathered rock, plant material, and soil microbes. Soil’s formation is said to depend on five factors: the parent material, climate, topography, organisms, and time. The hardness of the parent rock will determine how easily it is broken down into soil. Warm, wet conditions will accelerate the weathering process, and the erosion that occurs by water and wind will be shaped by an area’s topography. Rocks and organic matter are broken down by the action of soil microbes and plants’ roots. This occurs slowly: it takes at least 100 years to form an inch of topsoil. Because soils are also transported by erosion, wind, leaching, and the action of rivers and glaciers, vineyards that share a common bedrock composition can have very different soils overlaying them.

Soils are organized into layers of sediments called horizons. Topsoil, or horizon A, is the outermost layer and ranges in depth from a few inches to a few feet. The composition of soil in this layer least resembles the composition of the underlying rock, since it has often been deposited from elsewhere. The topsoil contains most of the soil’s organic matter, worms, and microbes. Humus, an important topsoil constituent, is nutrient-dense organic material that holds water and nutrients in the soil, reduces erosion, and helps avoid soil compaction. As rainwater moves through the soil, it leaches smaller particles and nutrients downward. As a result, horizon B, called the subsoil, is less porous, contains a higher proportion of clay, and has better water-holding capacity than the topsoil. Horizon C, or the substratum, may consist of friable rock, and few if any roots are found here.

Bedrock, which lies underneath the soil, is not soil at all but the outer layer of the earth’s surface. The manner in which roots navigate this complex layering of soil strata dictates the amount of water and nutrients the plant can access all year long.

Variation in the Vineyard

The attributes of soil can change rapidly within a vineyard, both vertically and horizontally. Despite receiving the same amount of rainfall, one part of a vineyard may have much more water access than another due to differences in topography and the depth and composition of the soil. Investigating differences in soil prior to planting can lead to better vineyard design that matches compatible rootstock with anticipated soil conditions. Prior to planting, soil pits may be dug throughout the vineyard to reveal the soil’s profile, and soil maps and other technologies can be used to gain insight. Later on, these distinctions are observed as variation in vine vigor. Block divisions and management are most effective if they contemplate the differences in the soil.

Soil is a reservoir of water for plants. After a rain event, water is lost through run-off, drainage, evaporation, and plant use. Several attributes influence how water drains and is stored in the soil to be used in the future. Soil depth, or the distance from the soil surface to the bedrock or another impenetrable layer, limits a vine’s rooting depth, which determines the deepest soil that the vine can access. (Roots may, however, be able to penetrate small cracks in friable bedrock.) Deep soils allow roots to access water from greater depths and provide the vine with more water throughout the growing season since the roots are in contact with a larger volume of soil. Because grapevines can develop deeper root systems than most other plants, on these soils, they can access water few competing plants are able to reach. Shallow soils can flood easily and have less available water than deeper soils; they require regular additions of water, sometimes through irrigation, to meet the vine’s needs. Shallow soils are generally not suitable for dry-farming except in climates that receive regular precipitation. Where an impenetrable layer, such as a hardpan, limits the rooting depth, the soil may be ripped prior to planting. Ripping involves dragging a large steel implement through the soil to break up an impenetrable layer. If shallow soils overlay bedrock, ripping is not possible, although modern heavy machinery, including excavators and pneumatic rock breakers, has allowed viticulture to extend into otherwise unusable land.

Range of soils sampled from one vineyard in Saint-Estèphe, varying in texture, structure, and composition (Photo credit: Avery Heelan)

Two related concepts are key to healthy plant growth: porosity, or the amount of open space in the soil, and permeability, which describes the ability for water, oxygen, and roots to pass freely. These factors allow for drainage, water storage, root growth, and aeration, which are essential for healthy roots and soil microbial populations. Growth will be limited in waterlogged and non-porous soils. Porosity is governed by soil structure, an attribute that describes how soil particles aggregate, or form small clumps, and how easily these clumps crumble. Large pores between soil aggregates increase the porosity of well-structured soils and ensure that water on the soil surface is absorbed. These soils are better able to resist erosion and compaction. A moderate humus content helps the soil stick together, which improves the soil’s integrity. By increasing soil organic matter through the addition of compost and usage of cover crops, it is possible to build better structure in the soil.

Compaction

Vineyard soils are prone to compaction due to the repetitive use of tractors and other heavy equipment in the vine rows. Compaction destroys porosity, and limited infiltration of water and oxygen in these soils inhibits root growth. To avoid compaction, producers try to avoid unnecessary tractor passes and may use tillage to aerate the soil in conjunction with cover crops, which break up compacted areas with their roots.

Soil texture also influences porosity and permeability. Texture, referring to the size of soil particles, includes sand, silt, and clay, where sand particles are largest and clay smallest. Loam is a mixture of the three types and falls on a spectrum depending on the proportion of each component. Soils also contain rocks of different sizes, including gravels, pebbles, cobbles, and boulders. Rocks do not contribute water or minerals to the vine, but they increase drainage and limit erosion. They are generally considered beneficial for vine roots, when not overwhelming in proportion.

Sandy soils are sometimes called light soils, while clay soils are described as heavy, a reference to their superior water-holding capacity. Water is held in the soil by sticking to the surface of soil particles and through capillary action (the attraction of water molecules to each other and other substances), which is more effective with smaller pores like those found in clay. Because clay particles are small, they pack more tightly together and have more surface area per volume. Soils heavy in clay content have better structure than sandy soils but can be prone to water logging and tend to harbor higher populations of phylloxera.

Soil Color

The color of soil is sometimes said to warm the microclimate of the vine. Light-colored soils, such as the white albariza soils of Jerez, reflect sunlight back into the fruit zone, providing even greater warmth during the hottest parts of the day. Darker soils, like the slate and basalt soils of the Ahr in Germany, absorb heat and radiate it throughout the night. While many producers cite this effect, it’s important to note that the vines must be relatively low to the ground to benefit from it. In cool climates, some producers line the vine row with reflective tarps that mimic the impact of light-colored soils.

As a result of their lesser water content, sandy soils warm up faster than clay soils, which initiates budbreak sooner and accelerates ripening. In a cool or wet vintage, sandier soils may perform better, while in a warm and dry year, soils with a higher clay content may be preferred. Parasitic nematodes are particularly fond of sandy soils.

Loam soils are considered ideal for vineyards, since the combination of particle sizes achieves the ideal balance of drainage, provided by the sand, and fertility, provided by clay, that is desirable for balanced vine growth.

The USDA soil texture triangle groups soil types by particle size. Credit: Laura Perrone

Chemical Properties

While wine style is clearly influenced by the physical factors that dictate water availability, except in the case of nutrient deficiencies, few differences in wine can be attributed to a soil’s chemical composition.

Rocks are made of minerals like quartz, mica, feldspar, gypsum, calcite, and flint. These minerals do not make their way into the glass directly; rather, the vine roots take up only small ions, including the 17 mineral nutrients that are described below. (Note that minerals and mineral nutrients are distinct from one another, though frequently confused.) While the weathering process releases a small amount of mineral nutrients from the soil, most of the nutrients supplied to the vine come from organic matter and fertilizers. Current understanding of rock chemistry suggests it does not play an important role in soil chemistry as related to the vine, with one important exception: calcareous soils are strongly alkaline.

Soil pH

The pH of soil is its most important chemical property. pH is a scale of acidity that ranges from 0 (very acidic) to 14 (very basic), with water considered neutral at a pH of 7. Technically, pH is a measure of the hydrogen ions, or protons, dissolved in a solution, where more acidic substances have more protons. pH is a logarithmic scale, which means that a pH of 6 has 10 times the amount of protons as a pH of 7.

Soil pH ranges from 3 to 10. Soils described as acidic have a pH below 6.5, neutral soils are 6.5 to 8, and alkaline (basic) soils are over 8. From a viticultural perspective, neutral soils are considered ideal, while those lower than 5 are generally considered to be unsuitable for farming, though they may be amended to lift the pH to a more desirable range. Overly acidic soils might also induce aluminum toxicity, which is detrimental to root growth.

High pH, above 8.5, is the result of significant lime content, which is found in calcareous soils including limestone, chalk, tufa, marlstone, and marble. These soils are frequently associated with wine quality, though the precise reasons for this connection are not well understood. Basalt, sandstone, shale, slate, and schist tend to be more acidic. The slate soils in the Mosel, for example, can have a pH below 6. Soil acidity, however, depends not only on the nature of the parent rock but also on climatic and human factors.

A soil’s pH influences the mineral nutrients that are available to the vine. Nutrients are stored by adsorbing, or sticking, to soil particles. Positively charged nutrients are attracted to soil particles, which are largely negatively charged. Soil particles have a limited surface area to hold nutrients, described as the cation exchange capacity (CEC). Larger particles like sand have less total surface area per volume and are less nutrient dense. Clay soils are rich in nutrients, but because the nutrients are bound more tightly, they are less available to the vine. Soil organic matter also increases CEC.

Nutrients compete for space on the CEC, so too much of one nutrient can induce a deficiency in another. In acidic soils, protons take up too much space on the CEC, and as a result, some nutrients are less available in low-pH soils. Acidic soil induces phosphate deficiency, while alkaline soils can induce iron deficiency. Along with soil texture, pH has a significant influence on the availability of nutrients.

pH also influences which plants will grow. Most rootstocks are not well adapted to high pH, so lime-tolerant rootstocks, often Vitis berlandieri based, must be used. This is important to recognize, since it is difficult to separate the influence of rootstock from that of soil pH.

Agricultural soils become increasingly acidic over time, which can degrade soil structure and disrupt microbial communities. As nutrients are leached from the soil, protons take their place on the CEC. The decomposition of organic matter and respiration of roots release carbon dioxide, which forms carbonic acid in the soil. Additionally, the use of ammonia-based fertilizers increases acidity over time. A farmer may amend soil acidity through liming, which is the application of limestone, dolomite, or lime (calcium hydroxide), to neutralize the topsoil. Typically, this occurs when a vineyard site is being developed, but these materials can also be applied along with compost in an established vineyard to maintain a desired soil pH. Soil organic matter helps buffer against change in pH.

Soil Toxicities

Dissolved salts like sodium chloride (table salt) are toxic to plants in high concentration, as they hinder the vine’s ability to absorb water. Water follows a concentration gradient and flows from areas with less salt content to areas with more. Irrigating with water with a high salt content is one of the biggest causes of saline soils. Parts of California’s Central Coast, Mexico’s Baja region, and South and Western Australia struggle with salinity. In response, salt-tolerant rootstocks such as Ramey have been developed to adapt vines to saline conditions. Sodicity is a related concept but considers only the amount of sodium in the soil. Too much sodium reduces soil permeability and destroys soil structure because high concentrations of sodium have a repelling effect and disperse clay particles.

Soil Microbiome

Plants evolved with a plethora of microorganisms. Microbes living in the soil are critical to vine health, impacting fertility, plant growth, disease resistance, and climate adaptation. Microbial populations are highly concentrated in the rhizosphere, or the area directly around plant roots, and may even colonize the roots internally.

Microorganisms facilitate the vine’s nutrient and water uptake in several ways. Mycorrhizae, or symbiotic associations of fungi and plant roots, are perhaps the best example. In this arrangement, fungi provide the vine with water and nutrients in exchange for sugar produced through photosynthesis. These fungal roots serve as an extension of the vine’s own root system. Beneficial, nitrogen-fixing bacteria convert proteins from decaying plant matter into sources of nitrogen that the vine is able to use, including ammonia and nitrates. Some fungi and bacteria that live in soil, however, will cause disease if they enter the vascular system of plants. Beneficial microbes help protect vines from invasion by these pathogens through a number of mechanisms. They might limit pathogen populations by feeding on them or outcompeting them, block access to plant roots, or release hormones that stimulate the plant’s own defense system to react against the intruder.

Certain microorganisms release hormones that stimulate plant growth and development. While these relationships are not yet well understood, they may imply that microbial populations are able to influence fruit composition. Scientific communities are considering the potential of “microbial terroir” resulting not only from soil microbes’ contributions to fermentation but also from their influence on fruit development and composition.

Vine Nutrition

Grapes have relatively low requirements for water and nutrients, as far as agricultural plants are concerned, so they may be cultivated on soils considered unsuitable for other crops. Yet deficiencies can limit growth and development. Soil fertility refers to the ability of the soil to provide nutrients. Starving vines for nutrients can reduce yields, impede the vine’s ability to ripen fruit, and render the vine more susceptible to pests and diseases. On the other hand, excess of certain nutrients can be detrimental to quality.

Vines require 17 essential nutrients for healthy function. Carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen are supplied by water and carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, but the rest are taken up through the soil. Of those absorbed through the soil, nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium are by far the most important, as they are essential for plant growth and development. They are considered macronutrients, along with sulfur, calcium, and magnesium, as the vine uses them in macro quantities. Boron, manganese, copper, iron, zinc, molybdenum, nickel, and chlorine are micronutrients, as the vine has less demand for them.

An expanded list of grapevine nutrients can be found in the Compendium

Nitrogen has the most significant impact on grape quality and yields, and its availability is key to soil fertility. Insufficient nitrogen results in weak vines with short shoots and chlorotic leaves, while excess nitrogen can lead to vigorous vines with dark green canopies and reduced yields. Particularly for red grapes, the shade provided by this type of a canopy is considered negative for quality. Nitrogen-rich vines also attract pests such as leafhoppers. Plants are able to use nitrogen in the form of ammonia or nitrates.

Potassium helps to maintains cell structure through osmotic pressure and facilitates ripening through sugar transport and deacidification. After veraison, potassium is exchanged for protons in the berries, lowering the fruit’s acidity. Potassium deficiencies can result in elevated levels of acidity in the fruit, low yields, and uneven ripening. Leaf discoloration and leaves that roll under are symptoms. Excesses can reduce fruit acidity and may induce deficiencies in other nutrients. Phosphorous is important for photosynthesis as well as energy storage and transport throughout the vine. It’s a key component of both nucleic acids and ATP. Deficiencies are relatively rare but reduce yields and cause discoloration of the leaf margin.

Foliar symptoms of magnesium, manganese, and potassium deficiencies (Photo credit: Jennifer Angelosante [left], Sarah Ferguson)

Nutrients are depleted from the vineyard over time as fruit and canes are removed at pruning. Certain nutrients, like nitrogen, are leachable, meaning they can be washed from the soil in groundwater runoff, while others, like phosphorus, are more immobile. Most vineyards require nutrient additions from time to time, particularly of the macronutrients nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium (known collectively as NPK).

Producers can assess nutritional deficits through petiole sampling at flowering or veraison, taking soil samples, or observing visual symptoms. Nutrient imbalances like nitrogen and iron deficiency cause characteristic chlorosis, or yellowing of the leaves either along the leaf veins or within the leaf margin. With red grape varieties, imbalances like phosphorous and potassium deficiency may also cause reddening in the leaves due to an accumulation of anthocyanin, the same pigment that gives red grapes their color. These symptoms are easily mistaken for common diseases such as leafroll and fanleaf viruses.

Certain nutrients are mobile in the plant, and in the case of deficiency, they will be translocated from older leaves into newer ones, since the plant prioritizes the development of young leaves. Other nutrients are tied up in compounds that cannot move freely within the vine and are considered immobile. This can help with diagnosis of problems: if a nutrient is mobile, older basal leaves will show symptoms first. With immobile deficiencies, symptoms appear in younger leaves first.

Fertilization

Fertilizers may be applied directly to the soil or through fertigation, where the fertilizer is dissolved in water and applied through the irrigation line. Both mineral (inorganic) and organic fertilizers can be added in this way. Some micronutrients, including boron, zinc, manganese, molybdenum, and iron, are applied through foliar sprays, which are fine mists sprayed onto the canopy. Fertilization may be done at any point during the growing season except near bloom, since fertilization during this time can disrupt berry set.

More complex forms of nutrition include compost and the incorporation of cover crops into the soil, referred to as green manure. Compost is spread on top of soil and then incorporated slowly through rainfall or light tillage. Green manure is tilled into the soil and gradually broken down over time.

Mineral fertilizers are readily useable by the plant, so their effect is more immediate. Complex fertilizers must be broken down by soil microorganisms, which is a slow and inconsistent process, especially in dry years; they may not be absorbed by the vine for several years. Mineral fertilizers are less expensive than the alternatives but, over the long term, can cause soil acidification.

Vineyard Establishment

Site Selection

Farmers have always sought the sites that produce the best wines. The phrase Bacchus amat colles, meaning “Bacchus loves the hills,” is an enduring observation from early explorations of site selection. While this process is more of an art than a science, some forethought can improve quality and save money.

Within a region, certain sites are preferred based on their mesoclimates, the availability of water, and the rarity of adverse conditions like frost. Some sites ripen earlier than others, which may be advantageous in a cool region and less desirable in a warm one. Terrain is also a consideration. While hillside sites may be enticing, they are often more difficult and expensive to farm. Economic factors like the reputation and cost of the land and the proximity to markets, labor, and resources are considered as well. Because of the proliferation of vineyards in the past few decades, wine regions may have laws dictating if and where new vineyard land may be planted. While much of the vineyard land in Europe is already delineated, as viticulture spreads, the suitability of new sites may be evaluated by comparing their soils and climates to those of established regions.

Planting Material

In some regions, grape variety is dictated by local laws. Otherwise, the climate and intended wine style should guide the choice of varieties. Selection may also be influenced by factors such as personal preference, marketability, or tradition. Rootstock, where used, should be matched to the site conditions and any hazards to be mitigated, such as nematodes and high concentrations of salt or lime.

The influence of clone is generally small compared with site, variety, and rootstock. If multiple clones are available, flavor and yield considerations, ripening characteristics, disease resistance, and notoriety may guide the selection. In particular, several clones of Pinot Noir have been popularized for various flavor and ripening characteristics, including Pommard, Wädenswil, 667, 777, and 115.

The vast majority of grapevines are grown from grafted vines with plant material obtained from a nursery. Grapevine propagation is labor intensive, and many growers are not equipped for this undertaking. Nurseries strive to provide vines that are virus free, an important assurance for a long-term investment. The downside is that nurseries are often limited in the varieties and clones that they carry.

Grapevine Propagation

Cuttings of scion and rootstock are joined using an omega punch (Photo credit: Novavine)

Except under experimental conditions, wine grapes are almost never propagated from seed. During fertilization, DNA is recombined, so each seed produces an entirely new variety that may not possess the attributes of its parent plant. The seeds of self-pollinating vines are highly inbred and prone to recessive-type diseases; many are nonviable or non-fruiting. While they may share some similarities with their parent, vines grown from seed bear unique genetics, and it can take years to characterize a new vine’s behavior.

Instead, vines are propagated vegetatively from dormant cuttings, which are 12- to 18-inch pieces of cane taken from a parent plant. Cuttings are taken from dormant vines during the winter months and stored at low temperature until they are ready for use. Dormant cuttings of rootstock or vinifera varieties can be planted directly in the ground, or they may be grafted prior to planting. Ungrafted vines, typically rootstock selections, are sold as dormant rooted cuttings that have been grown in a nursery for a season, unearthed during dormancy, and kept in cold storage prior to planting.

Cuttings may originate from a single parent vine, called a clone, or from massal selection, where cuttings are taken from numerous vines throughout a vineyard that may have undergone small mutations. Producers who prefer clones hope to replicate the characteristics of the parent in their own vineyards. Since clones are genetically identical, they may result in a more even, easy-to-manage vineyard. A producer may instead choose massal selection for the increased genetic diversity, which could confer more disease resistance and, potentially, complexity in the wines.

Grafting is essentially the fusing of plant tissues of two different species. In the case of grapevines, grafting is typically used to join a vinifera scion to a non-vinifera rootstock. Occasionally, the variety may be changed in an existing vineyard by grafting onto established vines in the field, known as top grafting. In certain situations, this may be preferable to replanting the vineyard.

Layering

Layering, also known as provignage, is a traditional method of grapevine propagation. In layering, a shoot from a neighboring vine is laid down into the ground, where it roots and forms a new vine that may be separated from the mother vine. This technique is cheap and easy, but it cannot be used in soils with phylloxera. Several vineyards still utilize provignage when replanting, including Bollinger’s Clos Chaudes Terres and Clos Saint-Jacques, which provide grapes for the brand’s prestige cuvée, Vieilles Vignes Françaises.

During grafting, cuts are made in both pieces of wood, allowing the vines to fit together and join like puzzle pieces. Two compatible plants with similar circumferences are connected such that their cambium, the layer of cells between the xylem and phloem responsible for wood’s increase in diameter, is matched up. Once the graft heals, the grafted vine functions as a single plant with characteristics from both the rootstock and scion. Traditionally, a number of different shapes of cuts have been used, such as a v-shaped cleft graft or an omega punch.

There are two major types of grafting in viticulture, bench and field grafting. In bench grafting, two dormant cuttings, the rootstock and scion, are joined together at the nursery, usually by machine. The scion cutting is trimmed to a few inches prior to grafting, leaving a single bud. Afterward, the graft is wrapped to provide support and stored in a warm, damp room for several months to “callus,” or heal. The graft union is then waxed, and vines are stored at cold temperature prior to planting in the spring. Grafted vines may be grown for one season in the nursery and sold as dormant bench grafts. Alternatively, the grafted cutting may be planted in a pot just after callusing, grown in a greenhouse, and sold during the same year as a green-growing bench graft, or potted vine. Potted vines are less expensive, and they mature one year earlier than dormant bench grafts.

In field grafting, rootstock is planted in the vineyard in the spring and allowed to grow for an entire season. The scion is then grafted on top, either in the fall or following spring. Field grafting uses a technique called chip-budding, where very small pieces of cuttings containing a single bud are inserted into the rootstock. Similar to own-rooted vines, rootstock is sold as a dormant rooted cutting.

Of these options, bench grafting is easier and less expensive, and only vines that have been successfully grafted are planted. Field grafting is more expensive overall, yet the costs are spread out over two intervals. It requires skilled labor and can have a greater failure rate, but these vines have a more stable root system at the time of grafting and may have more longevity.

The choice of planting material is often inhibited by what is available locally. In the past, winemakers traveled to established growing regions and brought cuttings home with them to be used in vineyard establishment. While this practice allowed for diversification in newer growing regions, it is technically illegal in most countries and has been responsible for the proliferation of grapevine viruses all over the world. In order to import vines legally, a state-approved nursery must verify that the plant stock is pest and virus free, a process that takes several years but avoids undesirable stowaways. Foundation Plant Services (FPS) is the major US nursery used for this purpose.

Own-Rooted Vines

For most of history, vines were grown on their own roots. As phylloxera spreads throughout the world, ungrafted vines are becoming rare, and even in areas where phylloxera is not present, producers may still use rootstock to provide other benefits or adaptations to the scion. Some have suggested that own-rooted vines make better wines. Grafted vines are clearly changed to some extent by their rootstock, and it is not unreasonable to believe that this impacts fruit composition. Yet these changes could be positive as well as negative, and the overall effect on wine quality probably depends more on other environmental conditions.

Land Preparation

Prior to planting, land that has been used for vineyards or other agriculture in the past may be allowed to lay fallow (bare) for a couple of years or be planted with cover crops that build soil organic matter and nutrition. Soil assessments reveal a soil’s pH and any nutrient deficiencies, which are easiest to amend before planting. The land is cleared of trees, foliage, and large rocks and roots. Drainage may be improved through ripping or through the installation of subterranean drains to prevent waterlogging in low-lying spots. Earthwork is done in the spring or fall, when soils are damp but not too wet to pass equipment.

Lime might be applied to soil to reduce high acidity prior to planting (Photo credit: Jennifer Angelosante)

Determining a vineyard’s boundaries is one of the first steps of planning. Vineyards are typically divided into several management blocks, and thoughtful placement of the divisions between them simplifies vineyard management. Ideally, blocks are relatively homogenous in terms of variety, rootstock, soil, microclimate, and elevation. Boundaries often respect natural borders formed by topographical features, transitions in soil, and roads. A grower may choose to adapt varieties, rootstock, and vineyard architecture to the block’s natural characteristics.

Vineyard Architecture

A vineyard’s layout and trellis system design are referred to as its vineyard architecture. Row orientation, or the rows’ planting direction, is a fundamental decision. A north-south orientation allows both sides of the vine an equivalent duration of sunlight throughout the day. The downside is that fruit on the west side of the vine may be overexposed to the afternoon heat. East-west rows allow the canopy to intercept the maximum amount of sunlight all day, but this will result in significant differences between the north and south side of the vine, as the south side has more exposure. Recently, northeast-southwest orientations have become popular in warmer regions, as they maximize light interception while also shading themselves during the hottest part of the day, protecting fruit from sunburn and dehydration.

On slopes, rows may either be oriented up and down or across the slope. Rows that follow the slope have better airflow and are generally safer for equipment, provided that rows are not too steep. However, this orientation can result in erosion, and fruit along the row may be uneven due to differences in elevation. On steep slopes, terracing is necessary for rows planted across the slope to allow equipment to work safely. Classic examples of terracing are found in Portugal’s Douro, the Northern Rhône, and Alto Adige. Terraced vineyards are expensive to build and maintain and can be difficult to manage. They also have a tendency to create heterogeneous soils due to the large amount of earth that must be moved to create the terraces.

Vineyard spacing refers to the distance between rows as well as the distance between vines. The combination of these is called vine density, which typically ranges from 500 to 6,000 vines per acre, while the space between vines and rows typically ranges from about 4 feet to 12 feet. European vineyards tend to use higher density, with 4,000 vines per acre (10,000 vines per hectare) being common. Much of the New World uses planting densities of 1,500 vines per acre or less.

Narrow row spacing is more efficient in terms of land use but may require specialized tractors and farming equipment. High-density planting is used to limit vine vigor through competition and to maximize yields, and it is believed by some to produce higher-quality fruit. Vigorous vines, however, are better suited to wider spacing. Low-density planting may also be more appropriate for vineyards with inadequate water supply or for dry-farming, as observed in many Spanish wine regions. It can significantly reduce farming costs since less infrastructure is required and there are fewer vines to tend to per area. Efficient vineyards do not leave empty space along a vineyard row, so if wider vine spacing is used, the size of the vine is generally adjusted to fill all of the available room.

Trends in vineyard architecture are subject to the prevailing wisdom of the time. Producers often look to classic regions that they admire or to their neighbors to inform their choices. However, what works on one site, or in one region, may not be the most appropriate layout for all sites.

Useful Conversions

Yields

Typical yield = 2–10 tons (US) per acre

1 ton fruit ≈ 120–160 gallons of wine ≈ 50–70 cases

10,000 kilograms fruit ≈ 50–65 hectoliters of wine

1 acre produces ≈ 100–700 cases

Vine Density

1,000 vines per acre ≈ 2,500 vines per hectare

To calculate vines density from vine and row spacing, use this table.

Standard to Metric Conversions

1 hectare ≈ 2.5 acres

1 ton per acre ≈ 11–15 hectoliters per hectare of wine

Planting

Planting occurs over one or two years, and once vines are in the ground, the vine requires at least two or three years to become established before any fruit is harvested. During the first year after planting, the focus is on growing healthy roots. In the next couple of years, it shifts to development of the vines’ permanent structure through vine training.

Vines are planted by hand or machine. While hand-planting is traditional, it is labor intensive. Machine planting is significantly less expensive and can have very good results; it shows a lot of promise as an opportunity for mechanization. Planting typically occurs in the spring, though vines may be planted anytime during the growing season, taking care to avoid frost before the vine has become established.

Young vines require more attention than those that are established. J-rooting, a common cause of young vine decline, occurs when vines are placed in holes with their roots bent upward. Young vines are also prone to certain fungal diseases that can result in vineyard failure if infected plant material is used. While the notion of starving vines of water to encourage deep root growth has been popularized, young vines’ root systems are not well developed, and they may require frequent irrigation. Water stress will stunt growth and ultimately shorten the life of the vine. Even in regions where irrigation is not permitted, exceptions are typically made for vineyards less than three years old.

Growers remove weeds that can outcompete or girdle young vines and often place growing tubes around the vines to protect them from weeds and animals. During the first two to three years, any fruit that forms is typically removed to allow the vine to put maximum energy into vegetative growth. Failing to do this can weaken vines and shorten the vineyard’s lifespan.

Vine Training

A vine’s training system is the shape and position of its permanent structures, including the trunk, cordons, canes, and spurs, and is best observed after winter pruning. The training system is ultimately determined by the cuts made during pruning in the first few years, which have a long-term impact on the vine’s shape.

The three most common vine-training systems are cordon-trained and spur-pruned; head-trained and cane-pruned; and head-trained and spur-pruned. Considerations for choosing the most appropriate system include grape variety, environmental conditions, and yield goals. Very often, tradition, which may be codified in law or local trends, will also play a role.

Cordon-Trained & Spur-Pruned

Cordon-trained, spur-pruned vines, commonly referred to simply as cordon-trained vines, can have up to four cordons attached to the trunk, described as unilateral, bilateral, or quadrilateral. Along each cordon are permanent spur positions located every few inches. As the grapevine ages, permanent wood accumulates at the base of each spur and develops into arms. Shoots grow from the spurs during the season, and during pruning they are trimmed back into spurs, so that each year, the vine looks nearly identical.

Credit: Laura Perrone

There are a number of advantages to this system, which has been widely adopted, especially in warmer regions. After establishment, cordon-trained vines are the easiest, fastest, and cheapest to prune. Shoot development along the cordon is generally very even, with a clear fruit zone. This system is also suitable for mechanization. Because these vines have more permanent wood than other systems, they store more water and nutrients and may better tolerate adverse environmental conditions.

Kicker Canes

Kicker canes are sacrificial canes that are left on spur-pruned vines during pruning. They can be used to devigorate the vine or to avoid frost risk to the shoots at spur positions. These shoots will go through budbreak first because of apical dominance, delaying budbreak in the remaining spurs, and eventually be removed.

However, cordon-training is not always the best option. An extra year may be required before fruit is harvested to establish the cordon and spur positions. Cordon-trained vines store more reserves through the winter since they have more permanent wood, resulting in more vigor and a need for wider spacing. Spur-pruning is not appropriate for varieties that have low fertility in buds close to the cordon, such as Nebbiolo and Carmenère, since spur-pruning can reduce their yields. It is also risky on frost-prone sites. In these conditions, all buds tend to push at the same time, opening up the vine to greater loss. To minimize this risk, some growers pre-prune the vines or leave kicker canes, strategies that help minimize frost risk.

Head-Trained & Cane-Pruned

Head-trained, cane-pruned vines typically have one or two canes (though as many as four are possible) attached to the head (top) of the trunk. Guyot is a well-known variation of cane-pruning that includes one spur for each fruiting cane attached directly to the head, called replacement or renewal spurs. During the growing season, shoots form on each bud along the cane and renewal spurs. The grower selects and lays down a new fruiting cane, called the baguette in French, during pruning each year, removing the cane from the previous season. Renewal spurs ensure that there is always a good supply of canes near the head of the vine that may be retained for the coming year.

Credit: Laura Perrone

The main advantage of cane-pruned vines is that they have less permanent wood and fewer reserves, so they are less vigorous and better suited to high-density plantings. Despite their lower vigor, they are often more productive than spur-pruned vines (when grown under equivalent conditions) and may require more fruit thinning to ensure adequate ripening. Cane-pruned vines have fewer pruning cuts than spur-pruned vines; as a result, they may be less prone to fungal diseases that enter the vine through pruning wounds. Many believe that cane-pruning is inherently better for wine quality. It is used in many of Europe’s most esteemed wine regions, so it has been adopted by many producers.

Yet there are some important disadvantages of this system. Cane-pruned vines require skilled labor for pruning, which increases farming costs, and they are not suitable for mechanization. They are more susceptible to winter freeze, because buds are located further from permanent wood, leaving them more vulnerable to damage. Due to apical dominance, budbreak and development are uneven along the cane, with uppermost buds and those located at the vine’s extremities favored.

Head-Trained & Spur-Pruned

Taille Chablis used on Chardonnay in Champagne (Photo credit: Jennifer Angelosante)

Head-trained, spur-pruned vines—also called bush, gobelet, or head-trained vines—have many spur positions attached to arms that form from the head of the vine. During the growing season, shoots will form at each spur position, and at pruning, the spur positions will be restored. Head-trained vines are typically found in warm, sunny growing regions with limited water availability. Much of Spain and Southern France, and vineyards with older plantings in California, utilize this training system. Head-training systems are also common with large-bunched varieties that are prone to rot, like Zinfandel and Petite Sirah, since the lack of wires and stakes prevents the clusters from becoming tangled in the trellis and damaged as the fruit develops.

Head-trained vines are the least expensive to establish and manage, since no trellis system is required, and as a result, canopy work is minimal. The initial training and pruning of head-trained vines requires skilled labor, though pruning becomes easier over time. However, head-trained vines are the least productive and not suitable for mechanization. Because all of the fruiting shoots are attached to the vine near the head, this system is prone to crowding. Head-trained vines share the same concerns of frost risk, trunk disease, and low-bud fertility as cordon-trained and spur-pruned vines.

Vine Head Height

The height of the vine, as indicated by the head of the vine, determines the height of the fruit zone. It can range from as little as six inches to nine feet in the case of pergola-trained vines. Vine height may be dictated by the training or trellising system, or if mechanization will be used, there may be particular specifications depending on equipment. Higher-density plantings require vines to be shorter; a general rule of thumb is that the height of the canopy should not exceed the row width, or vines will shade those in the row next to them, reducing sun interception and light in the fruit zone. Vines that are closer to the ground may receive additional warming from heat reflected or radiated from the vineyard floor, which may be beneficial in cool climates and less desirable in warmer ones. Shorter vines have increased frost risk, since cold air sinks. Extreme heights, whether short or tall, are uncomfortable for vineyard workers and may increase farming expenses.

While a number of other training systems exist, most are a variation of these basic structures, which can be adapted by leaving additional cordons, canes, or spur positions. The novel Sylvoz training system, used on high-yielding varieties and sites, is cordon-trained and cane-pruned. This results in a large number of fruiting shoots during the growing season and is an example of adapting the training system to the site and yield requirements. Champagne employs a number of unique training systems, including Taille Chablis and Vallée de la Marne, that are high-yielding and reduce the risk of frost damage.

Trellis Systems

The organization of the vine’s canopy begins with the choice of the trellis system, or the structure of posts and wires that support the canopy. A vine’s trellis accommodates its natural impulse to grow vertically and provides support for the shoots and fruit, since the vine is not able to support itself. It helps spread the shoots out more evenly, which improves airflow and light penetration in the canopy, reducing disease pressure and increasing the photosynthetic capacity of the vine. From a practical standpoint, the trellis system facilitates vineyard operations. It keeps shoots out of the vineyard row, allowing tractors and other equipment to pass. Because the shoots are organized in a predictable pattern, canopy management work is easier.

The shape of the vine training system often guides the options for trellising. The trellis typically considers the natural growth patterns of the vine. Shoots can be trained upward or downward, or they may be partially supported by a wire and then allowed to drape down. Vitis vinifera likes to grow vertically and will be devigorated if it is trained downward, whereas hybrid grapes often prefer downward growth. Large vines require more space and a more extensive trellis system, such as a divided canopy system, which has multiple fruit zones and allows the vine to spread out.

Climate, soil, variety, and rootstock must all be considered when choosing a trellis system, which will influence the vine’s microclimate. Cooler climates require more efficient sunlight interception, while sunny climates demand protection. Humidity and airflow are also important considerations. Finally, there are practical factors like cost, ease of use, and compatibility for mechanization. Simpler systems with fewer wires are usually less expensive and less labor intensive. Mechanization works best on cordon-trained, spur-pruned vines with a single “wall” of shoots.

While a number of trellis system designs exist, it is more important to understand the concepts behind them than each individual design. While some of these trellis systems are traditional, others were designed more recently to optimize microclimatic conditions. Variations of each of these are common around the world, and many similar systems go by different names.

Untrellised Vines

Head-trained vines are typically not trellised. In sunny climates, shoots may be left to drape onto the floor, while in cooler climates, shoots may be tied to a central post for support and to allow more sunlight in the canopy and fruit zone. Untrellised vines require very little canopy management, since minimal work is required to arrange shoots. Because shoots sit on the vineyard floor, some vineyard operations, like running equipment through the rows, are more challenging. This arrangement can result in dense canopies with excessive shading and increased disease pressure, which is exacerbated by the difficulty of getting adequate spray coverage. Untrellised vines are not suitable for mechanized harvesting.

An old, head-trained vineyard with untrellised vines (left) and a head-trained vine with canes tied together prior to winter pruning (Photo credit: Jennifer Angelosante)

Non-Divided Canopy Systems

A bilateral cordon-trained vine with VSP trellising (Photo credit: Avery Heelan)

Cordon and cane-pruned vines have many options for trellis systems. These are broadly categorized as divided or non-divided systems, and in each case, shoots may be trained upright, or they may be allowed to hang down toward the ground.

On low-vigor sites, cordon and cane vines are often trained to one or two horizontal canes or cordons, referred to as a non-divided system, since there is a single fruit zone. Several trellis systems are commonly used for non-divided canopies. In vertical shoot positioning (VSP), the shoots are trained vertically and compressed into a single wall between several wires of support. VSP is ideal for high-density plantings. It respects the tendency of vinifera grapes to grow vertically and results in good light interception. VSP works well for lower-vigor vines, as shoots may be positioned for good airflow and coverage with anti-fungal sprays. For vines with higher vigor, the canopy may become too dense and humid, restricting airflow and harboring disease. Warmer climates that risk overexposure may require more protection in the fruiting zone. VSP is suitable for mechanization; however, this system requires additional labor to tuck shoots into the trellis. It is moderately expensive to install and operate.

Where more protection from sunlight is desired—for example, on warmer sites that are prone to sunburn—a slightly wider variation of VSP may be used, with spreader bars that open the canopy slightly. This is also good for more vigorous vines, since it allows for better airflow and sunlight penetration into the canopy and reduces crowding in the fruit zone.

California Sprawl is an example of a two-wire system. In this layout, the shoots are flopped over a single higher wire that provides support and shade to the fruit zone. Two-wire systems are less expensive to install and require less canopy work than VSP. This system is compatible with vigorous canopies but may restrict airflow such that the underside of the canopy becomes humid and prone to disease.

A cordon-trained vine with high wire trellising (Photo credit: Jennifer Angelosante)

In high-wire systems, such as high bilateral cordon, the cordon or cane is trained along a support wire, while the fruiting shoots sprawl unsupported in all directions. It is a good low-cost option since it is well suited to mechanization and requires little canopy management, and with basic infrastructure, it is inexpensive to install. Because the fruit is located near the top of the vine, it gets good light exposure, but this system might not offer suitable protection in very warm climates. High wire systems require a tall head height, so these vines can be difficult to prune and harvest by hand.

Divided Canopy Systems

On high-vigor sites, a divided canopy may be utilized to provide more space for the vine and avoid overcrowding. Divided canopy systems are typically quadrilateral cane or cordon-trained. The canopy may be divided horizontally, with two parallel fruit zones located three to four feet apart at identical heights, or vertically, with an upper and lower fruit zone. Many of these have an analogous non-divided canopy system. Uneven ripening is a risk of divided canopies since there are multiple fruit zones. Some producers will even harvest the different zones on different dates.

There are horizontally divided equivalents of each of the systems mentioned above. Lyre is similar to VSP, Wye is similar to California Sprawl, and Geneva Double Curtain is similar to the high-wire system. In each case, the canopy is mirror-imaged across the vine row.

Scott Henry and Smart-Dyson are unique vertically divided systems used primarily in New World wine regions including parts of New Zealand, Australia, Argentina, Chile, and the United States, as well as Spain and Portugal. Scott Henry is a quadrilateral cane-pruned system, with two canes trellised vertically and two trellised downward. This system is used for high-vigor situations where tighter row spacing is desired. While efficient, the fruit from the upper and lower fruiting zones will ripen at different times (fruit on the upper cane ripens first, another example of apical dominance). Smart-Dyson is a similar system used for high-vigor bilateral cordon vines, where shoots are trained both up and down. It is very suitable for mechanization, and the fruit on these vines ripens more evenly than with Scott Henry. Overly vigorous VSP vines can easily be retrofitted to this system.

A quadrilateral cordon-trained vineyard with a Lyre trellis system (Photo credit: GuildSomm)

Other novel trellis systems are possible. Pergola, also called tendone in Italy and latada in Spain, is a classic system used on high-vigor, high-production vines in Southern Europe. Pergola systems allow workers to pass below the vines. These systems make efficient use of vineyard space, allowing maximum light interception by the canopy while also providing adequate protection in the fruiting zone. In humid areas like Rías Baixas, pergola trellising promotes airflow and reduces fungal disease pressure. Whereas the canopy of other trellis systems can be thought of as perpendicular to the ground, in pergola systems, the canopy is parallel. The high height of the fruit zone makes pruning and harvesting challenging, and this layout doesn’t easily accommodate driving equipment through the vineyard.

Te Kauwhata two-tier, a vertically divided training and trellising system used in New Zealand (Photo credit: Jennifer Angelosante)

A Year in the Vineyard

Phenology is a term that describes a vine’s reoccurring patterns of growth and development throughout the year. Major milestones include budbreak, flowering and fruit set, veraison, harvest, and leaf fall. Except in tropical environments, grapevines fruit once per year. They spend the entire growing season establishing a canopy and ripening their fruit, and during dormancy, they survive off of carbohydrate reserves stored in the trunk and roots during the growing season.

Credit: Laura Perrone

In the Northern Hemisphere, the growing season begins with budbreak (or budburst) in March or April and ends with harvest sometime between August and November. (In the Southern Hemisphere, budbreak occurs in September or October, with harvest between February and May.) While the dates of budburst, flowering, and veraison are reasonably consistent for most varieties, with differences of about two weeks at most, a much larger span of harvest dates is observed between varieties.

Start of the Growing Season

Coulure on a wild rootstock vine (Photo credit: Jennifer Angelosante)

When the temperature begins to warm to about 50 degrees Fahrenheit, the vine begins transporting sap containing nutrients and energy stores from the roots to the buds to initiate shoot growth. This may be observed as weeping, where sap is pushed through open pruning wounds. Excessively wet conditions at this time might prevent soils from warming, stifle root growth, and delay the start of the season.

At budbreak, the dormant buds begin to “push,” and the compressed shoots stored inside begin growing. The first leaves appear, and as the shoot elongates, new leaves emerge from the shoot tip. The growth is slow at first, fueled by energy stored in the roots and trunk. Budbreak occurs according to apical dominance, where buds that are located further from the ground push first.

After a few weeks of slow growth, the vines enter a period known as rapid shoot growth or the “grand period of growth.” During this time, shoots may increase in length by inches per day. By flowering, the shoots are typically about half of their full size.

Flowering & Fruit Set

Grape flowers do not resemble the common notion of a flower with petals radiating from the pistil (female flower part). Rather, grape flower petals form a cap around each flower that falls off during flowering to reveal the stamens (male flower parts). Pollen from the stamens falls onto the pistil during fertilization, and each fertilized flower turns into a grape berry. The weather during flowering is critical, as low temperatures interfere with fertilization, ultimately reducing the number of berries as well as the overall yield. Bloom typically begins six to eight weeks after budbreak and continues over a span of one to three weeks.

Shortly after flowering, during fruit set, fertilized flowers turn into berries and the yields for the season become more apparent. Under favorable conditions, roughly a third of flowers develop successfully into berries. Flowers that are not fertilized fall off.

The rapid growth phase pauses during flowering and resumes after fruit set. After set, the vine begins devoting more energy to fruit development. The berries are hard and green at first and rapidly increase in size as cells within the berries divide. Starting at set, reactions begin taking place inside the berries that will ultimately determine berry composition, and the environmental conditions around the cluster more significantly influence fruit composition. Acid, tannin, and some flavor precursors begin accumulating, and the timing of canopy management operations becomes more critical.

Coulure & Millerandage

Two terms are used to describe irregular outcomes at fruit set. Coulure, or shatter, occurs when a large percentage of berries are not fertilized successfully, and few berries form. While cold weather at flowering is often to blame, certain grape varieties, such as Merlot and Grenache, are prone to coulure. Millerandage, also known as hens and chicks, describes a condition where berries contain a different number of seeds, resulting in different berry sizes. It is often the result of a nutrient deficiency or disease. The Wente and Gingin clones of Chardonnay are known for their tendency for millerandage. While both of these conditions are detrimental to yields, they do not necessarily reduce quality.

Veraison

Veraison is one of the most recognizable and photogenic phases of grape development, where grapes change color from green to red—or, in the case of white grapes, from bright lime green to a pale, translucent green. This occurs about four to six weeks after flowering and marks many important changes in the vine. Prior to veraison, the vine invests its energy into growth and development. By veraison, the shoots are typically full height, and the vine’s energy is focused on fruit ripening. Color, flavor, and sugar begin accumulating in the fruit. Acidity and astringency decrease, and the fruit begins to soften. Berries continue increasing in size for several weeks after veraison, but cell enlargement, rather than cell division, is responsible for this increase.

Veraison (Photo credit: Robert Black)

Harvest & Post-Harvest

Depending on the desired level of ripeness, harvest ranges from 4 to 12 weeks after veraison for dry wine styles. Harvest for sweet wine styles may occur much later in the fall. Different varieties ripen at different rates, and ultimately, the winemaker decides when the fruit is ready to be harvested. Ripeness should be thought of as a spectrum, rather than a discrete point, and harvest timing within this ripening window has serious implications on wine style and expression of site.

After the fruit has been harvested, the canopy changes colors from green to yellow as leaves senesce. The vine redistributes energy from the canopy into the trunk and roots. During this time, the vine must store enough energy to provide for early development in the following year, from budbreak until leaves are big enough for photosynthesis. After nutrients have been translocated from leaves and shoots into the permanent features of the vine, the end of the season is marked by leaf fall, when spent leaves fall and the vine enters dormancy.

Vineyard Operations

Pruning

One of the most important annual operations in the vineyard is pruning, where last year’s vegetative growth is removed to make way for new growth during the coming season. During pruning, viticulturists determine the number and position of buds that will turn into shoots. Through the process, they set potential yields, guide the permanent shape and balance of the vine, and foster organization to facilitate other operations. Pruning is not only one of the most technical vineyard operations, since the decisions made affect the vineyard’s long-term trajectory, but also among the most expensive and labor intensive. Its goal is to slowly work toward vine balance.

Pruning diminishes the overall capacity of the vine by leaving fewer shoots and leaves to support fruit ripening. It concentrates the vine’s energy into the buds that remain, so that the shoots they produce are longer, stronger, and more fruitful. If a vine is pruned with balance in mind, yields will stabilize over time, since the vine is neither overtaxed nor overshaded, both of which decrease yields.

There are a few conventional wisdoms used during pruning:

The most fruitful buds are those on one-year-old wood (from last year’s fruiting shoots).
Thicker canes should be pruned to longer spurs with more buds since they have more capacity than smaller canes.
If there was excessive vegetative growth in the previous year (for example, if shoots grew too long), more buds should be left this year to balance the shoot growth.

Pruning occurs during winter dormancy and before budbreak. In the Northern Hemisphere, this is typically between December and March. Vines that are pruned earlier in this window may be more prone to fungal trunk diseases and winter freeze. Pruning should never be done in the rain, and it is ideal to wait several days after the last rain to minimize the risk of fungal disease. Late pruning can be used to delay budbreak slightly in order to avoid the risk of spring frost, but if it occurs after budbreak, it can ultimately weaken vines. Ideally, pruning should occur as late as possible, while still being finished in time for the start of the season, but timing is often dictated by the availability of labor.

Spur Pruning

A spur with two buds will grow into two shoots during the season. At pruning, one of these shoots is removed entirely, while the other is trimmed back to a spur. The only decision the pruner must make is which cane to use for the spur. For spurs on cordons, the lower cane is typically favored to keep spur positions from reaching too high. It is also best for the spur to be vertical, which may override this preference for the lower cane.

During pruning, one cane is removed entirely from each spur position, and the other is trimmed into a spur. Credit: Laura Perrone

Spur-pruned vines may be pre-pruned, where the top portion of the cane is cut and removed from the vineyard prior to making the final pruning cuts. This is a method used to divide labor, allowing the second pruning pass to occur as late as possible. The first pass is more labor intensive, since the brush must be removed from the trellis, whereas the second pass is more thoughtful, since these are the pruning cuts that matter.

Head-trained vines require a longer-term vision, considering where the shoots will grow the following year. Typically, spurs that are oriented away from the head of the vine are most desirable. During establishment, spur positions will occasionally be pruned into “rabbit ears,” where both canes at a spur position are pruned into spurs for the following year, to leave more buds and increase the capacity of the vine.

Cane Pruning

In cane pruning, buds that grow into fruiting shoots come from a single cane instead of many spurs. Pruning cane-pruned vines is more complex. Guyot is a specific type of cane pruning, where the producer selects one cane that will be retained and used as the fruiting cane the following year, and one cane that will be trimmed into a renewal spur. The renewal spur may be the next year’s fruiting cane, so its placement is critical. Renewal spurs should be located close to the head of the vine, and the spur should be oriented such that it is not growing into the row.

During pruning, at least one fruiting cane is retained and laid down. A renewal spur is optional. Credit: Laura Perrone

Selecting a suitable cane is also important. An ideal cane is moderate in diameter, with normally spaced internodes, and is well positioned so that it may be bent and tied to the support wire along the vineyard row. Canes are generally pruned to between 8 and 16 nodes. The number of buds retained depends on the growth observed in the previous season along with yield goals for the season ahead. After a suitable cane is selected, the rest of last year’s growth is removed.

In cane pruning, the cane must be tied to a trellis wire for support. This is generally done as a second pass that happens once pruning is finished. For varieties where buds in the middle of the canes may struggle to push, the cane may be tied into an arch to encourage more even growth. This training technique, sometimes called “cane cracking,” is often used for Riesling in Germany and Nebbiolo in Piedmont.

Guyot-Poussard Pruning

The pruning principles described here are widely used throughout viticulture. However, an alternative school of thought is rapidly gaining traction, especially in growing regions with more resources. Guyot-Poussard pruning is based on concepts originally described by Eugène Poussard and Charles Guyot in the 1860s. The idea behind this method is that traditional pruning leaves “scar tissue” in the vine that ultimately diminishes its ability to transport water and nutrients, and encourages Esca and other fungal diseases. This alternative system is more conscious of where these wounds occur and seeks to make pruning cuts that respect the vine’s sap flow. Large cuts and cuts near the head of the vine are avoided. These practices are believed to extend the longevity, productivity, and health of the vineyard. The downside is that this type of pruning is extremely technical and has a steep learning curve. Pruning consultants Simonit & Sirch have popularized their own version of Poussard pruning and travel throughout the world teaching these complex techniques.

Mechanical Pruning

Pruning for cordon-trained, spur-pruned vines may be done mechanically, using a method similar to hedging. Common mechanical pruners cut everything off of the vine above a certain height, or make cuts around four sides of the cordon, called box-pruning. Mechanical pruning leaves long spurs and results in haphazard canopies. While effective, mechanical pruning cannot replicate the quality of pruning by hand, which benefits from human intuition and thoughtful decision-making. Mechanical pruning is unlikely to gain widespread acceptance any time soon, but it is more widely used for pre-pruning.

Minimal pruning, where vines are pruned minimally or not at all, is used occasionally in grape production, more often for raisins. While this is not a technique that will be adopted by many wine producers, it does provide an interesting illustration of how the vine regulates itself over time. Minimally pruned vines have many short shoots, and while clusters are irregular in size and position, they tend to orient themselves on the outside of the canopy. These vines develop an extensive system of permanent wood and do not resemble the organized, homogenous, well-position vines of many vineyards.

Canopy Management

While a region’s macro- and mesoclimates shape vine growth and development, the vine’s microclimate is largely determined by its canopy. The main function of the canopy is to provide energy to the vine through photosynthesis. A vine’s photosynthetic capacity increases with the amount of sun-exposed leaves. Additionally, the canopy hydrates and cools the microclimate through transpiration and evaporative cooling. Dense canopies are more prone to fungal disease, as they are more humid but also have less airflow, and they make it more difficult to get coverage from sprays that protect the vine from mildew and botrytis.

Canopy management includes a series of vineyard tasks designed to fine-tune the microclimate and organize the vine. It is one of the most effective ways for a producer to improve wine quality, especially in vigorous or disease-prone vineyards. The importance of sunlight in the canopy and fruit zone were more fully realized in the last 40 years, and since then, more extensive research has informed the practices used today.

Shoot thinning (Photo credit: Jennifer Angelosante)

Appropriate canopy management practices depend on the conditions of the growing environment as well as vine vigor. Warm, sunny climates often demand more protection from sunburn and dehydration, while cool, wet climates require maximizing sun exposure and reducing disease pressure. More work is needed to keep vigorous vines healthy and their quality high. Labor availability is also an important consideration, as many of these operations occur during the spring and early summer, often the busiest part of the growing season. Fruit cost will help dictate the extent of canopy management that is reasonable.

During shoot thinning, unwanted shoots are removed to reduce crowding and competition. Good candidates for removal include multiple shoots growing from a single bud, suckers, laterals, and shoots that are growing in inconvenient spaces, such as into the vineyard row. Vigorous vines will push more suckers and laterals and require more shoot thinning. Timing is important. It’s easiest to remove shoots before they are six to eight inches long, but removing unwanted shoots too early encourages more to grow in their place. A viticulturist may prefer to let the shoots grow longer to diffuse energy. If vigor is limited, thinning should be done sooner to allow the vine to focus its energy on remaining shoots. The process often begins prior to bloom and may be repeated as necessary.

Through shoot positioning, a viticulturist orients the shoots in the canopy in an organized and even way. Where a trellis system is used, positioning also involves tucking shoots into support wires that help hold the shoots in place. Shoot positioning creates an even environment, with a balance of light exposure and protection, and makes all subsequent vineyard work easier. It’s done after bloom, once the shoots are long enough but while they are still sufficiently flexible to bend without breaking and are not too tangled.

Leafing, or removing leaves from dense canopies, improves airflow and sunlight penetration throughout the canopy and fruiting zone, which reduces disease pressure. Often, leaves are removed from the morning side of the canopy in the fruiting zone but retained on the afternoon sun side. Internal leaves may be removed from higher up in the canopy to increase airflow and light while leaving fruit protected. Leafing can be done any time after fruit set, but earlier is better. Exposing shaded berries to sun later in the season makes them more vulnerable to sunburn, since they aren’t well adapted. The maximum benefits of sunlight in terms of flavor development occur prior to veraison.

A vine before and after leafing (Photo credit: Sarah Ferguson)

Suckering and leafing can be mechanized. While this might slightly damage the remaining shoots, it allows for timely action, which may ultimately be more important in terms of fruit quality.

Hedging is trimming shoots and leaves that fall outside of the plane of the canopy. It creates a tailored, shrub-like appearance. Hedging keeps the rows clear and prevents damage from vineyard equipment. Topping is a specific form of hedging where shoots are cut at the top to keep them from growing taller, as they will continue to grow as long as they have enough water, since they lack a terminal bud. Topping is done after shoots have reached their maximum height, if the growing tip is still green and active.

Along with pruning, cluster thinning is an opportunity for the viticulturist to manage yields directly. Clusters may be removed to achieve targeted yields and prevent overcropping. Young vines are often prone to setting too much fruit for their small stature, and there are varieties, including Chenin Blanc, Carignan, Grenache, and Valdigué, that are more ambitious in terms of yields. As vines move toward balance, they require less crop adjustment.

Cluster thinning may be done at any time throughout the growing season but generally occurs between fruit set and veraison, once yields can be estimated. A common technique is to leave two clusters on healthy shoots, one cluster on shoots that are half-height, and no fruit on short shoots. On low-vigor and cooler sites, it might be more prudent to leave only one cluster per shoot. A second round of cluster thinning known as green drop, or green harvest, may be done at the end of veraison, where clusters with delayed maturity are removed to promote homogenous ripening. To hasten development and not overtax the vine, however, earlier crop removal is better.

In many vineyards, the economics of dropping fruit do not make sense, as the grower is literally leaving money on the ground. While lower yields do not necessarily result in higher quality, the grower may be incentivized to retain more fruit than is ideal. For this reason, some producers have moved toward acreage contracts, where a buyer pays for fruit by the acre instead of by the ton. Ultimately, many wineries seek to own vineyards in order to tailor viticultural practices to the needs of their wine program.

Yields

While excessive yields are detrimental to fruit quality, severely limiting crops is not economical and can reduce quality. Throughout the world, high-quality wines are made from grapes cropped at anywhere from less than one up to eight tons per acre. As a general rule of thumb, reducing the amount of fruit increases the rate of ripening. In marginal climates, limiting yields may be necessary. In climates with adequate warmth and resources, significant crop reduction may lead to uneven ripening, with sugar accumulation and acid loss outpacing flavor development and tannin ripening.

At certain times in history, vines have been systematically overcropped to increase yields and profits, but this ultimately produced lower-quality wines. As a reaction to this, many now believe that a vine has a limited capacity to produce flavors and that lowering yields increases flavor concentration. While reducing yields speeds up sugar accumulation, it is not generally true that the flavors of higher yielding vines are more dilute (within a reasonable range). Vines with more fruit actually adjust their metabolism to produce more flavor compounds.

Appropriate yields depend on both the vine and its environment. In warm climates, higher yields make more sense, since the increased rate of ripening can support more fruit. Larger vines on rich soils can also support higher yields than smaller vines on weak soils, and higher-density plantings will produce higher yields per acre (but lower yields per vine) since the acreage is used more efficiently. Certain wine styles fare better than others with larger yields. With white and sparkling wine, for example, acid retention may be more important than concentration.

Vineyard Floor Management

For part of the year, native grass and broadleaf species, weeds, and cover crops grow on the vineyard floor. These plants will impact the amount of water and nutrients available to the vine and, as a result, managing the vineyard floor is an important aspect of managing the vine. The conditions on the vineyard floor also influence the microclimate. Bare soil is warmer than soil covered in plants. Covered soils are cooler during the day but may take longer to cool off during the night, since airflow is impeded. These soils are also more prone to frost damage on emerging shoots, as pockets of cold air can become trapped in tall cover crops.

Cover crops are intentionally seeded during the fall. Legumes like peas and clovers and a range of grasses are common in viticulture. Legumes add nitrogen to the soil but have low water requirements. Some grasses have high water requirements and can be used to devigorate vines through competition. Brassicas may help control nematode populations. Cover crops and other plants limit erosion during the winter months, reduce compaction, and soak up excess soil moisture in the spring. During the growing season, plants compete with vines for water and nutrients. Later in the season, they may wither and die, or they may continue to grow if there is sufficient water.

Crimson clover is an attractive, nitrogen-rich cover crop (Photo credit: Robert Black)

The primary goals of vineyard floor management include optimizing the amount of water and nutrients that are available to the vine, limiting erosion, building soil organic matter, and influencing microclimate. Good cover crop selection coupled with appropriate vineyard floor management strategy will also keep invasive weed species from inundating the vineyard. On the practical side, clearing the vineyard floor allows workers and equipment to pass easily and safely through the vineyard rows, and keeps weeds from becoming entangled in the vines.

During the growing season, a number of practices are used to manage plants on the vineyard floor. From a practical standpoint, the work is divided into two zones that are managed using different machinery. While the alleyway between rows is easy to access with tractors and plows, the area under the vine row requires more specialized equipment.

Mowing is generally the first step of control against weeds and cover crops. Just after budbreak, rows may be mowed to increase airflow and reduce frost risk. Mowing early in the season encourages regrowth and can be used to soak up excess moisture. In dry climates, mowing later in the season will typically kill the groundcover. Tillage, or cultivation, is the turning over of the top 6 to 10 inches of soil. Tillage can be used to add fertility to the soil through green manure and reduces competition between the vine and groundcover for water and nutrients. It also reduces rodent populations, which can cause significant damage on no-till soils. Tillage is not typically practiced on hills, as it encourages erosion. Some producers vehemently oppose tillage since it destroys soil structure, can hinder water’s absorption into the soil, encourages erosion, and disrupts soil microbial communities. As soil is turned, carbon is brought to the surface and off-gases as carbon dioxide, which some believe contributes to global warming.

Lightly tilled soil after harvest (Photo credit: Jennifer Angelosante)

Mulching, also called green mulching, refers to mowing or crimping cover crops and grasses so that they make a carpet over the vineyard that discourages weeds from growing. Crimping uses a heavy implement to flatten plants to the ground, making “crimps” every few feet that damage the plants. Mulching helps conserve soil moisture and also reduces the soil temperature, which some believe is beneficial for soil bacteria. When compared with bare soil, it cools the microclimate, since the ground stays at a lower temperature and does not reflect much sunlight back into the vine.

Under the vine row, herbicides are the cheapest and easiest method for weed removal, but many are critical of their use in farming. While organic herbicides exist, they are not particularly effective. Producers are increasingly moving away from the use of herbicides in favor of mechanical cultivation, which involves using a French plow or other implement that scrapes the top of the soil to remove weeds and other plants. Others plant a low-growing perennial cover crop like clover that will outcompete the weeds.

Most of these practices occur in the spring and early summer, once the soil is dry enough for equipment to enter the vineyard without becoming stuck. Timing depends on water and nutrient availability and how much competition is desired, as well as labor, since this is a busy season in the vineyard. In dry climates, competition for water should be limited, so cover crops may be mowed, crimped, or tilled early in the season. In wet climates, cover crops can be used to remove excess moisture from the soil and may be allowed to grow year round.

Beyond these factors, there are different schools of thought in terms of management techniques. On one end of the spectrum, some farmers will cultivate the soil each year in the spring, once soils are suitably dry, to integrate cover crops and weeds and remove sources of competition and habitat that might harbor pests and rodents. Weeds underneath the row may be cultivated using an implement like a French plow or desiccated using an herbicide like glyphosate. These techniques can reduce irrigation requirements and are popular with those who dry-farm. Others see the plants that grow on the vineyard floor as a vital part of the vine’s ecosystem and put a great deal of thought into what is growing there, when it is growing, and how to manage it. They view cover crops less as competition and more as an opportunity for building soil fertility and organic matter. Nitrogen-fixing cover crops may be selected to add nitrogen to the soil. Where competition needs to be limited, cover crops with low water requirements or those that go to seed early in the season may be planted. These producers typically prefer practices that maintain soil structure, using, for example, mowing and crimping rather than tillage.

Water Management

Water management is another lever for influencing grape quality. Ideally, the vine has enough water to keep it functioning healthily, but not so much as to induce additional vegetative growth. In many climates, the soil has plenty of water early in the spring, though excess moisture in the ground at this time can cause waterlogging, which inhibits root growth. Springtime rains, if paired with ample sunshine, can produce vigorous vegetative growth early in the season, but by mid-summer, water may be in short supply.

Throughout the growing season, precipitation or irrigation is generally necessary for vineyard health. Irrigation is expensive and labor intensive, and most producers prefer to avoid it, if possible. Unfortunately, not all wine regions and sites are suitable for dry-farming. Historically, vineyard sites with adequate water reserves were selected, but as the climate changes, dry-farming is becoming increasingly difficult even in some traditional growing regions. The upside is that where water is limited, it can be controlled, which can be beneficial since excess water is often the culprit for low wine quality.

An aerial NDVI map is used to identify areas of water stress throughout the vineyard (Credit: Jennifer Angelosante)

In areas where irrigation is not used, water management occurs passively through site selection, decisions made during site preparation, and vineyard floor management. The resulting wines may demonstrate more seasonal variation, and for this reason, it could be argued that they present a more honest expression of the vintage. On the other hand, where irrigation is used, the viticulturist can fine-tune the vine’s water status.

While more generous irrigation can be used to help support a larger crop load, quality-minded producers typically follow a deficit irrigation strategy. Where deficit irrigation is used, vines often receive less water during the growing season than they would in a region with regular summer rainfall. Under deficit irrigation, the vineyard is monitored for water stress, and just enough water is added to keep the vine healthy. Some growers irrigate fewer times at larger volumes, while other irrigate more frequently at lower volumes. The former technique is used to encourage deeper root growth and to acclimatize the vine to water stress. The latter may be more appropriate on soils with low water-holding capacity. Partial rootzone drying is a specific deficit irrigation technique where only half of the rootzone receives water at a time, which encourages the vine to be more efficient with its overall water use throughout the season.

Growers who irrigate monitor water stress in a number of ways:

NDVIs are vineyard maps that demonstrate vine vigor, based on the color of the canopy, as captured by aerial infrared photography. These maps suggest areas of water stress.
Soil moisture probes give an indication of the amount of water in the soil.
Leaf water potential is a measurement taken using a tool called a pressure bomb on individual leaves, identifying their degree of water stress. The amount of pressure that must be applied to a leaf in order for it to release water from the petiole (leaf stem) indicates how many stomates are closed, a response to stress conditions.
Predictive models estimate how much total water is lost from the vineyard soil through evapotranspiration (the combination of water lost due to evaporation from the soil and transpiration from plants) and then add back a certain percentage of this amount, depending on the weather forecast.

Though irrigation has been used in agriculture for about 8,000 years, a number of different types of irrigation are practiced today. Drip irrigation is by far the most common. It is highly efficient in its water use but expensive to install and maintain. It also provides the ability to fertigate, where fertilizer is added through the irrigation system. Overhead sprinklers are another option, applying water evenly over the surface of the vineyard. Sprinklers double as frost protection and may be used during heat events to lower temperatures through evaporative cooling. Sprinklers increase moisture in the canopy, however, which increases disease pressure. They are inefficient, since water is lost to evaporation, and expensive to install. Under flood irrigation, the vineyard is flooded with water diverted from a nearby water source. While no longer common, this is still used in Chile and Argentina. Flooding the soil can stymy root growth, but it can also be effective at disrupting populations of phylloxera, and vineyards may be flood irrigated several times per season.

Harvest

Harvest is a busy time in the vineyard. Each pick requires the coordination of labor, equipment, and transportation. These logistics must be responsive, since picks are decided only a few days ahead of time and plans may be impacted by inclement weather and other unforeseen events. Collaboration and flexibility on the part of both vineyard manager and winemaker are necessary to achieve the best expression from the land.

A number of factors influence a winemaker’s decision of when to harvest, including levels of sugar and acid, tannin texture, and flavor profile, along with practical considerations like winery capacity and weather. From a grower’s perspective, an earlier harvest is often desirable, as this ensures the safety of the fruit—waiting can risk damage from weather or disease. Rain or irrigation can cause fruit to swell and may dilute sugar, acid, and flavor concentration. However, water stress during the ripening period can concentrate the fruit through dehydration. Producers who purchase fruit often pay for grapes by the ton, but since dehydrated fruit weighs less, a grower may prefer to irrigate close to harvest, while a winemaker might prefer extra concentration. This is another reason why acreage contracts are becoming increasingly popular.

Fruit is vulnerable to damage and oxidation from the time it comes off the vine until it is safely in tank. Keeping the fruit safe, intact, and cool is of upmost importance and requires that picks occur quickly and smoothly. In warm regions, fruit may be harvested during the night to keep it cool.

Traditionally, fruit has been harvested by hand. Harvest season is a time of celebration, since it represents the culmination of a year’s work. In Europe, students and townspeople were often enlisted to join in the festivities. Today, cost and labor limitations force growers to consider alternative methods. Mechanical harvesters are improving each year; the technology is promising and may eventually surpass hand-harvesting from a quality perspective. As with mechanical pruning, specific vineyard architecture is required for machine harvesting. In some areas, like New Zealand, it is standard. The distinctive style of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc has even been attributed to the use of machine harvesting. While there are exceptions, for producers that prioritize quality, hand-harvesting is still the standard.

Once harvest is finished, the vineyard work for the year is nearly done. If there is no rain, the vines may be fertilized or irrigated to help them store sufficient reserves for the following season, and cover crop seeds may be sown. Autumn is also the best time to identify and remove diseased vines, since symptoms are generally most severe at the end of the season.

Pests & Diseases

Pests and diseases threaten vineyard health and longevity as well as the quality and quantity of the current season’s fruit. An essential part of a viticulturist’s job is to diagnosis, treat, and prevent these ills.

Pests

Phylloxera feeding on vine roots (Photo credit: Matteo Abreu)

Some vineyard dwellers are helpful, preying on undesirable insects and fungi. Others, however, vector disease or damage the fruit or vine directly, preventing proper growth and development by inhibiting photosynthesis or nutrient uptake. Phylloxera vastatrix, literally “the devastator,” is among the most infamous pests. A destructive yellow louse native to the Americas, it now inhabits most vineyard soils worldwide. It was first observed in Europe in 1863 and spread throughout the Continent, destroying vineyards in its wake. Phylloxera feeds on the vine’s roots, and while this is not fatal in itself, the punctures allow infection by pathogens in the soil. Ultimately, this causes necrosis and prevents healthy uptake of water and nutrients. Phylloxera’s damage is slow and can take years to come to fruition, gradually reducing the vine’s ability to successfully ripen fruit and eventually killing it. While Vitis vinifera is highly susceptible, it was discovered in the 1870s that native American grape species are resistant to phylloxera’s damage. As a result, vinifera was grafted to (mostly) American rootstocks.

The use of rootstock has been an effective remedy overall, but there have been missteps. AXR1, a rootstock used commonly in California during the 1900s, was initially believed to be phylloxera resistant and later proven not to be, resulting in a second round of attack by phylloxera and massive replants. Several rootstocks still used today may not be as resistant as was once thought. There are still wine regions, however, that are reasonably phylloxera free, including Washington State, parts of Southern Australia, Argentina, and Chile. In Australia, strict quarantine protocols limit phylloxera’s spread. Sandy soils and those that flood regularly (including by flood irrigation) are fairly inhospitable to the aphid.

Nematodes are native to Europe and Asia. Similar to phylloxera, they are parasites that feed on roots, ultimately limiting the capacity of the vine to uptake water and nutrients. Several species of nematodes are found in viticulture. The best known of these is the dagger nematode, Xiphinema index, which vectors fanleaf virus. In soils that are affected, the practice of leaving soils fallow for several years prior to replanting is helpful. Certain cover crops, like mustard, are believed to produce toxins unfavorable to nematodes, discouraging their proliferation. Nematode resistant rootstocks—for example, O39-16—may also be used.

Mites are very common in vineyards as well. Some are damaging, while others are beneficial. They feed on leaves, making small brown galls or causing discoloration and reducing the vine’s photosynthetic capacity. Usually, this isn’t serious, but if mite populations grow out of control, they can delay ripening and may even result in defoliation. While chemical treatments are available, many use cultural and biological controls instead. Mites thrive in dusty conditions, so dust should be kept at a minimum when driving through a vineyard. Predatory mites feed on undesirable mite species and can be released into the vineyard to slow their damage. Several organic and non-organic treatments are available to effectively control mite populations should counts exceed established economic impact levels.

Many other insects call the vineyard home. Mealybugs vector leafroll virus, and glassy-winged sharpshooters vector Pierce’s disease. Other species, like the suzukii fruit fly and the European grapevine moth, damage the fruit and open it up to infection by botrytis and other pathogens.

Leafhopper nymphs (left) and mealybugs (Photo credit: Avery Heelan [left], Shawn DeMartino)

Insects are differentiated by the type of feeding that they do, and this is key to diagnosing which insect is culpable for damage. Sucking insects include leafhoppers and sharpshooters, while cutworms and beetles are chewing insects. To limit damage, predatory insects, like ladybugs that will prey on immature leafhoppers and aphids, may be released. Host plants may be removed from the area or planted nearby to divert insects out of the vineyard. Mating disruption is a technique in which pheromones are released, making it difficult for insects to find each other and mate successfully. When necessary, pesticides can also limit insect populations.

Bird netting is used throughout New Zealand to protect vines from crop losses (Photo credit: Jennifer Angelosante)

Birds and mammals are incredibly destructive in vineyards as well. Their feeding reduces yields and injures fruit, which encourages disease, and larger animals may damage vineyard infrastructure. Wild boar are a key concern throughout Italy, France, and Germany. In South Africa, baboons walk down vineyard rows “harvesting” clusters as they pass, and in Australia, kangaroos can eat up to 150 kilograms of fruit in a day. In the United States, bird damage is estimated to cost vineyards $70 million per year in losses. Prevention, through bird netting, air cannons, noise emitters, scarecrows, and fencing, may be used in areas where animals pose a threat. Nearly all vineyards in New Zealand use bird-netting to protect the vines, while some producers in Northern California employ falconers to discourage smaller birds. Bird damage is often most severe in early-ripening vineyards, and some producers interplant small amounts of sacrificial, earlier-ripening varieties, in hopes that the birds will eat them and move on.

Diseases

Fungal Diseases

Powdery & Downy Mildew

Powdery and downy mildew are native to North America. While indigenous American grape species are largely resistant to these fungal diseases, Vitis vinifera is highly susceptible. Dormant mildew spores overwinter in buds and bark, and under favorable conditions, they multiply and cause infection. Both powdery and downy mildew can result in devastating crop losses.

Powdery mildew (oïdium in French) was first described in 1834 in the United States, and it ravaged Europe 10 years later. It is caused by the fungus Erysiphe necator (also known as Uncinula necator). Under warm, damp conditions, spores are carried by wind and infect green plant tissue. Mildew’s spread is temperature dependent, with the greatest success between 70 and 85 degrees. Powdery mildew is most detrimental from budbreak until veraison, when it can grow on berries. It causes small, web-like, fuzzy patches on leaves and fruit as well as black scarring on canes.

Growers treat powdery mildew with vineyard sprays of sulfur or systemic fungicides on the canopy, generally at regular intervals throughout the growing season. (Note that the elemental sulfur used as a fungicide in the vineyard is distinct from the sulfur dioxide used in the winery.) Control is especially important at budbreak and bloom, since infections on immature plant tissue can spread quickly. Sulfur is typically applied every 10 to 14 days from budbreak until veraison, systemic fungicides every 21 days, and organic biological fungicides, such as Serenade and Sonata, every 7 days.

Vineyards are sometimes threatened throughout the growing season, or the danger could be more intermittent. A dry, warm climate may require 8 to 10 sprays, while at-risk climates may demand over 12 sprays per year. Some producers are able to spray less through careful vineyard monitoring when conditions are favorable. To reduce applications, some viticulturists in the Napa Valley use indicators such as mathematical models or spore traps, which assess the risk of infection, and treat only when the threat is sufficient. Canopy management choices can also minimize risk. Canopies with good airflow are less mildew prone, and the efficacy of sprays depends on coverage, which is easier to achieve on open canopies.

Some grape varieties, including Cabernet Sauvignon, Carignan, and Chardonnay, are more susceptible than others. Merlot, Pinot Noir, Riesling, and Zinfandel are less severely affected. Mildew-infected berries are generally excluded from production as they contribute unpleasant, moldy, and earthy flavors to wine.

Powdery mildew symptoms on leaves and fruit (Photo credit: Jack Kelly Clark, used with permission from the University of California Statewide IPM Program [left], Jennifer Angelosante)

Downy mildew (mildiou in French) is caused by Plasmopara viticola. It is sometimes called Peronospora in Europe (Plasmopara was previously taxonomically classified as Peronospora). It is most successful in warm conditions from 65 to 77 degrees Fahrenheit, but unlike powdery mildew, downy mildew only spreads through water. Regions that receive summertime rain like Northern Europe and the East Coast of the United States are more threatened by downy mildew, while sunny areas including California, Western Australia, and Northern Chile are largely free of it.

Downy mildew attacks green plant tissue, especially young shoots and leaves, and causes oily yellow spots on leaves. Severe infections cripple growing shoots and can lead to defoliation, which will shut down the vine. Berries infected with downy mildew turn green-gray or pink-gray and shrivel. Downy mildew is treated through regular spray applications of Bordeaux blend, a mixture of copper and sulfur that treats both downy and powdery mildew, or systemic fungicides. Sprays are typically applied every two weeks beginning at budbreak, though reapplication is required after rain. Affected fruit is removed through sorting, either on the vine or sorting table.

Bunch Rot

Several microorganisms, including species of fungi and bacteria, cause bunch rot in grapes, which destroys the flavor and integrity of fruit, typically rendering it useless for winemaking. Botrytis cinerea is the most familiar of these. Botrytis is able to penetrate and infect healthy berries. Other bunch rot culprits are opportunists that attack damaged fruit. Sour rot is a form of bunch rot caused by yeast and bacteria that colonizes damaged fruit and produces off-flavors like acetic acid (vinegar).

Botrytis overwinters in canes and clusters and germinates in rainy spring conditions, where 65 to 75 degrees Fahrenheit is ideal for its spread. Bunch rot often begins during flowering. Spores become trapped in flowers and lie dormant until veraison, when sugar begins accumulating in the berries. Rain near harvest and insect, bird, or mechanical damage also welcome botrytis and other infections that feed on the sugar. Infected berries turn brown (white varieties) or reddish (red varieties) and shrivel, sometimes becoming fuzzy and gray. After botrytis has infected berries, other species such as acetobacter can cause sour rot. The best way to avoid botrytis is prevention. Anti-fungal sprays at bloom and prior to bunch closure are particularly important to limit its effects later. Cultural practices that encourage airflow in the canopy, like shoot thinning and leafing, will reduce disease pressure as well. Infected plant material should be removed from the vineyard at the end of the season.

Tight-bunched cultivars are most vulnerable, since spores become trapped within the cluster at bunch closure, and dense, shady, and humid canopies foster disease. Berries have a waxy cuticle that protects them from infection, and many red cultivars produce compounds in their skins that combat botrytis. Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc, Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, Zinfandel, and Pinot Noir are prone to botrytis, while Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Sémillon, and Muscat are less so.

Under certain conditions, botrytis infection late in the season can cause a positive result known as noble rot. Sémillon, Sauvignon Blanc, Chenin Blanc, Riesling, and Furmint are all botrytis-prone and used to create some of the world’s most expensive and sought-after sweet wines. Noble rot requires dry conditions so that the fruit remains intact and secondary infection by acetobacter and other pathogens does not occur.

Trunk Diseases

Esca causes a tiger-striped pattern on leaves (Photo credit: Avery Heelan)

The trunk diseases are a collection of maladies such as Esca, Botryosphaeria, and Eutypa dieback caused by fungal spores that enter the vine through pruning wounds. Infections in the cordons and trunk decay the plant’s vascular system and prevent the transport of water and nutrients to the vine’s extremities. Brown “cankers” or portions of damaged wood are visible in the permanent wood. Trunk diseases are one of the most serious economic threats to vineyards worldwide and result in premature replanting and vine death.

Eutypa dieback is caused by Eutypa lata and typically affects only a single spur position before advancing through the rest of the vine. Eutypa causes stunted shoots, shriveled fruit, and small, cup-shaped, chlorotic leaves. Botryosphaeria results in a distinctive pie-shaped wedge inside the permanent wood, and shoots on the vine’s extremities are often undersized. Esca was officially discovered in 1898, but there are ancient references to the disease. It causes black measles to appear on berries and very distinct tiger-striped leaves with scorching along the margins.

The risk of trunk disease is minimized through good pruning practices. Cane-pruning may be preferred over spur-pruning, and antifungal paste may be painted onto wounds to keep spores from entering. Once infection occurs, the portion of cordon with a canker may be removed, and a new shoot retrained in its place, to prevent the infection from spreading further into the vine.

Black Rot

Black rot is a fungal disease instigated by Guignardia bidwellii that plagues vineyards in humid climates, especially in the Eastern United States and parts of Europe. Spores are released with spring rains and attack young green growth, forming small, reddish-brown circular spots on the leaves and dark lesions on the stems. The best way to avoid black rot is to remove all affected clusters from the vineyard, as the spores will otherwise overwinter in the plants. Copper-based fungicides are also effective.

Bacterial Diseases

Red Leaf Diseases

With the exception of teinturier varieties, the leaves of healthy Vitis vinifera should not turn red in the fall. A number of so-called red leaf diseases cause the leaves of red grape varieties to turn red, and the leaves of white varieties to turn yellow. The source of these diseases may be virus, bacteria, or other pathogens, and they can be confused for a variety of nutrient deficiencies. Viticulturists look at secondary symptoms to identify the underlying cause, and testing for nutrient deficiency or the presence of virus can be used for diagnosis.

Pierce’s disease, often called PD, is caused by the bacteria Xylella fastidiosa, which infects the xylem of vines, preventing the transport of water. Pierce’s disease is vectored by sap-feeding insects like sharpshooters and spittlebugs. It is increasingly common in California but rarely observed in Europe or climates with sufficiently cold winters. Delayed budbreak, stunted growth, and fruit dehydration are common symptoms, and they are further exacerbated by drought. Pierce’s disease is identified by uneven shoot lignification, and “matchsticks,” which are petioles that are left on shoots after leaves defoliate. Infected vines will typically die within two to five years, but cold winter conditions seem to extend the life of some vines.

There is no treatment for Pierce’s disease, and infected vines should be removed to reduce spread. The insects that vector PD live in riparian areas, so nearby vineyards are generally at greatest risk. Building a barricade of plants, such as PD-resistant vines, has been suggested as an effective means of control.

“Grapevine yellows” describes several phytoplasmic diseases, including Flavescence dorée, that are primarily found in Southern European wine regions. Phytoplasms are a specialized type of bacteria that infect plants’ phloem. Delayed, abnormal shoot growth, discolored leaves that curl downward, and berry dehydration are symptoms. Because the shoots do not lignify, infected vines are easily identified by their green shoots in the fall. Leafhoppers are a primary vector of grapevine yellows, so control of these insects is key to slowing the spread, as is removal of any diseased vines.

Crown gall, caused by the bacteria Allorhizobium vitis (previously known as Agrobacterium vitis), is the most common disease of nurseries worldwide. It infects vine tissue during grafting, and later, galls form at the graft union and girdle the vine.

Bacterial blight, caused by Xanthomonas ampelina, kills young shoots. It is spread by rain and on pruning tools, and it can be controlled by copper sprays such as the Bordeaux mixture. Blight is found in South Africa, Southern Europe, Argentina, and Australia.

Viral Diseases

Foliar symptoms of fanleaf virus (Photo credit: Sarah Ferguson)

Grapevine leafroll virus causes significant reduction in yields and slows fruit maturation. On red varieties, leaf margins turn red while veins remain green, and the leaves of white varieties turn yellow. In both cases, the leaves fold downward. Mealybugs are the primary vector of leafroll and are transported throughout regions by birds, wind, and on equipment and workers’ clothes. Leafroll is treated by removing infected vines and through suppression of the mealybug population. One popular treatment is sexual confusion, where tags with mealybug pheromones are placed throughout the vineyard to disrupt mating. In warm regions, where fruit ripens quickly, some winemakers may view leafroll as beneficial, but there are more effective methods to delay maturity.

Grapevine fanleaf virus reduces yields and fruit quality and shortens the lifespan of a vineyard. Infected vines often exhibit abnormal asymmetric leaves, a yellow mosaic pattern in the leaf margin, and yellow bands along the veins. Millerandage is a symptom. Fanleaf is typically introduced to a vineyard through infected planting stock, and afterward, it is vectored by the nematode Xiphinema index. Once fanleaf has been introduced, it is difficult to remove from a vineyard, particularly as nematodes are able to transmit the virus even after the vineyard has been fallow for years. Nematode resistant rootstock, such as O39-16, may be used during replanting.

Red blotch disease is attributed to a virus discovered in California in 2011. It lowers wine quality by delaying and even preventing ripening. Infected leaves from red cultivars exhibit a distinctive red mosaic appearance, with red veins, that is sometimes mistaken for leafroll virus.

Best Practices

The spread of pests and disease can be limited by following a set of best practices. Care should be taken to avoid carrying soil or insects on equipment, shoes, clothing, and shears from vineyard to vineyard, especially if a diseased vineyard has been identified. Pruning shears and other equipment must be cleaned prior to use. Dead plant material, especially from infected vines, should be removed during winter pruning to prevent pathogens from overwintering there. In some cases, the removal of diseased vines will prevent neighboring vines from being infected. During vineyard establishment, only vines that have been tested and certified to be free of virus should be used, and a thorough inspection can minimize the risk of introducing infected planting material. This is also why growers are encouraged to import new plant material through nurseries equipped to do so safely, rather than bringing in so-called suitcase clones themselves.

Farming Philosophies

After the end of World War II, many chemical resources that had gone toward the production of explosives became destined for a new fate: commercial NPK-based fertilizers. This heralded a cultural shift in agriculture and the proliferation of the “better living through chemistry” mentality. By the time the 1970s came around, a lot of farmland had been overworked and overfed. Organic farming and its successors are seen as a backlash to these newer ways of farming, today known as conventional agriculture.

Wine grapes are often farmed with quality in mind. While sustainable farming has not been shown to make better wines, the belief that this is probably the case leads to alternative practices. Indeed, many of the most esteemed wine estates throughout the world employ some form of non-conventional farming. As consumer demand for healthier and more environmentally friendly products increases, producers continue adopting more sustainable practices.

Organic Farming

Organic farming, popularized in the 1970s as the antidote to industrial agriculture, avoids the use of synthetic chemicals that are commonly used in farming. These include conventional fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides, and systemic fungicides. (Organic farming also prohibits the use of genetically modified organisms, or GMOs, but since these are not accepted in the wine industry, this is not a point of distinction in viticulture.) The transition from conventional to certified organic agriculture takes at least three years and requires ongoing audits. A number of organizations worldwide grant organic certification, including the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Bioagricert, Agriculture Biologique, and Australian Certified Organic.

Spraying in Organic Viticulture

Many people believe incorrectly that organic and biodynamic vineyards do not use fungicide sprays. In fact, organic fungicides are typically applied more frequently than their conventional counterparts. While there are restrictions around the amount of product applied per year, sulfur- and copper-based products, including the Bordeaux mixture, are permitted. In 2018, the EU reduced the limit for copper in organic vineyards to four kilograms per hectare per year, taken over a seven-year average, which allows producers to apply more in a particularly bad year (effective as of 2019). Vineyards in France have received attention for the high levels of copper, a heavy metal, that have accumulated in the soil as a result of these sprays. While many argue that they are better than the synthetic alternatives, this is controversial, and scientists are currently looking for healthier solutions.

Varied practices fall under the umbrella of organic farming. On one end of the spectrum, organic agriculture resembles conventional agriculture but with organic products replacing synthetic chemical inputs. Other growers go “beyond organic” and seek to minimize inputs, improve the soil, encourage biodiversity, and even look after the spiritual health of the vineyard. This range of beliefs and emphases has led to further delineation of various farming schools of thought.

Many of these philosophies share a common set of values:

Intolerance of chemically synthesized fertilizers, herbicides,
fungicides, and insecticides.
Preference for complex forms of fertilizer like compost, fish emulsion, and
cover crops, rather than mineral-based fertilizers.
Vineyard-floor practices that build soil organic matter, preserve
soil structure, and increase fertility.
Encouragement of biodiversity, both in the soil and on the farm.
Holistic, systems-based thinking and decision-making for long-term results.

Biodynamic Farming

Biodynamic farming shares many of the principles of organic farming but includes extra inputs. It was originally proposed by Austrian Rudolph Steiner, a controversial figure in his time, in a series of lectures given in 1924. While sometimes described as a more premium form of organic farming, the key distinction between organic and biodynamic farming is the annual application of nine biodynamic preparations, applied to the vineyard in homeopathic quantities. Biodynamic farming is also unique for its spiritual nature. Practitioners may elect to farm by the moon calendar, which has been used traditionally in farming and is still mentioned in the venerable Farmer’s Almanac, or the biodynamic calendar, a sort of astrology for plants developed by Maria Thun beginning in 1962. Demeter is the primary biodynamic certification granted throughout the world, and Biodyvin and respekt-BIODYN are smaller regional organizations.

For decades, non-conventional farmers had the option to self-identify as organic or biodynamic. But while many farmers wish to go beyond the basic requirements of organic agriculture, the emphasis of biodynamics on the nine preps and its adherence to the cosmos are not priorities for some seeking a more environmentally friendly approach.

Regenerative Agriculture

Regenerative farming is viewed by some as the next frontier of organic farming. Whereas organic farming takes a stance of “do no harm,” regenerative farming seeks to go further, actively improving the land through soil building, nurturing microbial ecosystems, and advancing the health of the vineyard. Its ultimate goal is to reduce climate change through carbon sequestration, or removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Regenerative agriculture is heavily influenced by teachings from the Rodale Institute and the Weston A. Price Foundation, and while there is currently no certification, some programs are being developed. Mimi Casteel of Hope Well Vineyard in the Willamette Valley is one of the leading voices for regenerative agriculture within the wine community.

The focus of regenerative agriculture is, fundamentally, on management of the vineyard floor. Building organic matter in the soil, preserving soil structure by no-till practices, and the use of cover crops encourage soil health and prevent erosion. Regenerative farming is sometimes mistakenly described as “do-nothing farming.” At its best, regenerative farming is very active and requires careful observation and decision-making.

Sustainable Farming

Sustainable farming, called lutte raisonée in France, has been used as a catchall to describe a range of growing practices. On the one hand, it could be thought of as a more pragmatic alternative to organic farming, since producers are free to intervene when necessary. Yet sustainable farming also encompasses a wider range of values than organic farming, including the responsible use of resources like water, power, and fuel. While sustainable farming is generally unregulated, several regional certifications have been created to offer better definition of the concept. These programs look at vineyard inputs and practices as well as use of resources (such as water and electricity), business sustainability, and even labor practices. Many of them encourage continual, gradual improvement, such as doing fewer sprays in a year, eliminating the use of herbicides, or reducing water use. Examples include Sonoma County Sustainable, Napa Green, Lodi Rules, SIP Certified, and LIVE. The Porto Protocol, formed in 2019, is a global initiative that encourages growers to adopt practices that combat climate change.

Integrated Pest Management

Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is essentially a systems-based approach to treating vineyard pests and diseases. Rather than treating a symptom, IPM encourages producers to identify and treat root causes or adjust the environment to make conditions less favorable for pests and disease—requiring an understanding of their lifecycles. IPM emphasizes the use of biological and cultural controls over chemical controls such as insecticides and fungicides. It treats maladies by exploiting predator-prey and host relationships, habitat manipulation, physical barriers, and biological interventions like mating confusion.

Other Considerations

There are a number of reasons that a producer may generally adhere to particular farming practices but not choose to seek certification, even if it might offer a point of distinction. Certifications are expensive, labor and paperwork intensive, and disproportionately costly to small operations. Some prefer to instead spend that time improving their farming practices. For producers that do not intend to use certification for marketing purposes, the effort and cost might not make sense. Others prefer the flexibility to use treatments in case of an emergency.

While many have moved in the direction of more sustainable practices, there are practical limitations to farming non-conventionally. Most vineyards are businesses and must be economically viable. Non-conventional agriculture can be more costly; at a minimum, it requires more vineyard oversite than conventional practices. In challenging climates, chemical-based disease control can be more effective than its organic counterparts, which might result in yield and quality losses.

With any vineyard philosophy, there are trade-offs, and dogmatism can ultimately do more harm than good. For example, organic sprays often must be applied more frequently than conventional ones, which requires tractors to pass at least twice as often, increasing compaction and burning more fuel.

The Future of Farming

The Importance of Experience

In practice, it is difficult to anticipate how the nuances of a vineyard site will interact with a particular grape variety, rootstock, or viticultural practice. There are simply too many confounding factors. While study gives insight and informs decision-making, in reality, grapegrowing is a craft best learned in the vineyard, through observation, experimentation, and years of experience. A vineyard is best understood by those who work it on a daily basis.

Vineyard Labor

In many regions, agricultural work is done by a migrant labor force that travels to the region only during the growing season. This is driven by economic disparities that make it more profitable for these workers to pursue employment far from home. But political constraints, housing shortages, better economic opportunities at home, and the strain this schedule places on family life are rapidly disincentivizing migrant labor. Many agricultural communities rely on what is ultimately an unsustainable model, and labor shortages pose a real threat.

A reduction in the workforce increases labor costs, ultimately impacting bottle price. On the top end, this may be surmountable; however, for some producers, hand-labor is rapidly becoming cost-prohibitive. In some regions, labor is not available at any price. As a response, many producers are forced to consider increased mechanization in the vineyard.

Vineyard Mechanization

As more traditional farming practices grow in popularity, an equal and seemingly opposite trend is the rise of mechanization and technology in the vineyard. Certain tasks are widely mechanized, including ploughing, mowing, hedging, and spraying. Others, like leafing and suckering, are reasonably easy to mechanize, while some operations, such as pruning, are more difficult to mechanize without a loss in quality.

Mechanical harvesters picking in New Zealand (Photo credit: Jennifer Angelosante)

Mechanization is more responsive, faster, and cheaper than doing the work by hand, which may allow better timing with grapevine phenology. It requires significantly less labor, and technology is improving each year, sometimes resulting in better wine quality than hand labor. However, currently, mechanization is not as precise as hand work for many tasks and can damage the fruit or vine. It requires specific vineyard architecture, and many established vineyards would need to be retrofitted in order to use it. Mechanization also changes the culture of grapegrowing, eliminating the human element and traditional ways of working.

While the wine industry has been much slower to adopt mechanization than other forms of farming, it is widely acknowledged that in the future, many tasks currently done by hand will likely be done by machine.

Precision Viticulture

Fruition Sciences’ sap flow sensors remotely monitor water lost through vine transpiration (Photo credit: Fruition Sciences)

Increased mechanization has also paved the way for an emerging field known as precision viticulture, which uses extensive data collection and artificial intelligence (AI) to improve quality and efficiency. A number of interesting vineyard monitoring tools are being developed. Tractors and drones equipped with cameras are used to create vineyard maps with data collected on a vine-by-vine basis. Mapped data might include areas of water and nutrient stress, color accumulation, the degree of fruit ripening, yield estimates, and diseased vines.

Precision viticulture seeks to minimize overtreatment and can be used to support sustainability through resource conservation. For example, variable irrigation schemes irrigate or fertigate vines based on their specific needs, saving huge amounts of water. Additionally, equipment is being designed to reduce the amount of product needed. While the technology has not yet been perfected, electrostatic fungicide sprayers release a fine mist of particles that are attracted electrostatically to the vine, providing better coverage with less volume.

The mechanical pruners of the future will likely be programmed with artificial intelligence and “taught” to prune vines as a human would. AI could be used to train machines to do a number of farming tasks, likely at a fraction of the cost and time they take today. It is possible to imagine each individual vine being farmed to a particular specification to optimize quality and yields.

Homogeneity in the Vineyard

Many vineyard management principles and operations have historically been used to create more even conditions within the vineyard. Homogeneity facilitates management, since it is easier to keep vines in their optimal levels if they all have the same needs, and this approach has been credited with increasing wine quality, especially on the value end. Some have raised the question of whether homogeneity in farming sacrifices complexity in wine. While this is yet to be seen, as precision viticulture offers the possibility of approaching true homogeneity, there may be a point of diminishing returns. Going forward, this will be an important philosophical question in viticulture.

Precision viticulture allows for the acquisition of data for better decision-making, cost reduction, and conservation of resources like water and labor. Overall, it presents many potential benefits, especially for the value segment of the market, but many producers are wary of this vision of the future. The quest for optimization requires a target and is often met with standardization; whenever many producers emulate a specific wine style, it is at the detriment of diversity. The challenge of precision viticulture will be the emphasis, and not erasure, of terroir.

Looking Ahead

Viticulture is an ever-changing science. As more is learned about biological systems and plant function, and as climate and palates evolve, viticulturists must continue to adapt and rethink beliefs that have driven decision-making for years. What is fixed, however, is the interdependence of the vineyard system, which combines human inputs, the environment, and the vine’s natural inclinations, as dictated by genetics. The viticulturist spends all season tending grapes with the goal of delivering healthy, ripe fruit and adequate yields at harvest; from here, the process is in the hands of the winemaker.

Bibliography

Bettiga, Larry J. Grape Pest Management. 3rd ed. Oakland, CA: University of California, Agriculture and Natural Resources, 2013.

“Catalogue of rootstock varieties registered in France.” Pl@ntGrape. Accessed September 2, 2020. http://plantgrape.plantnet-project.org/en/porte-greffes.

Coombe, B. G., and P. R. Dry, eds. Viticulture. Vol. 1: Resources. Underdale, South Australia: Winetitles Pty, 1988.

Coombe, B. G., and P. R. Dry, eds. Viticulture. Vol. 2: Practices. Broadview, South Australia: Winetitles Pty, 1988.

Goldammer, Ted. Grape Grower's Handbook: A Complete Guide to Viticulture for Wine Production. 3rd ed. Centreville, VA: APEX Publishers, 2018.

Ivaldi, Marion Sepeau. “Les AOC gagnent un peu de liberté d'irriguer.” Vitisphere.com, September 2017. https://www.vitisphere.com/actualite-86036-Les-AOC-gagnent-un-peu-de-liberte-dirriguer.htm.

Jackson, Ronald S. Wine Science: Principles and Applications. 5th ed. London: Academic Press, 2020.

Johnson, Hugh, and Jancis Robinson, eds.. The World Atlas of Wine. 8th ed. London: Mitchell Beazley, 2019.

Jones, Gregory. “Climate, Grapes, and Wine.” GuildSomm. August 12, 2015. https://www.guildsomm.com/public_content/features/articles/b/gregory_jones/posts/climate-grapes-and-wine.

Keller, Markus. The Science of Grapevines: Anatomy and Physiology. 2nd ed. London: Elsevier Academic Press, 2015.

Maltman, Alex. “Part 1: Soil Principles.” GuildSomm. January 17, 2013. https://www.guildsomm.com/public_content/features/articles/b/soils_for_sommeliers/posts/soil-principles.

Maltman, Alex. “Part 2: Vineyard Geology.” GuildSomm. January 24, 2013. https://www.guildsomm.com/public_content/features/articles/b/soils_for_sommeliers/posts/part-2-vineyard-geology.

Maltman, Alex. Vineyards, Rocks, and Soils: The Wine Lover's Guide to Geology. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2018.

Martin, Fleur. “The Irrigation of Grapevines in Europe – an Update on Existing Legislation.” Irrigazette. October 28, 2016. https://irrigazette.com/en/news/irrigation-grapevines-europe-update-existing-legislation.

Meloni, Giulia, and Johan Swinnen. “The Political Economy of European Wine Regulations.” Journal of Wine Economics 8, no. 3 (2013): 244–84. https://doi.org/10.1017/jwe.2013.33.

Rienth, Markus, and Thibaut Scholasch. “State-of-the-Art of Tools and Methods to Assess Vine Water Status”. OENO One 53 (2019). https://doi.org/10.20870/oeno-one.2019.53.4.2403.

Robinson, Jancis, and Julia Harding, eds. The Oxford Companion to Wine. 3rd ed. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2006.

Robinson, Jancis, Julia Harding, and José Vouillamoz. Wine Grapes. New York: Harper Collins, 2012.

“Rootstocks for Grafted Vines.” Winegrowers Supplies. Accessed September 2, 2020. https://www.winegrowers.info/rootstocks/home.htm.

Skelton, Stephen. Viticulture: An Introduction to Commercial Grape Growing for Wine Production. 11th ed. London: Stephen Skelton, 2009.

Skinkis, Patricia A., and R. Paul Schreiner. “Grapevine Nutrition.” Oregon State University. June 2011. https://catalog.extension.oregonstate.edu/sites/catalog/files/project/media/em9024/index.html.

Todorov, Kerana. “Napa Valley Grape Growers Gearing Up for Second Half of 2017 Harvest.” Wine Business.com. Accessed July 26, 2020. https://www.winebusiness.com/news/?go=getArticle&dataid=189951.

White, Robert E. Soils for Fine Wines. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2003.

Compiled by Jennifer Angelosante (September 2020)

Edited by Stacy Ladenburger

Tags: Preview

Viticulture

GuildSomm Admin — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 18:23:34 GMT

Revision 147 posted to Expert Guides by GuildSomm Admin on 8/13/2026 6:23:34 PM

Domestication of the Grapevine
Vine Anatomy
Grapevine Taxonomy
Climate
Soil
Vineyard Establishment
A Year in the Vineyard
Vineyard Operations
Pests & Diseases
Farming Philosophies
The Future of Farming
Bibliography

Domestication of the Grapevine

Hills in the Napa Valley (Photo credit: Jennifer Angelosante)

Vine Anatomy

Credit: Laura Perrone

A cane-pruned vine after winter pruning, with dormant buds visible along the cane
(Photo credit: GuildSomm)

Credit: Laura Perrone

At each node, a single leaf develops, adjacent to the buds. Leaves are the powerhouse of grapevines, where photosynthesis takes place, and petioles are their stems, connecting leaf and shoot.

A small lateral shoot and dormant bud are visible in the “elbow” at the node between the leaf and main shoot (Photo credit: Jennifer Angelosante)

Grapevine Function

Vine Balance

Grapevine Taxonomy

A selection of grape species and cultivars; those cultivars not marked as hybrids are crossings. Note that Muscadinia is considered by some to be a sub-genera of Vitis. (Credit: Laura Perrone)

Cultivars

Clones

Hybrids

Grape Breeding

Rootstocks

Berlandieri leaves (left) are dark green and leathery, those of riparia (center) are large and pale, and those of rupestris (right) are small and smooth (Photo credit: Jennifer Angelosante)

Vitis riparia is native to riparian areas, or those alongside rivers, throughout much of eastern and central North America, where it grows up trees. Because its native habitat is near water, riparia forms shallow, fibrous roots and is not drought tolerant. Riparia induces low vigor and early ripening in the scion and confers phylloxera resistance. It is easy to propagate but does not do well in lime soils. Riparia Gloire is a pure riparia rootstock.
Vitis rupestris is native to the American South. A shrubby vine that thrives in rocky creek beds and nutrient-poor areas, it grows extensive roots, resulting in drought tolerance in deep soils. Rupestris is vigorous and will induce large canopies in the scion when planted on fertile soils. It is resistant to phylloxera and somewhat tolerant of nematodes and viruses, so it may result in less virus expression. Rupestris is easy to propagate. St. George is a pure rupestris rootstock.
Vitis berlandieri is native to deep limestone soils in Texas and a good choice for use on alkaline soils. Berlandieri develops deep roots and confers some drought tolerance. It induces later ripening and has variable phylloxera tolerance. Berlandieri vines will not root from dormant cuttings so must be bred with another vine in order to be commercially viable.

An expanded list of rootstocks can be found in the Compendium

Climate

Climate Classifications

Environmental Factors

Temperature

Growing degree days are calculated from April to October in the Northern Hemisphere and October to April in the Southern Hemisphere.

Growing season average temperatures are also used to compare regions. Averages are calculated from April to October in the Northern Hemisphere and October to April in the Southern Hemisphere.

Light

Water

Wind

A hoyo in Lanzarote (Photo credit: Kelli White)

Geographical Factors

Latitude

Hills & Mountains

Vineyards in the Jura with various elevations, aspects, and orientations (Photo credit: Jennifer Angelosante)

Fog

Bodies of Water

Fog off of the Columbia River (Photo credit: James Mantone)

Climate Change

Weather Hazards

Frost

There are several means of frost mitigation:

Site selection: Because cold air settles into areas of low elevation, especially bowls that have no way of draining, early-budding (and therefore frost-prone) varieties should be avoided on these sites.
Air circulation: Cover crops and plants growing on the vineyard floor should be mowed short prior to frost season to allow for better air circulation.
Sprinklers: Overhead sprinklers can be used to warm the surface of the vine by a few degrees. As water freezes, it releases heat, so as long as water is constantly applied during a frost event, the temperature will remain just above freezing.
Fans or helicopters: These disrupt the inversion layer to warm the environment.
Heat: Heaters and small fires are used to warm the microclimate. Many areas have banned the use of orchard heaters or “smudge pots” due to air quality concerns.
Pruning methods: Vines may be pre-pruned, where spurs are left long, or late-pruned. This encourages sacrificial buds to push early in the season, knowing that a later pruning will remove damaged tissue.

Sprinklers prevent damage during a spring frost event (Photo credit: Jennifer Angelosante)

Hail

Drought

Shade cloth protects fruit from intense sunlight (Photo credit: Jennifer Angelosante)

Fire

Soil

Popular Geology

Vineyard soils are often described by the qualities of their underlying bedrock. All rocks are classified into three types as determined by the geologic forces that formed the parent material:

Igneous rocks like granite are formed from cooled magma and tend to be strong, resistant to erosion, and non-porous. Volcanic rocks are a type of igneous rock formed from lava. Basalt is a volcanic rock that breaks down to form highly fertile clay soils.
Sedimentary soils are formed from weathered rocks carried by wind or water and deposited in layers. Limestone, chalk, shale, and sandstone are examples. The characteristics of these soils depend on what they’re made of and how strongly they’ve been cemented together.
Metamorphic rocks are igneous or sedimentary rocks that have been subjected to heat and pressure. The category includes slate, schist, and gneiss. These rocks may be crumbly and friable or very hard, depending on the forces that shaped them and the underlying rocks’ composition.

Common Geology Terms

rock: A solid aggregate of minerals.

gravel: Small pieces of rock.

soil: Weathered rock sediments combined with organic matter.

loam: Soil texture comprised of a blend of different particle sizes, including sand, silt, and clay.

aeolian: Wind-blown soil, such as loess or parna.

alluvial: Soil transported and deposited by (non-marine) surface water. Alluvial deposits have been cemented into rock.

colluvial: Soil transported by erosion and gravity.

fluvial: Soil weathered, transported, and deposited by rivers and streams.

marine: Soil deposited in ocean beds.

glacial: Soil formed and deposited by glaciers.

till: Rocks and soil deposited by glaciers.

soil pan: An impenetrable layer of soil formed from compaction or cementation, such as hardpan or calcrete.

calcareous: Alkaline soil with a high proportion of calcium or magnesium carbonate.

Physical Properties

Variation in the Vineyard

Range of soils sampled from one vineyard in Saint-Estèphe, varying in texture, structure, and composition (Photo credit: Avery Heelan)

Compaction

Soil Color

The USDA soil texture triangle groups soil types by particle size. Credit: Laura Perrone

Chemical Properties

Soil pH

Soil Toxicities

Soil Microbiome

Vine Nutrition

An expanded list of grapevine nutrients can be found in the Compendium

Foliar symptoms of magnesium, manganese, and potassium deficiencies (Photo credit: Jennifer Angelosante [left], Sarah Ferguson)

Fertilization

Vineyard Establishment

Site Selection

Planting Material

Grapevine Propagation

Cuttings of scion and rootstock are joined using an omega punch (Photo credit: Novavine)

Layering

Own-Rooted Vines

Land Preparation

Lime might be applied to soil to reduce high acidity prior to planting (Photo credit: Jennifer Angelosante)

Vineyard Architecture

Useful Conversions

Yields

Typical yield = 2–10 tons (US) per acre

1 ton fruit ≈ 120–160 gallons of wine ≈ 50–70 cases

10,000 kilograms fruit ≈ 50–65 hectoliters of wine

1 acre produces ≈ 100–700 cases

Vine Density

1,000 vines per acre ≈ 2,500 vines per hectare

To calculate vines density from vine and row spacing, use this table.

Standard to Metric Conversions

1 hectare ≈ 2.5 acres

1 ton per acre ≈ 11–15 hectoliters per hectare of wine

Planting

Vine Training

Cordon-Trained & Spur-Pruned

Credit: Laura Perrone

Kicker Canes

Head-Trained & Cane-Pruned

Credit: Laura Perrone

Head-Trained & Spur-Pruned

Taille Chablis used on Chardonnay in Champagne (Photo credit: Jennifer Angelosante)

Vine Head Height

Trellis Systems

Untrellised Vines

An old, head-trained vineyard with untrellised vines (left) and a head-trained vine with canes tied together prior to winter pruning (Photo credit: Jennifer Angelosante)

Non-Divided Canopy Systems

A bilateral cordon-trained vine with VSP trellising (Photo credit: Avery Heelan)

A cordon-trained vine with high wire trellising (Photo credit: Jennifer Angelosante)

Divided Canopy Systems

A quadrilateral cordon-trained vineyard with a Lyre trellis system (Photo credit: GuildSomm)

Te Kauwhata two-tier, a vertically divided training and trellising system used in New Zealand (Photo credit: Jennifer Angelosante)

A Year in the Vineyard

Credit: Laura Perrone

Start of the Growing Season

Coulure on a wild rootstock vine (Photo credit: Jennifer Angelosante)

Flowering & Fruit Set

Coulure & Millerandage

Veraison

Veraison (Photo credit: Robert Black)

Harvest & Post-Harvest

Vineyard Operations

Pruning

There are a few conventional wisdoms used during pruning:

The most fruitful buds are those on one-year-old wood (from last year’s fruiting shoots).
Thicker canes should be pruned to longer spurs with more buds since they have more capacity than smaller canes.
If there was excessive vegetative growth in the previous year (for example, if shoots grew too long), more buds should be left this year to balance the shoot growth.

Spur Pruning

During pruning, one cane is removed entirely from each spur position, and the other is trimmed into a spur. Credit: Laura Perrone

Cane Pruning

During pruning, at least one fruiting cane is retained and laid down. A renewal spur is optional. Credit: Laura Perrone

Guyot-Poussard Pruning

Mechanical Pruning

Canopy Management

Shoot thinning (Photo credit: Jennifer Angelosante)

A vine before and after leafing (Photo credit: Sarah Ferguson)

Suckering and leafing can be mechanized. While this might slightly damage the remaining shoots, it allows for timely action, which may ultimately be more important in terms of fruit quality.

Yields

Vineyard Floor Management

Crimson clover is an attractive, nitrogen-rich cover crop (Photo credit: Robert Black)

Lightly tilled soil after harvest (Photo credit: Jennifer Angelosante)

Water Management

An aerial NDVI map is used to identify areas of water stress throughout the vineyard (Credit: Jennifer Angelosante)

Growers who irrigate monitor water stress in a number of ways:

NDVIs are vineyard maps that demonstrate vine vigor, based on the color of the canopy, as captured by aerial infrared photography. These maps suggest areas of water stress.
Soil moisture probes give an indication of the amount of water in the soil.
Leaf water potential is a measurement taken using a tool called a pressure bomb on individual leaves, identifying their degree of water stress. The amount of pressure that must be applied to a leaf in order for it to release water from the petiole (leaf stem) indicates how many stomates are closed, a response to stress conditions.
Predictive models estimate how much total water is lost from the vineyard soil through evapotranspiration (the combination of water lost due to evaporation from the soil and transpiration from plants) and then add back a certain percentage of this amount, depending on the weather forecast.

Harvest

Pests & Diseases

Pests

Phylloxera feeding on vine roots (Photo credit: Matteo Abreu)

Leafhopper nymphs (left) and mealybugs (Photo credit: Avery Heelan [left], Shawn DeMartino)

Bird netting is used throughout New Zealand to protect vines from crop losses (Photo credit: Jennifer Angelosante)

Diseases

Fungal Diseases

Powdery & Downy Mildew

Powdery mildew symptoms on leaves and fruit (Photo credit: Jack Kelly Clark, used with permission from the University of California Statewide IPM Program [left], Jennifer Angelosante)

Bunch Rot

Trunk Diseases

Esca causes a tiger-striped pattern on leaves (Photo credit: Avery Heelan)

Black Rot

Bacterial Diseases

Red Leaf Diseases

Viral Diseases

Foliar symptoms of fanleaf virus (Photo credit: Sarah Ferguson)

Best Practices

Farming Philosophies

Organic Farming

Spraying in Organic Viticulture

Many of these philosophies share a common set of values:

Intolerance of chemically synthesized fertilizers, herbicides,
fungicides, and insecticides.
Preference for complex forms of fertilizer like compost, fish emulsion, and
cover crops, rather than mineral-based fertilizers.
Vineyard-floor practices that build soil organic matter, preserve
soil structure, and increase fertility.
Encouragement of biodiversity, both in the soil and on the farm.
Holistic, systems-based thinking and decision-making for long-term results.

Biodynamic Farming

Regenerative Agriculture

Sustainable Farming

Integrated Pest Management

Other Considerations

The Future of Farming

The Importance of Experience

Vineyard Labor

Vineyard Mechanization

Mechanical harvesters picking in New Zealand (Photo credit: Jennifer Angelosante)

Precision Viticulture

Fruition Sciences’ sap flow sensors remotely monitor water lost through vine transpiration (Photo credit: Fruition Sciences)

Homogeneity in the Vineyard

Looking Ahead

Bibliography

Bettiga, Larry J. Grape Pest Management. 3rd ed. Oakland, CA: University of California, Agriculture and Natural Resources, 2013.

“Catalogue of rootstock varieties registered in France.” Pl@ntGrape. Accessed September 2, 2020. http://plantgrape.plantnet-project.org/en/porte-greffes.

Coombe, B. G., and P. R. Dry, eds. Viticulture. Vol. 1: Resources. Underdale, South Australia: Winetitles Pty, 1988.

Coombe, B. G., and P. R. Dry, eds. Viticulture. Vol. 2: Practices. Broadview, South Australia: Winetitles Pty, 1988.

Goldammer, Ted. Grape Grower's Handbook: A Complete Guide to Viticulture for Wine Production. 3rd ed. Centreville, VA: APEX Publishers, 2018.

Jackson, Ronald S. Wine Science: Principles and Applications. 5th ed. London: Academic Press, 2020.

Johnson, Hugh, and Jancis Robinson, eds.. The World Atlas of Wine. 8th ed. London: Mitchell Beazley, 2019.

Jones, Gregory. “Climate, Grapes, and Wine.” GuildSomm. August 12, 2015. https://www.guildsomm.com/public_content/features/articles/b/gregory_jones/posts/climate-grapes-and-wine.

Keller, Markus. The Science of Grapevines: Anatomy and Physiology. 2nd ed. London: Elsevier Academic Press, 2015.

Maltman, Alex. “Part 1: Soil Principles.” GuildSomm. January 17, 2013. https://www.guildsomm.com/public_content/features/articles/b/soils_for_sommeliers/posts/soil-principles.

Maltman, Alex. “Part 2: Vineyard Geology.” GuildSomm. January 24, 2013. https://www.guildsomm.com/public_content/features/articles/b/soils_for_sommeliers/posts/part-2-vineyard-geology.

Maltman, Alex. Vineyards, Rocks, and Soils: The Wine Lover's Guide to Geology. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2018.

Meloni, Giulia, and Johan Swinnen. “The Political Economy of European Wine Regulations.” Journal of Wine Economics 8, no. 3 (2013): 244–84. https://doi.org/10.1017/jwe.2013.33.

Rienth, Markus, and Thibaut Scholasch. “State-of-the-Art of Tools and Methods to Assess Vine Water Status”. OENO One 53 (2019). https://doi.org/10.20870/oeno-one.2019.53.4.2403.

Robinson, Jancis, and Julia Harding, eds. The Oxford Companion to Wine. 3rd ed. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2006.

Robinson, Jancis, Julia Harding, and José Vouillamoz. Wine Grapes. New York: Harper Collins, 2012.

“Rootstocks for Grafted Vines.” Winegrowers Supplies. Accessed September 2, 2020. https://www.winegrowers.info/rootstocks/home.htm.

Skelton, Stephen. Viticulture: An Introduction to Commercial Grape Growing for Wine Production. 11th ed. London: Stephen Skelton, 2009.

White, Robert E. Soils for Fine Wines. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2003.

Compiled by Jennifer Angelosante (September 2020)

Edited by Stacy Ladenburger

Tags: Preview

Viticulture

GuildSomm Admin — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 18:22:48 GMT

Revision 146 posted to Expert Guides by GuildSomm Admin on 8/13/2026 6:22:48 PM

Domestication of the Grapevine
Vine Anatomy
Grapevine Taxonomy
Climate
Soil
Vineyard Establishment
A Year in the Vineyard
Vineyard Operations
Pests & Diseases
Farming Philosophies
The Future of Farming
Bibliography

Domestication of the Grapevine

Hills in the Napa Valley (Photo credit: Jennifer Angelosante)

Vine Anatomy

Credit: Laura Perrone

A cane-pruned vine after winter pruning, with dormant buds visible along the cane
(Photo credit: GuildSomm)

Credit: Laura Perrone

At each node, a single leaf develops, adjacent to the buds. Leaves are the powerhouse of grapevines, where photosynthesis takes place, and petioles are their stems, connecting leaf and shoot.

A small lateral shoot and dormant bud are visible in the “elbow” at the node between the leaf and main shoot (Photo credit: Jennifer Angelosante)

Grapevine Function

Vine Balance

Grapevine Taxonomy

A selection of grape species and cultivars; those cultivars not marked as hybrids are crossings. Note that Muscadinia is considered by some to be a sub-genera of Vitis. (Credit: Laura Perrone)

Cultivars

Clones

Hybrids

Grape Breeding

Rootstocks

Berlandieri leaves (left) are dark green and leathery, those of riparia (center) are large and pale, and those of rupestris (right) are small and smooth (Photo credit: Jennifer Angelosante)

Vitis riparia is native to riparian areas, or those alongside rivers, throughout much of eastern and central North America, where it grows up trees. Because its native habitat is near water, riparia forms shallow, fibrous roots and is not drought tolerant. Riparia induces low vigor and early ripening in the scion and confers phylloxera resistance. It is easy to propagate but does not do well in lime soils. Riparia Gloire is a pure riparia rootstock.
Vitis rupestris is native to the American South. A shrubby vine that thrives in rocky creek beds and nutrient-poor areas, it grows extensive roots, resulting in drought tolerance in deep soils. Rupestris is vigorous and will induce large canopies in the scion when planted on fertile soils. It is resistant to phylloxera and somewhat tolerant of nematodes and viruses, so it may result in less virus expression. Rupestris is easy to propagate. St. George is a pure rupestris rootstock.
Vitis berlandieri is native to deep limestone soils in Texas and a good choice for use on alkaline soils. Berlandieri develops deep roots and confers some drought tolerance. It induces later ripening and has variable phylloxera tolerance. Berlandieri vines will not root from dormant cuttings so must be bred with another vine in order to be commercially viable.

An expanded list of rootstocks can be found in the Compendium

Climate

Climate Classifications

Environmental Factors

Temperature

Growing degree days are calculated from April to October in the Northern Hemisphere and October to April in the Southern Hemisphere.

Growing season average temperatures are also used to compare regions. Averages are calculated from April to October in the Northern Hemisphere and October to April in the Southern Hemisphere.

Light

Water

Wind

A hoyo in Lanzarote (Photo credit: Kelli White)

Geographical Factors

Latitude

Hills & Mountains

Vineyards in the Jura with various elevations, aspects, and orientations (Photo credit: Jennifer Angelosante)

Fog

Bodies of Water

Fog off of the Columbia River (Photo credit: James Mantone)

Climate Change

Weather Hazards

Frost

There are several means of frost mitigation:

Site selection: Because cold air settles into areas of low elevation, especially bowls that have no way of draining, early-budding (and therefore frost-prone) varieties should be avoided on these sites.
Air circulation: Cover crops and plants growing on the vineyard floor should be mowed short prior to frost season to allow for better air circulation.
Sprinklers: Overhead sprinklers can be used to warm the surface of the vine by a few degrees. As water freezes, it releases heat, so as long as water is constantly applied during a frost event, the temperature will remain just above freezing.
Fans or helicopters: These disrupt the inversion layer to warm the environment.
Heat: Heaters and small fires are used to warm the microclimate. Many areas have banned the use of orchard heaters or “smudge pots” due to air quality concerns.
Pruning methods: Vines may be pre-pruned, where spurs are left long, or late-pruned. This encourages sacrificial buds to push early in the season, knowing that a later pruning will remove damaged tissue.

Sprinklers prevent damage during a spring frost event (Photo credit: Jennifer Angelosante)

Hail

Drought

Shade cloth protects fruit from intense sunlight (Photo credit: Jennifer Angelosante)

Fire

Soil

Popular Geology

Vineyard soils are often described by the qualities of their underlying bedrock. All rocks are classified into three types as determined by the geologic forces that formed the parent material:

Igneous rocks like granite are formed from cooled magma and tend to be strong, resistant to erosion, and non-porous. Volcanic rocks are a type of igneous rock formed from lava. Basalt is a volcanic rock that breaks down to form highly fertile clay soils.
Sedimentary soils are formed from weathered rocks carried by wind or water and deposited in layers. Limestone, chalk, shale, and sandstone are examples. The characteristics of these soils depend on what they’re made of and how strongly they’ve been cemented together.
Metamorphic rocks are igneous or sedimentary rocks that have been subjected to heat and pressure. The category includes slate, schist, and gneiss. These rocks may be crumbly and friable or very hard, depending on the forces that shaped them and the underlying rocks’ composition.

Common Geology Terms

rock: A solid aggregate of minerals.

gravel: Small pieces of rock.

soil: Weathered rock sediments combined with organic matter.

loam: Soil texture comprised of a blend of different particle sizes, including sand, silt, and clay.

aeolian: Wind-blown soil, such as loess or parna.

alluvial: Soil transported and deposited by (non-marine) surface water. Alluvial deposits have been cemented into rock.

colluvial: Soil transported by erosion and gravity.

fluvial: Soil weathered, transported, and deposited by rivers and streams.

marine: Soil deposited in ocean beds.

glacial: Soil formed and deposited by glaciers.

till: Rocks and soil deposited by glaciers.

soil pan: An impenetrable layer of soil formed from compaction or cementation, such as hardpan or calcrete.

calcareous: Alkaline soil with a high proportion of calcium or magnesium carbonate.

Physical Properties

Variation in the Vineyard

Range of soils sampled from one vineyard in Saint-Estèphe, varying in texture, structure, and composition (Photo credit: Avery Heelan)

Compaction

Soil Color

The USDA soil texture triangle groups soil types by particle size. Credit: Laura Perrone

Chemical Properties

Soil pH

Soil Toxicities

Soil Microbiome

Vine Nutrition

An expanded list of grapevine nutrients can be found in the Compendium

Foliar symptoms of magnesium, manganese, and potassium deficiencies (Photo credit: Jennifer Angelosante [left], Sarah Ferguson)

Fertilization

Vineyard Establishment

Site Selection

Planting Material

Grapevine Propagation

Cuttings of scion and rootstock are joined using an omega punch (Photo credit: Novavine)

Layering

Own-Rooted Vines

Land Preparation

Lime might be applied to soil to reduce high acidity prior to planting (Photo credit: Jennifer Angelosante)

Vineyard Architecture

Useful Conversions

Yields

Typical yield = 2–10 tons (US) per acre

1 ton fruit ≈ 120–160 gallons of wine ≈ 50–70 cases

10,000 kilograms fruit ≈ 50–65 hectoliters of wine

1 acre produces ≈ 100–700 cases

Vine Density

1,000 vines per acre ≈ 2,500 vines per hectare

To calculate vines density from vine and row spacing, use this table.

Standard to Metric Conversions

1 hectare ≈ 2.5 acres

1 ton per acre ≈ 11–15 hectoliters per hectare of wine

Planting

Vine Training

Cordon-Trained & Spur-Pruned

Credit: Laura Perrone

Kicker Canes

Head-Trained & Cane-Pruned

Credit: Laura Perrone

Head-Trained & Spur-Pruned

Taille Chablis used on Chardonnay in Champagne (Photo credit: Jennifer Angelosante)

Vine Head Height

Trellis Systems

Untrellised Vines

An old, head-trained vineyard with untrellised vines (left) and a head-trained vine with canes tied together prior to winter pruning (Photo credit: Jennifer Angelosante)

Non-Divided Canopy Systems

A bilateral cordon-trained vine with VSP trellising (Photo credit: Avery Heelan)

A cordon-trained vine with high wire trellising (Photo credit: Jennifer Angelosante)

Divided Canopy Systems

A quadrilateral cordon-trained vineyard with a Lyre trellis system (Photo credit: GuildSomm)

Te Kauwhata two-tier, a vertically divided training and trellising system used in New Zealand (Photo credit: Jennifer Angelosante)

A Year in the Vineyard

Credit: Laura Perrone

Start of the Growing Season

Coulure on a wild rootstock vine (Photo credit: Jennifer Angelosante)

Flowering & Fruit Set

Coulure & Millerandage

Veraison

Veraison (Photo credit: Robert Black)

Harvest & Post-Harvest

Vineyard Operations

Pruning

There are a few conventional wisdoms used during pruning:

The most fruitful buds are those on one-year-old wood (from last year’s fruiting shoots).
Thicker canes should be pruned to longer spurs with more buds since they have more capacity than smaller canes.
If there was excessive vegetative growth in the previous year (for example, if shoots grew too long), more buds should be left this year to balance the shoot growth.

Spur Pruning

During pruning, one cane is removed entirely from each spur position, and the other is trimmed into a spur. Credit: Laura Perrone

Cane Pruning

During pruning, at least one fruiting cane is retained and laid down. A renewal spur is optional. Credit: Laura Perrone

Guyot-Poussard Pruning

Mechanical Pruning

Canopy Management

Shoot thinning (Photo credit: Jennifer Angelosante)

A vine before and after leafing (Photo credit: Sarah Ferguson)

Suckering and leafing can be mechanized. While this might slightly damage the remaining shoots, it allows for timely action, which may ultimately be more important in terms of fruit quality.

Yields

Vineyard Floor Management

Crimson clover is an attractive, nitrogen-rich cover crop (Photo credit: Robert Black)

Lightly tilled soil after harvest (Photo credit: Jennifer Angelosante)

Water Management

An aerial NDVI map is used to identify areas of water stress throughout the vineyard (Credit: Jennifer Angelosante)

Growers who irrigate monitor water stress in a number of ways:

NDVIs are vineyard maps that demonstrate vine vigor, based on the color of the canopy, as captured by aerial infrared photography. These maps suggest areas of water stress.
Soil moisture probes give an indication of the amount of water in the soil.
Leaf water potential is a measurement taken using a tool called a pressure bomb on individual leaves, identifying their degree of water stress. The amount of pressure that must be applied to a leaf in order for it to release water from the petiole (leaf stem) indicates how many stomates are closed, a response to stress conditions.
Predictive models estimate how much total water is lost from the vineyard soil through evapotranspiration (the combination of water lost due to evaporation from the soil and transpiration from plants) and then add back a certain percentage of this amount, depending on the weather forecast.

Harvest

Pests & Diseases

Pests

Phylloxera feeding on vine roots (Photo credit: Matteo Abreu)

Leafhopper nymphs (left) and mealybugs (Photo credit: Avery Heelan [left], Shawn DeMartino)

Bird netting is used throughout New Zealand to protect vines from crop losses (Photo credit: Jennifer Angelosante)

Diseases

Fungal Diseases

Powdery & Downy Mildew

Powdery mildew symptoms on leaves and fruit (Photo credit: Jack Kelly Clark, used with permission from the University of California Statewide IPM Program [left], Jennifer Angelosante)

Bunch Rot

Trunk Diseases

Esca causes a tiger-striped pattern on leaves (Photo credit: Avery Heelan)

Black Rot

Bacterial Diseases

Red Leaf Diseases

Viral Diseases

Foliar symptoms of fanleaf virus (Photo credit: Sarah Ferguson)

Best Practices

Farming Philosophies

Organic Farming

Spraying in Organic Viticulture

Many of these philosophies share a common set of values:

Intolerance of chemically synthesized fertilizers, herbicides,
fungicides, and insecticides.
Preference for complex forms of fertilizer like compost, fish emulsion, and
cover crops, rather than mineral-based fertilizers.
Vineyard-floor practices that build soil organic matter, preserve
soil structure, and increase fertility.
Encouragement of biodiversity, both in the soil and on the farm.
Holistic, systems-based thinking and decision-making for long-term results.

Biodynamic Farming

Regenerative Agriculture

Sustainable Farming

Integrated Pest Management

Other Considerations

The Future of Farming

The Importance of Experience

Vineyard Labor

Vineyard Mechanization

Mechanical harvesters picking in New Zealand (Photo credit: Jennifer Angelosante)

Precision Viticulture

Fruition Sciences’ sap flow sensors remotely monitor water lost through vine transpiration (Photo credit: Fruition Sciences)

Homogeneity in the Vineyard

Looking Ahead

Bibliography

Bettiga, Larry J. Grape Pest Management. 3rd ed. Oakland, CA: University of California, Agriculture and Natural Resources, 2013.

“Catalogue of rootstock varieties registered in France.” Pl@ntGrape. Accessed September 2, 2020. http://plantgrape.plantnet-project.org/en/porte-greffes.

Coombe, B. G., and P. R. Dry, eds. Viticulture. Vol. 1: Resources. Underdale, South Australia: Winetitles Pty, 1988.

Coombe, B. G., and P. R. Dry, eds. Viticulture. Vol. 2: Practices. Broadview, South Australia: Winetitles Pty, 1988.

Goldammer, Ted. Grape Grower's Handbook: A Complete Guide to Viticulture for Wine Production. 3rd ed. Centreville, VA: APEX Publishers, 2018.

Jackson, Ronald S. Wine Science: Principles and Applications. 5th ed. London: Academic Press, 2020.

Johnson, Hugh, and Jancis Robinson, eds.. The World Atlas of Wine. 8th ed. London: Mitchell Beazley, 2019.

Jones, Gregory. “Climate, Grapes, and Wine.” GuildSomm. August 12, 2015. https://www.guildsomm.com/public_content/features/articles/b/gregory_jones/posts/climate-grapes-and-wine.

Keller, Markus. The Science of Grapevines: Anatomy and Physiology. 2nd ed. London: Elsevier Academic Press, 2015.

Maltman, Alex. “Part 1: Soil Principles.” GuildSomm. January 17, 2013. https://www.guildsomm.com/public_content/features/articles/b/soils_for_sommeliers/posts/soil-principles.

Maltman, Alex. “Part 2: Vineyard Geology.” GuildSomm. January 24, 2013. https://www.guildsomm.com/public_content/features/articles/b/soils_for_sommeliers/posts/part-2-vineyard-geology.

Maltman, Alex. Vineyards, Rocks, and Soils: The Wine Lover's Guide to Geology. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2018.

Meloni, Giulia, and Johan Swinnen. “The Political Economy of European Wine Regulations.” Journal of Wine Economics 8, no. 3 (2013): 244–84. https://doi.org/10.1017/jwe.2013.33.

Rienth, Markus, and Thibaut Scholasch. “State-of-the-Art of Tools and Methods to Assess Vine Water Status”. OENO One 53 (2019). https://doi.org/10.20870/oeno-one.2019.53.4.2403.

Robinson, Jancis, and Julia Harding, eds. The Oxford Companion to Wine. 3rd ed. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2006.

Robinson, Jancis, Julia Harding, and José Vouillamoz. Wine Grapes. New York: Harper Collins, 2012.

“Rootstocks for Grafted Vines.” Winegrowers Supplies. Accessed September 2, 2020. https://www.winegrowers.info/rootstocks/home.htm.

Skelton, Stephen. Viticulture: An Introduction to Commercial Grape Growing for Wine Production. 11th ed. London: Stephen Skelton, 2009.

White, Robert E. Soils for Fine Wines. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2003.

Compiled by Jennifer Angelosante (September 2020)

Edited by Stacy Ladenburger

Tags: Preview

Viticulture

GuildSomm Admin — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 18:20:20 GMT

Revision 145 posted to Expert Guides by GuildSomm Admin on 8/13/2026 6:20:20 PM

Domestication of the Grapevine
Vine Anatomy
Grapevine Taxonomy
Climate
Soil
Vineyard Establishment
A Year in the Vineyard
Vineyard Operations
Pests & Diseases
Farming Philosophies
The Future of Farming
Bibliography

Domestication of the Grapevine

Hills in the Napa Valley (Photo credit: Jennifer Angelosante)

Vine Anatomy

Credit: Laura Perrone

A cane-pruned vine after winter pruning, with dormant buds visible along the cane
(Photo credit: GuildSomm)

Credit: Laura Perrone

At each node, a single leaf develops, adjacent to the buds. Leaves are the powerhouse of grapevines, where photosynthesis takes place, and petioles are their stems, connecting leaf and shoot.

A small lateral shoot and dormant bud are visible in the “elbow” at the node between the leaf and main shoot (Photo credit: Jennifer Angelosante)

Grapevine Function

Vine Balance

Grapevine Taxonomy

A selection of grape species and cultivars; those cultivars not marked as hybrids are crossings. Note that Muscadinia is considered by some to be a sub-genera of Vitis. (Credit: Laura Perrone)

Cultivars

Clones

Hybrids

Grape Breeding

Rootstocks

Berlandieri leaves (left) are dark green and leathery, those of riparia (center) are large and pale, and those of rupestris (right) are small and smooth (Photo credit: Jennifer Angelosante)

Vitis riparia is native to riparian areas, or those alongside rivers, throughout much of eastern and central North America, where it grows up trees. Because its native habitat is near water, riparia forms shallow, fibrous roots and is not drought tolerant. Riparia induces low vigor and early ripening in the scion and confers phylloxera resistance. It is easy to propagate but does not do well in lime soils. Riparia Gloire is a pure riparia rootstock.
Vitis rupestris is native to the American South. A shrubby vine that thrives in rocky creek beds and nutrient-poor areas, it grows extensive roots, resulting in drought tolerance in deep soils. Rupestris is vigorous and will induce large canopies in the scion when planted on fertile soils. It is resistant to phylloxera and somewhat tolerant of nematodes and viruses, so it may result in less virus expression. Rupestris is easy to propagate. St. George is a pure rupestris rootstock.
Vitis berlandieri is native to deep limestone soils in Texas and a good choice for use on alkaline soils. Berlandieri develops deep roots and confers some drought tolerance. It induces later ripening and has variable phylloxera tolerance. Berlandieri vines will not root from dormant cuttings so must be bred with another vine in order to be commercially viable.

An expanded list of rootstocks can be found in the Compendium

Climate

Climate Classifications

Environmental Factors

Temperature

Growing degree days are calculated from April to October in the Northern Hemisphere and October to April in the Southern Hemisphere.

Growing season average temperatures are also used to compare regions. Averages are calculated from April to October in the Northern Hemisphere and October to April in the Southern Hemisphere.

Light

Water

Wind

A hoyo in Lanzarote (Photo credit: Kelli White)

Geographical Factors

Latitude

Hills & Mountains

Vineyards in the Jura with various elevations, aspects, and orientations (Photo credit: Jennifer Angelosante)

Fog

Bodies of Water

Fog off of the Columbia River (Photo credit: James Mantone)

Climate Change

Weather Hazards

Frost

There are several means of frost mitigation:

Site selection: Because cold air settles into areas of low elevation, especially bowls that have no way of draining, early-budding (and therefore frost-prone) varieties should be avoided on these sites.
Air circulation: Cover crops and plants growing on the vineyard floor should be mowed short prior to frost season to allow for better air circulation.
Sprinklers: Overhead sprinklers can be used to warm the surface of the vine by a few degrees. As water freezes, it releases heat, so as long as water is constantly applied during a frost event, the temperature will remain just above freezing.
Fans or helicopters: These disrupt the inversion layer to warm the environment.
Heat: Heaters and small fires are used to warm the microclimate. Many areas have banned the use of orchard heaters or “smudge pots” due to air quality concerns.
Pruning methods: Vines may be pre-pruned, where spurs are left long, or late-pruned. This encourages sacrificial buds to push early in the season, knowing that a later pruning will remove damaged tissue.

Sprinklers prevent damage during a spring frost event (Photo credit: Jennifer Angelosante)

Hail

Drought

Shade cloth protects fruit from intense sunlight (Photo credit: Jennifer Angelosante)

Fire

Soil

Popular Geology

Vineyard soils are often described by the qualities of their underlying bedrock. All rocks are classified into three types as determined by the geologic forces that formed the parent material:

Igneous rocks like granite are formed from cooled magma and tend to be strong, resistant to erosion, and non-porous. Volcanic rocks are a type of igneous rock formed from lava. Basalt is a volcanic rock that breaks down to form highly fertile clay soils.
Sedimentary soils are formed from weathered rocks carried by wind or water and deposited in layers. Limestone, chalk, shale, and sandstone are examples. The characteristics of these soils depend on what they’re made of and how strongly they’ve been cemented together.
Metamorphic rocks are igneous or sedimentary rocks that have been subjected to heat and pressure. The category includes slate, schist, and gneiss. These rocks may be crumbly and friable or very hard, depending on the forces that shaped them and the underlying rocks’ composition.

Common Geology Terms

rock: A solid aggregate of minerals.

gravel: Small pieces of rock.

soil: Weathered rock sediments combined with organic matter.

loam: Soil texture comprised of a blend of different particle sizes, including sand, silt, and clay.

aeolian: Wind-blown soil, such as loess or parna.

alluvial: Soil transported and deposited by (non-marine) surface water. Alluvial deposits have been cemented into rock.

colluvial: Soil transported by erosion and gravity.

fluvial: Soil weathered, transported, and deposited by rivers and streams.

marine: Soil deposited in ocean beds.

glacial: Soil formed and deposited by glaciers.

till: Rocks and soil deposited by glaciers.

soil pan: An impenetrable layer of soil formed from compaction or cementation, such as hardpan or calcrete.

calcareous: Alkaline soil with a high proportion of calcium or magnesium carbonate.

Physical Properties

Variation in the Vineyard

Range of soils sampled from one vineyard in Saint-Estèphe, varying in texture, structure, and composition (Photo credit: Avery Heelan)

Compaction

Soil Color

The USDA soil texture triangle groups soil types by particle size. Credit: Laura Perrone

Chemical Properties

Soil pH

Soil Toxicities

Soil Microbiome

Vine Nutrition

An expanded list of grapevine nutrients can be found in the Compendium

Foliar symptoms of magnesium, manganese, and potassium deficiencies (Photo credit: Jennifer Angelosante [left], Sarah Ferguson)

Fertilization

Vineyard Establishment

Site Selection

Planting Material

Grapevine Propagation

Cuttings of scion and rootstock are joined using an omega punch (Photo credit: Novavine)

Layering

Own-Rooted Vines

Land Preparation

Lime might be applied to soil to reduce high acidity prior to planting (Photo credit: Jennifer Angelosante)

Vineyard Architecture

Useful Conversions

Yields

Typical yield = 2–10 tons (US) per acre

1 ton fruit ≈ 120–160 gallons of wine ≈ 50–70 cases

10,000 kilograms fruit ≈ 50–65 hectoliters of wine

1 acre produces ≈ 100–700 cases

Vine Density

1,000 vines per acre ≈ 2,500 vines per hectare

To calculate vines density from vine and row spacing, use this table.

Standard to Metric Conversions

1 hectare ≈ 2.5 acres

1 ton per acre ≈ 11–15 hectoliters per hectare of wine

Planting

Vine Training

Cordon-Trained & Spur-Pruned

Credit: Laura Perrone

Kicker Canes

Head-Trained & Cane-Pruned

Credit: Laura Perrone

Head-Trained & Spur-Pruned

Taille Chablis used on Chardonnay in Champagne (Photo credit: Jennifer Angelosante)

Vine Head Height

Trellis Systems

Untrellised Vines

An old, head-trained vineyard with untrellised vines (left) and a head-trained vine with canes tied together prior to winter pruning (Photo credit: Jennifer Angelosante)

Non-Divided Canopy Systems

A bilateral cordon-trained vine with VSP trellising (Photo credit: Avery Heelan)

A cordon-trained vine with high wire trellising (Photo credit: Jennifer Angelosante)

Divided Canopy Systems

A quadrilateral cordon-trained vineyard with a Lyre trellis system (Photo credit: GuildSomm)

Te Kauwhata two-tier, a vertically divided training and trellising system used in New Zealand (Photo credit: Jennifer Angelosante)

A Year in the Vineyard

Credit: Laura Perrone

Start of the Growing Season

Coulure on a wild rootstock vine (Photo credit: Jennifer Angelosante)

Flowering & Fruit Set

Coulure & Millerandage

Veraison

Veraison (Photo credit: Robert Black)

Harvest & Post-Harvest

Vineyard Operations

Pruning

There are a few conventional wisdoms used during pruning:

The most fruitful buds are those on one-year-old wood (from last year’s fruiting shoots).
Thicker canes should be pruned to longer spurs with more buds since they have more capacity than smaller canes.
If there was excessive vegetative growth in the previous year (for example, if shoots grew too long), more buds should be left this year to balance the shoot growth.

Spur Pruning

During pruning, one cane is removed entirely from each spur position, and the other is trimmed into a spur. Credit: Laura Perrone

Cane Pruning

During pruning, at least one fruiting cane is retained and laid down. A renewal spur is optional. Credit: Laura Perrone

Guyot-Poussard Pruning

Mechanical Pruning

Canopy Management

Shoot thinning (Photo credit: Jennifer Angelosante)

A vine before and after leafing (Photo credit: Sarah Ferguson)

Suckering and leafing can be mechanized. While this might slightly damage the remaining shoots, it allows for timely action, which may ultimately be more important in terms of fruit quality.

Yields

Vineyard Floor Management

Crimson clover is an attractive, nitrogen-rich cover crop (Photo credit: Robert Black)

Lightly tilled soil after harvest (Photo credit: Jennifer Angelosante)

Water Management

An aerial NDVI map is used to identify areas of water stress throughout the vineyard (Credit: Jennifer Angelosante)

Growers who irrigate monitor water stress in a number of ways:

NDVIs are vineyard maps that demonstrate vine vigor, based on the color of the canopy, as captured by aerial infrared photography. These maps suggest areas of water stress.
Soil moisture probes give an indication of the amount of water in the soil.
Leaf water potential is a measurement taken using a tool called a pressure bomb on individual leaves, identifying their degree of water stress. The amount of pressure that must be applied to a leaf in order for it to release water from the petiole (leaf stem) indicates how many stomates are closed, a response to stress conditions.
Predictive models estimate how much total water is lost from the vineyard soil through evapotranspiration (the combination of water lost due to evaporation from the soil and transpiration from plants) and then add back a certain percentage of this amount, depending on the weather forecast.

Harvest

Pests & Diseases

Pests

Phylloxera feeding on vine roots (Photo credit: Matteo Abreu)

Leafhopper nymphs (left) and mealybugs (Photo credit: Avery Heelan [left], Shawn DeMartino)

Bird netting is used throughout New Zealand to protect vines from crop losses (Photo credit: Jennifer Angelosante)

Diseases

Fungal Diseases

Powdery & Downy Mildew

Powdery mildew symptoms on leaves and fruit (Photo credit: Jack Kelly Clark, used with permission from the University of California Statewide IPM Program [left], Jennifer Angelosante)

Bunch Rot

Trunk Diseases

Esca causes a tiger-striped pattern on leaves (Photo credit: Avery Heelan)

Black Rot

Bacterial Diseases

Red Leaf Diseases

Viral Diseases

Foliar symptoms of fanleaf virus (Photo credit: Sarah Ferguson)

Best Practices

Farming Philosophies

Organic Farming

Spraying in Organic Viticulture

Many of these philosophies share a common set of values:

Intolerance of chemically synthesized fertilizers, herbicides,
fungicides, and insecticides.
Preference for complex forms of fertilizer like compost, fish emulsion, and
cover crops, rather than mineral-based fertilizers.
Vineyard-floor practices that build soil organic matter, preserve
soil structure, and increase fertility.
Encouragement of biodiversity, both in the soil and on the farm.
Holistic, systems-based thinking and decision-making for long-term results.

Biodynamic Farming

Regenerative Agriculture

Sustainable Farming

Integrated Pest Management

Other Considerations

The Future of Farming

The Importance of Experience

Vineyard Labor

Vineyard Mechanization

Mechanical harvesters picking in New Zealand (Photo credit: Jennifer Angelosante)

Precision Viticulture

Fruition Sciences’ sap flow sensors remotely monitor water lost through vine transpiration (Photo credit: Fruition Sciences)

Homogeneity in the Vineyard

Looking Ahead

Bibliography

Bettiga, Larry J. Grape Pest Management. 3rd ed. Oakland, CA: University of California, Agriculture and Natural Resources, 2013.

“Catalogue of rootstock varieties registered in France.” Pl@ntGrape. Accessed September 2, 2020. http://plantgrape.plantnet-project.org/en/porte-greffes.

Coombe, B. G., and P. R. Dry, eds. Viticulture. Vol. 1: Resources. Underdale, South Australia: Winetitles Pty, 1988.

Coombe, B. G., and P. R. Dry, eds. Viticulture. Vol. 2: Practices. Broadview, South Australia: Winetitles Pty, 1988.

Goldammer, Ted. Grape Grower's Handbook: A Complete Guide to Viticulture for Wine Production. 3rd ed. Centreville, VA: APEX Publishers, 2018.

Jackson, Ronald S. Wine Science: Principles and Applications. 5th ed. London: Academic Press, 2020.

Johnson, Hugh, and Jancis Robinson, eds.. The World Atlas of Wine. 8th ed. London: Mitchell Beazley, 2019.

Jones, Gregory. “Climate, Grapes, and Wine.” GuildSomm. August 12, 2015. https://www.guildsomm.com/public_content/features/articles/b/gregory_jones/posts/climate-grapes-and-wine.

Keller, Markus. The Science of Grapevines: Anatomy and Physiology. 2nd ed. London: Elsevier Academic Press, 2015.

Maltman, Alex. “Part 1: Soil Principles.” GuildSomm. January 17, 2013. https://www.guildsomm.com/public_content/features/articles/b/soils_for_sommeliers/posts/soil-principles.

Maltman, Alex. “Part 2: Vineyard Geology.” GuildSomm. January 24, 2013. https://www.guildsomm.com/public_content/features/articles/b/soils_for_sommeliers/posts/part-2-vineyard-geology.

Maltman, Alex. Vineyards, Rocks, and Soils: The Wine Lover's Guide to Geology. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2018.

Meloni, Giulia, and Johan Swinnen. “The Political Economy of European Wine Regulations.” Journal of Wine Economics 8, no. 3 (2013): 244–84. https://doi.org/10.1017/jwe.2013.33.

Rienth, Markus, and Thibaut Scholasch. “State-of-the-Art of Tools and Methods to Assess Vine Water Status”. OENO One 53 (2019). https://doi.org/10.20870/oeno-one.2019.53.4.2403.

Robinson, Jancis, and Julia Harding, eds. The Oxford Companion to Wine. 3rd ed. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2006.

Robinson, Jancis, Julia Harding, and José Vouillamoz. Wine Grapes. New York: Harper Collins, 2012.

“Rootstocks for Grafted Vines.” Winegrowers Supplies. Accessed September 2, 2020. https://www.winegrowers.info/rootstocks/home.htm.

Skelton, Stephen. Viticulture: An Introduction to Commercial Grape Growing for Wine Production. 11th ed. London: Stephen Skelton, 2009.

White, Robert E. Soils for Fine Wines. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2003.

Compiled by Jennifer Angelosante (September 2020)

Edited by Stacy Ladenburger

Tags: Preview

Viticulture

GuildSomm Admin — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 18:18:12 GMT

Revision 144 posted to Expert Guides by GuildSomm Admin on 8/13/2026 6:18:12 PM

Domestication of the Grapevine
Vine Anatomy
Grapevine Taxonomy
Climate
Soil
Vineyard Establishment
A Year in the Vineyard
Vineyard Operations
Pests & Diseases
Farming Philosophies
The Future of Farming
Bibliography

Domestication of the Grapevine

Hills in the Napa Valley (Photo credit: Jennifer Angelosante)

Vine Anatomy

Credit: Laura Perrone

A cane-pruned vine after winter pruning, with dormant buds visible along the cane
(Photo credit: GuildSomm)

Credit: Laura Perrone

At each node, a single leaf develops, adjacent to the buds. Leaves are the powerhouse of grapevines, where photosynthesis takes place, and petioles are their stems, connecting leaf and shoot.

A small lateral shoot and dormant bud are visible in the “elbow” at the node between the leaf and main shoot (Photo credit: Jennifer Angelosante)

Grapevine Function

Vine Balance

Grapevine Taxonomy

A selection of grape species and cultivars; those cultivars not marked as hybrids are crossings. Note that Muscadinia is considered by some to be a sub-genera of Vitis. (Credit: Laura Perrone)

Cultivars

Clones

Hybrids

Grape Breeding

Rootstocks

Berlandieri leaves (left) are dark green and leathery, those of riparia (center) are large and pale, and those of rupestris (right) are small and smooth (Photo credit: Jennifer Angelosante)

Vitis riparia is native to riparian areas, or those alongside rivers, throughout much of eastern and central North America, where it grows up trees. Because its native habitat is near water, riparia forms shallow, fibrous roots and is not drought tolerant. Riparia induces low vigor and early ripening in the scion and confers phylloxera resistance. It is easy to propagate but does not do well in lime soils. Riparia Gloire is a pure riparia rootstock.
Vitis rupestris is native to the American South. A shrubby vine that thrives in rocky creek beds and nutrient-poor areas, it grows extensive roots, resulting in drought tolerance in deep soils. Rupestris is vigorous and will induce large canopies in the scion when planted on fertile soils. It is resistant to phylloxera and somewhat tolerant of nematodes and viruses, so it may result in less virus expression. Rupestris is easy to propagate. St. George is a pure rupestris rootstock.
Vitis berlandieri is native to deep limestone soils in Texas and a good choice for use on alkaline soils. Berlandieri develops deep roots and confers some drought tolerance. It induces later ripening and has variable phylloxera tolerance. Berlandieri vines will not root from dormant cuttings so must be bred with another vine in order to be commercially viable.

An expanded list of rootstocks can be found in the Compendium

Climate

Climate Classifications

Environmental Factors

Temperature

Growing degree days are calculated from April to October in the Northern Hemisphere and October to April in the Southern Hemisphere.

Growing season average temperatures are also used to compare regions. Averages are calculated from April to October in the Northern Hemisphere and October to April in the Southern Hemisphere.

Light

Water

Wind

A hoyo in Lanzarote (Photo credit: Kelli White)

Geographical Factors

Latitude

Hills & Mountains

Vineyards in the Jura with various elevations, aspects, and orientations (Photo credit: Jennifer Angelosante)

Fog

Bodies of Water

Fog off of the Columbia River (Photo credit: James Mantone)

Climate Change

Weather Hazards

Frost

There are several means of frost mitigation:

Site selection: Because cold air settles into areas of low elevation, especially bowls that have no way of draining, early-budding (and therefore frost-prone) varieties should be avoided on these sites.
Air circulation: Cover crops and plants growing on the vineyard floor should be mowed short prior to frost season to allow for better air circulation.
Sprinklers: Overhead sprinklers can be used to warm the surface of the vine by a few degrees. As water freezes, it releases heat, so as long as water is constantly applied during a frost event, the temperature will remain just above freezing.
Fans or helicopters: These disrupt the inversion layer to warm the environment.
Heat: Heaters and small fires are used to warm the microclimate. Many areas have banned the use of orchard heaters or “smudge pots” due to air quality concerns.
Pruning methods: Vines may be pre-pruned, where spurs are left long, or late-pruned. This encourages sacrificial buds to push early in the season, knowing that a later pruning will remove damaged tissue.

Sprinklers prevent damage during a spring frost event (Photo credit: Jennifer Angelosante)

Hail

Drought

Shade cloth protects fruit from intense sunlight (Photo credit: Jennifer Angelosante)

Fire

Soil

Popular Geology

Vineyard soils are often described by the qualities of their underlying bedrock. All rocks are classified into three types as determined by the geologic forces that formed the parent material:

Igneous rocks like granite are formed from cooled magma and tend to be strong, resistant to erosion, and non-porous. Volcanic rocks are a type of igneous rock formed from lava. Basalt is a volcanic rock that breaks down to form highly fertile clay soils.
Sedimentary soils are formed from weathered rocks carried by wind or water and deposited in layers. Limestone, chalk, shale, and sandstone are examples. The characteristics of these soils depend on what they’re made of and how strongly they’ve been cemented together.
Metamorphic rocks are igneous or sedimentary rocks that have been subjected to heat and pressure. The category includes slate, schist, and gneiss. These rocks may be crumbly and friable or very hard, depending on the forces that shaped them and the underlying rocks’ composition.

Common Geology Terms

rock: A solid aggregate of minerals.

gravel: Small pieces of rock.

soil: Weathered rock sediments combined with organic matter.

loam: Soil texture comprised of a blend of different particle sizes, including sand, silt, and clay.

aeolian: Wind-blown soil, such as loess or parna.

alluvial: Soil transported and deposited by (non-marine) surface water. Alluvial deposits have been cemented into rock.

colluvial: Soil transported by erosion and gravity.

fluvial: Soil weathered, transported, and deposited by rivers and streams.

marine: Soil deposited in ocean beds.

glacial: Soil formed and deposited by glaciers.

till: Rocks and soil deposited by glaciers.

soil pan: An impenetrable layer of soil formed from compaction or cementation, such as hardpan or calcrete.

calcareous: Alkaline soil with a high proportion of calcium or magnesium carbonate.

Physical Properties

Variation in the Vineyard

Range of soils sampled from one vineyard in Saint-Estèphe, varying in texture, structure, and composition (Photo credit: Avery Heelan)

Compaction

Soil Color

The USDA soil texture triangle groups soil types by particle size. Credit: Laura Perrone

Chemical Properties

Soil pH

Soil Toxicities

Soil Microbiome

Vine Nutrition

An expanded list of grapevine nutrients can be found in the Compendium

Foliar symptoms of magnesium, manganese, and potassium deficiencies (Photo credit: Jennifer Angelosante [left], Sarah Ferguson)

Fertilization

Vineyard Establishment

Site Selection

Planting Material

Grapevine Propagation

Cuttings of scion and rootstock are joined using an omega punch (Photo credit: Novavine)

Layering

Own-Rooted Vines

Land Preparation

Lime might be applied to soil to reduce high acidity prior to planting (Photo credit: Jennifer Angelosante)

Vineyard Architecture

Useful Conversions

Yields

Typical yield = 2–10 tons (US) per acre

1 ton fruit ≈ 120–160 gallons of wine ≈ 50–70 cases

10,000 kilograms fruit ≈ 50–65 hectoliters of wine

1 acre produces ≈ 100–700 cases

Vine Density

1,000 vines per acre ≈ 2,500 vines per hectare

To calculate vines density from vine and row spacing, use this table.

Standard to Metric Conversions

1 hectare ≈ 2.5 acres

1 ton per acre ≈ 11–15 hectoliters per hectare of wine

Planting

Vine Training

Cordon-Trained & Spur-Pruned

Credit: Laura Perrone

Kicker Canes

Head-Trained & Cane-Pruned

Credit: Laura Perrone

Head-Trained & Spur-Pruned

Taille Chablis used on Chardonnay in Champagne (Photo credit: Jennifer Angelosante)

Vine Head Height

Trellis Systems

Untrellised Vines

An old, head-trained vineyard with untrellised vines (left) and a head-trained vine with canes tied together prior to winter pruning (Photo credit: Jennifer Angelosante)

Non-Divided Canopy Systems

A bilateral cordon-trained vine with VSP trellising (Photo credit: Avery Heelan)

A cordon-trained vine with high wire trellising (Photo credit: Jennifer Angelosante)

Divided Canopy Systems

A quadrilateral cordon-trained vineyard with a Lyre trellis system (Photo credit: GuildSomm)

Te Kauwhata two-tier, a vertically divided training and trellising system used in New Zealand (Photo credit: Jennifer Angelosante)

A Year in the Vineyard

Credit: Laura Perrone

Start of the Growing Season

Coulure on a wild rootstock vine (Photo credit: Jennifer Angelosante)

Flowering & Fruit Set

Coulure & Millerandage

Veraison

Veraison (Photo credit: Robert Black)

Harvest & Post-Harvest

Vineyard Operations

Pruning

There are a few conventional wisdoms used during pruning:

The most fruitful buds are those on one-year-old wood (from last year’s fruiting shoots).
Thicker canes should be pruned to longer spurs with more buds since they have more capacity than smaller canes.
If there was excessive vegetative growth in the previous year (for example, if shoots grew too long), more buds should be left this year to balance the shoot growth.

Spur Pruning

During pruning, one cane is removed entirely from each spur position, and the other is trimmed into a spur. Credit: Laura Perrone

Cane Pruning

During pruning, at least one fruiting cane is retained and laid down. A renewal spur is optional. Credit: Laura Perrone

Guyot-Poussard Pruning

Mechanical Pruning

Canopy Management

Shoot thinning (Photo credit: Jennifer Angelosante)

A vine before and after leafing (Photo credit: Sarah Ferguson)

Suckering and leafing can be mechanized. While this might slightly damage the remaining shoots, it allows for timely action, which may ultimately be more important in terms of fruit quality.

Yields

Vineyard Floor Management

Crimson clover is an attractive, nitrogen-rich cover crop (Photo credit: Robert Black)

Lightly tilled soil after harvest (Photo credit: Jennifer Angelosante)

Water Management

An aerial NDVI map is used to identify areas of water stress throughout the vineyard (Credit: Jennifer Angelosante)

Growers who irrigate monitor water stress in a number of ways:

NDVIs are vineyard maps that demonstrate vine vigor, based on the color of the canopy, as captured by aerial infrared photography. These maps suggest areas of water stress.
Soil moisture probes give an indication of the amount of water in the soil.
Leaf water potential is a measurement taken using a tool called a pressure bomb on individual leaves, identifying their degree of water stress. The amount of pressure that must be applied to a leaf in order for it to release water from the petiole (leaf stem) indicates how many stomates are closed, a response to stress conditions.
Predictive models estimate how much total water is lost from the vineyard soil through evapotranspiration (the combination of water lost due to evaporation from the soil and transpiration from plants) and then add back a certain percentage of this amount, depending on the weather forecast.

Harvest

Pests & Diseases

Pests

Phylloxera feeding on vine roots (Photo credit: Matteo Abreu)

Leafhopper nymphs (left) and mealybugs (Photo credit: Avery Heelan [left], Shawn DeMartino)

Bird netting is used throughout New Zealand to protect vines from crop losses (Photo credit: Jennifer Angelosante)

Diseases

Fungal Diseases

Powdery & Downy Mildew

Powdery mildew symptoms on leaves and fruit (Photo credit: Jack Kelly Clark, used with permission from the University of California Statewide IPM Program [left], Jennifer Angelosante)

Bunch Rot

Trunk Diseases

Esca causes a tiger-striped pattern on leaves (Photo credit: Avery Heelan)

Black Rot

Bacterial Diseases

Red Leaf Diseases

Viral Diseases

Foliar symptoms of fanleaf virus (Photo credit: Sarah Ferguson)

Best Practices

Farming Philosophies

Organic Farming

Spraying in Organic Viticulture

Many of these philosophies share a common set of values:

Intolerance of chemically synthesized fertilizers, herbicides,
fungicides, and insecticides.
Preference for complex forms of fertilizer like compost, fish emulsion, and
cover crops, rather than mineral-based fertilizers.
Vineyard-floor practices that build soil organic matter, preserve
soil structure, and increase fertility.
Encouragement of biodiversity, both in the soil and on the farm.
Holistic, systems-based thinking and decision-making for long-term results.

Biodynamic Farming

Regenerative Agriculture

Sustainable Farming

Integrated Pest Management

Other Considerations

The Future of Farming

The Importance of Experience

Vineyard Labor

Vineyard Mechanization

Mechanical harvesters picking in New Zealand (Photo credit: Jennifer Angelosante)

Precision Viticulture

Fruition Sciences’ sap flow sensors remotely monitor water lost through vine transpiration (Photo credit: Fruition Sciences)

Homogeneity in the Vineyard

Looking Ahead

Bibliography

Bettiga, Larry J. Grape Pest Management. 3rd ed. Oakland, CA: University of California, Agriculture and Natural Resources, 2013.

“Catalogue of rootstock varieties registered in France.” Pl@ntGrape. Accessed September 2, 2020. http://plantgrape.plantnet-project.org/en/porte-greffes.

Coombe, B. G., and P. R. Dry, eds. Viticulture. Vol. 1: Resources. Underdale, South Australia: Winetitles Pty, 1988.

Coombe, B. G., and P. R. Dry, eds. Viticulture. Vol. 2: Practices. Broadview, South Australia: Winetitles Pty, 1988.

Goldammer, Ted. Grape Grower's Handbook: A Complete Guide to Viticulture for Wine Production. 3rd ed. Centreville, VA: APEX Publishers, 2018.

Jackson, Ronald S. Wine Science: Principles and Applications. 5th ed. London: Academic Press, 2020.

Johnson, Hugh, and Jancis Robinson, eds.. The World Atlas of Wine. 8th ed. London: Mitchell Beazley, 2019.

Jones, Gregory. “Climate, Grapes, and Wine.” GuildSomm. August 12, 2015. https://www.guildsomm.com/public_content/features/articles/b/gregory_jones/posts/climate-grapes-and-wine.

Keller, Markus. The Science of Grapevines: Anatomy and Physiology. 2nd ed. London: Elsevier Academic Press, 2015.

Maltman, Alex. “Part 1: Soil Principles.” GuildSomm. January 17, 2013. https://www.guildsomm.com/public_content/features/articles/b/soils_for_sommeliers/posts/soil-principles.

Maltman, Alex. “Part 2: Vineyard Geology.” GuildSomm. January 24, 2013. https://www.guildsomm.com/public_content/features/articles/b/soils_for_sommeliers/posts/part-2-vineyard-geology.

Maltman, Alex. Vineyards, Rocks, and Soils: The Wine Lover's Guide to Geology. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2018.

Meloni, Giulia, and Johan Swinnen. “The Political Economy of European Wine Regulations.” Journal of Wine Economics 8, no. 3 (2013): 244–84. https://doi.org/10.1017/jwe.2013.33.

Rienth, Markus, and Thibaut Scholasch. “State-of-the-Art of Tools and Methods to Assess Vine Water Status”. OENO One 53 (2019). https://doi.org/10.20870/oeno-one.2019.53.4.2403.

Robinson, Jancis, and Julia Harding, eds. The Oxford Companion to Wine. 3rd ed. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2006.

Robinson, Jancis, Julia Harding, and José Vouillamoz. Wine Grapes. New York: Harper Collins, 2012.

“Rootstocks for Grafted Vines.” Winegrowers Supplies. Accessed September 2, 2020. https://www.winegrowers.info/rootstocks/home.htm.

Skelton, Stephen. Viticulture: An Introduction to Commercial Grape Growing for Wine Production. 11th ed. London: Stephen Skelton, 2009.

White, Robert E. Soils for Fine Wines. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2003.

Compiled by Jennifer Angelosante (September 2020)

Edited by Stacy Ladenburger

Tags: Preview

Rhône Valley

GuildSomm Admin — Tue, 28 Jul 2026 15:18:06 GMT

Current Revision posted to Expert Guides by GuildSomm Admin on 7/28/2026 3:18:06 PM

History of the Rhône Valley
Rhône Valley Wine in Context
Land and Climate
Rhône Valley Wine Law
The Grapes of the Rhône Valley
Northern Rhône
Southern Rhône
Bibliography

The Rhône Valley has a very long history of viticulture and today produces some of the most characterful and impressive red, white, and rosé wines in the world.

The topography of the region is key to understanding the distinctions between the Northern Rhône and the Southern Rhône, with dramatically steep slopes in the north that give way to the rolling plains of the south. These distinct features dictate the grapes grown, the styles of winemaking practiced, and the differences in the resulting wines.

The Northern Rhône is home to four local grape varieties (Syrah, Viognier, Marsanne, and Roussanne) and small, terroir-driven appellations. Most of the vineyards are planted on ancient igneous rock. The climate is continental. The Southern Rhône appellations, in contrast, are much more expansive regions where winemaking traditions are based on blending. Soils are younger, more varied, and largely sedimentary, and the climate is Mediterranean.

History of the Rhône Valley

The history of winemaking in France dates to approximately 600 BCE, when Greek settlers from Phocaea, in Anatolia, arrived and founded the city of Massalia (modern-day Marseilles), close to where the Rhône River flows into the Mediterranean. This settlement came under the control of the Romans in the second century BCE and was an important stop on their trading route to Spain. The Rhône River enabled the Romans to expand viticulture northward, and fragments of clay amphorae and other Roman artifacts have been found along the river.

When the Romans reached the Northern Rhône, they found that they were not the first to consider making wine there. The Allobroges, a Gallic tribe whose capital was Vienna (modern Vienne, near the vineyards of Côte-Rôtie), were producing wine and trading it with their neighbors, as reported by Pliny the Elder in Natural History, written in roughly 77 CE. These wines were likely flavored with resin, so they would have tasted very different from the wines produced there today.

In 476 CE, the last emperor of the Western Roman Empire was deposed. Grapes continued to be cultivated, though documentary evidence until the Middle Ages is scarce.

In 1274, a large portion of land known as Comtat-Venaissin (roughly comparable to France’s Vaucluse department) was granted to the Holy See. The papacy moved the seat of the pope to Avignon, where it remained from 1309 to 1376, during the reign of seven popes. The death of the last Avignon pope, Gregory XI, led to the Western Schism in the Catholic Church, the period from 1378 to 1417, when there were two, then later three, rival popes, each with his own following. In the era of the Avignon papacy, Châteauneuf-du-Pape was much more dedicated to viticulture than other regions of France, with 45% of agricultural land planted to wine grapes instead of the far more popular cereal grains. Also during this period, the second Avignon pope, Jean XXII, oversaw the building of a summer palace 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) north of Avignon in the village that is today Châteauneuf-du-Pape. This led to the planting of significant vineyards around the village to cater to Roman households. Even after the return of the papal residence to Rome, the Vatican continued to receive shipments from the Rhône Valley, suggesting that quality was high even then.

Rhône wines reached more markets with the 1681 opening of the Canal du Midi, which provided trade routes to Bordeaux, Paris, and beyond. During the 18^th century, the port of Roquemaure, close to Lirac, became an important base for shipping goods, including wine, up and down the Rhône River. In this era, barrels were emblazoned with the letters CDP to prevent fraud, and Château La Nerthe began shipping in glass bottles in the 1770s. The wines of the west bank—around Lirac, Tavel, and Laudun—were held in particularly high esteem at this time. Domaine de la Solitude, in Châteauneuf-du-Pape, has export documentation dating back to 1826, reflecting sales to the Austrian empire and England.

In 1862, just as the Rhône Valley was beginning to gain international renown, phylloxera struck. The aphid arrived in a shipment of vines from a Mr. Carle to his friend M. Borty in Lirac. When he planted the vines in his garden, M. Borty unwittingly unleashed a vineyard pest that spread throughout France, destroying over two million hectares (five million acres) of vines. It was not until 1868 that growers understood that the roots of their vines were being attacked by the insect. Eventually, a cure was formulated: grafting French vines onto American rootstocks, which were immune.

By the mid-1880s, local vineyards were being replanted, and wines such as Châteauneuf-du-Pape were once again in high demand. But there was nothing to stop winemakers from other regions passing off their own, often inferior, wines as Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Local winemakers appealed to the owner of Château Fortia, the baron Pierre Le Roy de Boiseaumarié, who had trained as a lawyer, for help. He eventually agreed, and in 1923 he began producing a document that laid out the unique combination of growing area, soil types, grape varieties, and winemaking traditions that resulted in an authentic Châteauneuf-du-Pape wine. He stipulated that irrigation should be banned and set minimum alcohol at 12.5%. On May 15, 1936, Châteauneuf-du-Pape became the first wine appellation in France (ratified a day before four other pioneering appellations: Arbois, Tavel, Monbazillac, and Cassis).

Le Roy’s approach became the blueprint for the Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée (AOC) system, also known as Appellation d’Origine Protégée (AOP), which has since been adopted throughout Europe. Le Roy was also instrumental in establishing the Institut national de l’origine et de la qualité (National Institute of Origin and Quality, or INAO), the body responsible for granting AOC status in France, which he presided over from 1947 to 1967.

Both world wars had huge impacts on the wines of France. Many wine professionals lost their lives. Some vineyards abandoned in the aftermath are being rediscovered only today.

The next important event in the Rhône Valley’s history was the record-cold February of 1956, when temperatures dropped to minus 20 degrees Celsius (minus 4 degrees Fahrenheit). This extreme cold, combined with a north wind of 180 kilometers (110 miles) per hour, arrived just after an unseasonable warm snap. The sap in the olive trees had started to rise, and it froze in the branches, cracking the trunks and decimating the plantings. Since young olive trees take longer than vines to bear fruit, it was more efficient for growers to replant their farms with the latter, which can yield a crop after three years. Until this point, the Southern Rhône was largely a land of polyculture smallholdings. The 1956 freeze marked the transition to a more monocultural vineyard landscape.

There were other developments that enabled large-scale viticulture to spread in the Southern Rhône. One was the growth of cooperative wineries. By 1946, 50% of Côtes du Rhône wines were made by co-ops, and, by 1981, that figure had risen to 68%. When grapegrowers don’t need to invest in their own production facilities, they can purchase more land.

Another factor that encouraged estates to expand in size was the increased availability of heavy machinery and agrochemicals after World War II. By the 1970s, however, a contingent of winemakers had begun to reject synthetic chemicals and work either organically or biodynamically. This trend has been growing ever since. By the 2024 harvest, 24% of the vineyard area producing AOC wines in the Rhône Valley was certified organic.

Barrels in a Rhône cellar (Credit: Jeff Habourdin for Inter Rhône)

Great and reputed domaines have waxed and waned under different ownership. Many estates, once well known, have been sold off, often parcel by parcel, to other producers. Raymond Trollat, famed for the quality of his Saint-Joseph, passed away in 2023; some of his old vines (planted by Trollat’s grandfather in 1920) were sold to Domaine Gonon, and these are now bottled as Gonon’s highly sought-after cuvée Vieilles Vignes. Another respected local vigneron, Jean-Louis Grippat, sold his holdings of Saint-Joseph and Hermitage to Domaine E. Guigal in 2001. The Hermitage parcels now go into Guigal’s white and red Hermitage Ex-Voto, and Guigal bottles the Saint-Joseph as Vignes de l’Hospice.

In Côte-Rôtie, Domaine Dervieux-Thaize and Domaine Gentaz-Dervieux were inherited by René Rostaing, and these estates are now part of Domaine Rostaing, led by René’s son Pierre. In Cornas, Guillaume Gilles bought an old vine parcel of the lieu-dit Chaillot from his mentor, Robert Michel, when he retired. Franck Balthazar bought his old vine Chaillot from the lauded Noël Verset. Wines from masters such as these are very hard to find, but, when they do appear at auction, they tend to fetch the highest prices of any auctioned Rhône wines.

Rhône Valley Wine in Context

Credit: Inter Rhône

In 2024, France was the second biggest producer of wine in the world, behind Italy, producing 36.9 million hectoliters (all figures in this section are for the 2024 harvest unless otherwise stated). The Rhône Valley is the third largest AOC wine region by volume in France, after Bordeaux and Champagne, producing over 2,165,000 hectoliters (57,190,000 gallons) from roughly 63,300 hectares (156,400 acres) and representing around 3% of global wine production.

Of the volume of Rhône Valley AOC wine sold in 2024, 36% was exported, 38% was sold in French supermarkets, and 26% was sold in France through other channels (including on premise, off premise, and direct to consumer). The Rhône Valley sells a higher percentage of organic still French wine in French supermarkets than any other region.

The top five export markets by volume for Rhône Valley AOC wine in 2024 were Belgium (19%), the UK (16%), the US (13%), Canada (10%), and Germany (8%).

Although the global fine-wine market is dominated by Bordeaux and Burgundy, Rhône wines are gradually making inroads. Akin to these other top regions, since the 1990s, the Rhône Valley has been increasingly focused on single-vineyard wines. From the geologically diverse slopes of Côte-Rôtie to the varied elevations of Châteauneuf-du-Pape, producers are excited to highlight these differences in the wines, which are also commanding higher price points in the market.

The 21^st-century success of these wines is reflected in their progressively favorable status in the auction market, especially in the 2020s. Many top auction houses report greater than 10% increases year over year in the number of Rhône-themed lots. Names from the Northern Rhône are most common, including Domaine Jean-Louis Chave, Domaine E. Guigal, Domaine Jamet, M. Chapoutier, Domaine Mathilde et Yves Gangloff, and Thierry Allemand. Southern Rhône producers are seen more rarely, but the wines of the late Emmanuel Reynaud (Château Rayas, Pignan, Château de Fonsalette, and Château des Tours) fetch the highest prices. Wines from the late Henri Bonneau and Château de Beaucastel (especially its cuvée Hommage à Jacques Perrin) are also highly sought after. Overall, the top three performers at auction are Rayas, Chave, and Guigal.

Rhône Valley vineyards stretch over six French departments: Rhône, Loire, Ardèche, Drôme, Gard, and Vaucluse. Perhaps surprisingly, given the fame of appellations such as Côte-Rôtie and Hermitage, approximately 92% of all wine produced in the Rhône Valley is from the Southern Rhône. The Southern Rhône’s more forgiving topography and its population centers provide the opportunity for larger-scale wine production, while the Northern Rhône, with just 8% of the Rhône Valley’s total production, is a much more challenging place for viticulture.

Of the Rhône wine produced, 75% is red, 13% is rosé, and 12% is white. Red and rosé production have been decreasing since 2021, which reflects the significant drop in consumption of red wine in the local market during this period. Meanwhile, white-wine production has increased.

In the hot, dry, windy climate of the Rhône Valley, organic viticulture is relatively easy compared with more northerly French wine regions, and this approach has been steadily growing. In 2024, 22% of the total harvest volume was certified organic, another 1% was biodynamic, and 37% was HVE3 (Haute Valeur Environnementale, a French agricultural certification that recognizes environmentally conscious farming practices).

Land and Climate

Geology and Topography of the Northern Rhône

The Rhône River emerges from the Rhône Glacier, in the canton of Valais, in Switzerland. From Geneva, it flows south into France, then west toward Lyon. In Lyon, the Saône River feeds into and enlarges the Rhône River, which then starts its journey south toward the Mediterranean Sea. This is where the wine regions known as the Rhône Valley begin: just south of Lyon, where the Rhône River follows the eastern edge of the Massif Central. This granite outcrop was formed by volcanic activity between 380 million and 280 million years ago and covers around 86,000 square kilometers (33,000 square miles), which equates to 16% of mainland France. Hemmed in by the Massif Central, this section of the Rhône River flows fast and deep.

The Northern Rhône refers to the vineyards grown on both sides of the Rhône River between Givors (just south of Lyon) and Montélimar. The AOC vineyards of the west bank begin at Côte-Rôtie AOC and run all the way to Saint-Péray AOC (with some small outcrops of Côtes du Rhône AOC land farther south in La Voulte-sur-Rhône). There are some patches of woodland between vineyards on this side of the river, but the steep west bank is heavily planted with vineyards, which overlook the Rhône River itself. The six AOCs on this side of the river, from north to south, are Côte-Rôtie, Condrieu, Château-Grillet, Saint-Joseph, Cornas, and Saint-Péray. The most prevalent rock is granite, but, in the far north, there is schist and gneiss in Côte-Rôtie; there is also limestone in the far south, most notably in Saint-Péray.

There is a small outcrop of granite on the east bank, too, sheared off the Massif Central long ago by the action of the river. This piece of granite forms the western flank of the hill of Hermitage, and, on the eastern side of the hill, glacial sedimentary soils dominate. This piece of granite extends northward, at a lower elevation, into the far northern reaches of Crozes-Hermitage AOC. Most of this appellation, however, is south of Hermitage and composed of much younger alluvial soils. As on the west bank, there are small areas of Côtes du Rhône AOC vineyard land much farther south, around the historically important hillside terroir of Brézème, near Livron-sur-Drôme.

Along the Drôme River past Brézème, there is a separate alpine vineyard area that belongs in the Rhône Valley family: Diois, named after the village of Die, at this region’s heart. In this steep river valley, there are 1,700 hectares (4,200 acres) of highly dispersed and parcellated vineyards that climb to an elevation of 700 meters (2,300 feet). Soils here are essentially clay-limestone (some containing colluvial limestone scree), with alluvial terraces lower down, toward the valley floor.

Apart from the most easterly and southerly parts of Crozes-Hermitage AOC, all the cru vineyards of the Northern Rhône, both west and east bank, overlook the river. Much of the vineyard area is located on steep slopes, which often must be terraced.

Because Syrah and Viognier are both very productive in terms of their foliage, they must be held up on long stakes (traditionally made of wood, though some are fashioned from plastic or metal), known locally as échalas. Compared with training vines on wires, this training method is expensive and labor intensive; it also has a striking impact on the appearance of the local landscape. The steep slopes make mechanization very difficult. These factors increase labor costs, resulting in higher prices for Northern Rhône wines compared with those from the Southern Rhône.

The movement of tectonic plates has had a fracturing effect on the Massif Central. Rivers and streams running down from the Ardèche plateau to the west have naturally exploited these cracks and created valleys that run west to east. Over time, these have deepened, creating some south-facing terroirs (historically these were the most favorable sites); most of the vineyards of the Northern Rhône, however, face southeast and east, at an elevation between 100 meters (330 feet) and 350 meters (1,150 feet).

Geology and Topography of the Southern Rhône

Montélimar marks the informal boundary between the Northern Rhône and the Southern Rhône. The flora, including fields of lavender and olive groves, reflects the warmer temperatures toward the south. The rock on which the vineyards are grown also changes. The shelf of granite ends, and softer, younger sedimentary soils proliferate. No longer directed by the Massif Central, the Rhône River has frequently changed course from here on its way to the Mediterranean, and, in places, there is more than one branch of the river.

The Southern Rhône covers a much larger area than the Northern Rhône, and its geological history is correspondingly more varied and complex. The main soil types here are clay-limestone, sand, and alluvial deposits. Most appellations contain a mix of different types.

The Southern Rhône region was under the Tethys Sea 230 million years ago. Eventually, the sea evaporated, leaving behind layers of salt and gypsum. Water returned to the region during the Jurassic period, and with it came ammonites and reptiles. During this era, huge bands of clay and limestone were deposited. In the Paleogene period, the movements of tectonic plates created the Pyrenees; these forces also created folds in the Southern Rhône, such as the Luberon mountain range and Diois. The action of the Nîmes fault pushed up the Dentelles de Montmirail massif and is responsible for the complex soils around Gigondas.

The Mediterranean Sea entered the Southern Rhône during the Miocene and Pliocene periods, laying down significant banks of sand. There are large deposits in the far north of the Southern Rhône around Rousset-les-Vignes; around the base of the Dentelles de Montmirail, in Gigondas, Sablet, Séguret, and Beaumes-de-Venise; to the east of Châteauneuf-du-Pape; and on the west bank in Lirac and Tavel. At the end of the Miocene period, the Cairanne-Rasteau hills and the Visan-Valréas hills—both consisting of clay-limestone soils and pebbles—were created by the actions of lakes and rivers.

At the start of the Quaternary period, the Rhône River was still being fed by the Rhine, so the former was larger and more powerful than it is today. It transported huge amounts of pebbles and other alluvial deposits from the Alps into the Southern Rhône, laying down the pudding stones, or galets roulés, that are a feature of Châteauneuf-du-Pape and other AOCs, such as Lirac, Tavel, Costières de Nîmes, and Côtes du Rhône Villages Gadagne. Younger terraces of smaller galets have been laid down by successive periods of glaciation, such as the garrigues of Vacqueyras, Plan de Dieu, and Crozes-Hermitage in the north.

The Southern Rhône, though it does have hills and mountainous areas, is flat compared with the Northern Rhône. Some vineyards, including parts of Châteauneuf-du-Pape, overlook the river, but tributaries often play a more important role.

The central Côtes du Rhône growing area is essentially a large bowl, bordered to the east and west by mountains. As such, the west-bank vineyards are more commonly east facing; the east bank is essentially west facing. But because of the diversity of terroir, hills, and mountains within this huge area, vineyards face every direction. The best terroirs were historically south facing, but, with a warming climate, some winemakers now prefer east- or even north-facing terroirs, especially for white wines.

Most vineyards are at an elevation between 80 meters (260 feet) and 350 meters (1,150 feet); some vineyards in Beaumes-de-Venise and Ventoux are even higher, up to 550 meters (1,800 feet). The lower, flatter vineyards have allowed for much more mechanization in the Southern Rhône than in the Northern Rhône. Although some grape varieties, such as Grenache, Carignan, and Counoise, grow well as self-supporting bush vines, all varieties are often trained on wires to better enable harvesting and other actions by machine. Many growers prefer bush vines when they are an option, though, as they have benefits, such as providing shade to the grapes in hot weather.

The suitability of much of the Southern Rhône to mechanization has shaped the wine industry here. It enabled growers to develop large estates with fewer employees, which gave rise to numerous cooperative wineries in the Southern Rhône—comparatively rare in the north, where négociant houses are more common.

Climate of the Rhône Valley

The climates of the Northern Rhône and the Southern Rhône are very different. Côte-Rôtie is equidistant from Châteauneuf-du-Pape and Beaune, and its climate lies between the two.

The Southern Rhône has a Mediterranean climate, with hot summers and mild winters. The Northern Rhône has a continental climate, marked by very warm summers and cold winters. Conditions are wetter in the Northern Rhône, with around 710 millimeters (28 inches) of rainfall annually in Orange, compared with 830 millimeters (33 inches) annually in Lyon. Rain is also more frequent in the north than the south.

If there is one element of terroir that the Northern Rhône and the Southern Rhône share, it’s the powerful wind known as the mistral (occasionally referred to as la bise in the north). It’s a cold, dry wind, caused by a combination of high pressure in the Bay of Biscay and low pressure in the Gulf of Genoa, bringing cold air from the north. It’s channeled down the Rhône Valley toward the Mediterranean and can reach speeds of over 100 kilometers (60 miles) per hour. The Southern Rhône has around 100 days of mistral winds. The wind events peak in November through April, but the mistral is very impactful during the summer. During the growing season, there is a 20% chance of gale-force winds. Overall, the mistral is considered beneficial, as it usually blows after rainfall, drying out the vineyards and helping prevent vineyard diseases. One downside (apart from brutal conditions for vignerons during winter pruning) is that it can be powerful enough to break vines and their échalas.

The climate has changed in the Rhône Valley over the past 50 years. Data collected since 1970 shows that all major stages of the cycle of the vine (budbreak, flowering, veraison, and harvest) are starting increasingly earlier. Budbreak for Grenache in the Southern Rhône, for example, now occurs 15 days earlier than it did in 1970. This can cause problems because of frost (in 2021, for example) as vines awake from their winter dormancy early, caused by warm snaps in early spring, followed by a return to cold weather. Additionally, there is less rain during the growing season, and there are more very hot days (over 35 degrees Celsius, or 95 degrees Fahrenheit). The overall effect is lower acidity, higher potential alcohol levels at harvest, and smaller berries.

In the short term, vignerons react by irrigating their vines or adding tartaric acid to their wines, though these strategies are generally avoided by those who favor a noninterventionist approach. Longer-term strategies include growing experimental varieties, planting on north-facing slopes, adding strategic cover crops, and planting at higher elevation. Arguably, the Rhône Valley is better positioned to withstand the effects of climate change than many other wine regions, as it has numerous grape varieties and is already known for its powerful styles of wine. But many winemakers are openly apprehensive about the future.

Rhône Valley Wine Law

The Rhône Valley is beholden to classic French wine law, which in turn follows the structures required by the European Union. This includes three tiers of requirements for wine labeling: Vin de France, Indication Géographique Protégée (IGP), and AOC. The ways that the Rhône Valley expresses these tiers are detailed below. Côtes du Rhône AOC is the most common label designation, with by far the largest volume produced. At a higher level of specificity of place and variety are 29 appellations that highlight specific communes, varieties, and growing areas; all of these will be detailed in the regional sections of this guide.

Vin de France

Wines from vineyards that are not within IGP or AOC growing areas must use the classification Vin de France. Certain producers opt out of IGP and AOC certification even if their wines could use them. Some feel that their creativity is stifled by having to adhere to so many rules; others wish to reject a system in which they do not trust or believe.

When labeling wines as Vin de France, producers can state the grape variety or varieties used, the vintage, the name of the estate, and any cuvée name, but no geographic statement is allowed. The category is popular with natural wine producers and used for a handful of excellent wines from rebel Rhône winemakers.

Indication Géographique Protégée

IGP was known (and is still referred to sometimes) as Vin de Pays until the name was updated in 2009. Like AOC wines, those classified as IGP must adhere to a cahier des charges, but IGP rules are more flexible, with a longer list of permissible grape varieties and wine styles, higher maximum yields, and much larger growing areas.

IGPs are divided into three types: regional, departmental, and zonal. Some are further delimited with territorial references, such as Méditerranée Coteaux de Montélimar IGP. Many of them overlap the AOC growing areas of the Rhône Valley, and producers frequently bottle AOC wines and IGP wines, the latter usually less expensive and often varietal.

The following IGPs can be used by some Rhône Valley estates.

Regional IGPs

Méditerranée IGP, including the territorial references Comté de Grignan and Coteaux de Montélimar
Comtés Rhodaniens IGP

Departmental IGPs

Gard IGP
Ardèche IGP, including the territorial reference Coteaux de l’Ardèche
Vaucluse IGP, including the territorial references Principauté d’Orange and Aigues
Drôme IGP, including the territorial references Comté de Grignan and Coteaux de Montélimar

Zonal IGPs

Coteaux des Baronnies IGP
Cévennes IGP
Coteaux du Pont du Gard IGP
Collines Rhodaniennes IGP

Of all the IGPs in the Rhône Valley, Collines Rhodaniennes is worthy of particular attention. The grapes grown for this classification come from an area that roughly corresponds to the Northern Rhône and Diois; as such, it’s the only IGP that reliably produces wines in a Northern Rhône style. Compared with most other IGPs, the growing area is relatively small, as are the maximum yields, at 80 hectoliters per hectare. Since many Northern Rhône winemakers believe Côtes du Rhône AOC is strongly associated with Southern Rhône wines, they often prefer to bottle under Collines Rhodaniennes IGP instead. Reds are often 100% Syrah, and whites are usually single-variety Viognier, Marsanne, or Roussanne. This category often features entry-level bottles from top producers, and the wines can be a great value.

Côtes du Rhône AOC

Planted hectares: 28,462
Hectoliters produced: 974,144
Average yield (hl/ha): 34
Volume by color: 83% red, 9% rosé, 8% white

All figures are 2024 unless otherwise noted.

Côtes du Rhône AOC covers 172 communes from Vienne in the north to beyond Avignon in the south, but the appellation is used almost exclusively for wines grown in Southern Rhône terroirs. There are 27 permitted grape varieties, including some VIFA varieties (Variétés d’Intérêt à Fins d’Adaptation, or Varieties of Interest for Adaptation Purposes), newly introduced experimental varieties. The minimum alcohol content for all wines is 11% ABV (10.5% ABV for wines grown north of Montélimar). The maximum yield is 51 hectoliters per hectare.

Permitted grape varieties for red and rosé wines:

Principal varieties: Grenache, Mourvèdre, Syrah
Accessory varieties: Bourboulenc, Caladoc, Carignan, Cinsault, Clairette, Clairette Rose, Counoise, Couston, Grenache Blanc, Grenache Gris, Marsanne, Marselan, Muscardin, Piquepoul Blanc, Piquepoul Noir, Roussanne, Terret Noir, Ugni Blanc, Vaccarèse, Viognier
VIFA varieties: Carignan Blanc, Floréal, Rolle, Vidoc

Reds and rosés must contain Grenache and either Syrah or Mourvèdre. Principal and complementary varieties must account for at least 60% of the blend. VIFA varieties can compose no more than 10% of the blend.

Permitted grape varieties for white wines:

Principal varieties: Bourboulenc, Clairette, Grenache Blanc, Marsanne, Roussanne, Viognier
Accessory varieties: Piquepoul Blanc, Ugni Blanc
VIFA varieties: Carignan Blanc, Floréal, Rolle

Whites must contain mostly principal varieties, with VIFA varieties composing no more than 10% of the blend.

Côtes du Rhône Villages AOC without Geographic Name

Planted hectares: 2,672
Hectoliters produced: 82,740
Average yield (hl/ha): 31
Volume by color: 96% red, 1% rosé, 3% white

The next level up in the appellation pyramid is Côtes du Rhône Villages AOC, which may be used by 95 of the 172 communes allowed by Côtes du Rhône AOC. All of them are in the Southern Rhône.

The rules of production are slightly stricter compared with those of Côtes du Rhône AOC. The crossings Caladoc, Couston, and Marselan are not permitted at this level, though VIFA varieties are still permitted. The minimum alcohol content for all wines is 12% ABV, and the maximum yield is 44 hectoliters per hectare. Otherwise, the rules around grape varieties and blending are the same.

Côtes du Rhône Villages AOC with Geographic Name

Planted hectares: 5,335
Hectoliters produced: 165,258
Average yield (hl/ha): 31
Volume by color: 96% red, 1% rosé, 3% white

Another step up the pyramid, this category, which is sometimes referred to as named village, tightens the production criteria further. Most requirements mirror those of the standard Côtes du Rhône Villages AOC. Allowed grape varieties are the same, as are blending rules. The minimum alcohol content for all whites and rosés is still 12% ABV, but the minimum for reds rises to 12.5%. The maximum yield is reduced to 41 hectoliters per hectare.

When this layer of the pyramid was established, all the vineyards of a given commune were generally allowed to use the appellation. Today, most often, only the best vineyards of a commune will be allowed to do so. It’s also possible that a discrete terroir, which is usually demarcated along soil lines and spread across several communes, can be promoted to this level, as with Côtes du Rhône Villages Plan de Dieu AOC.

There are 21 villages or terroirs that can use this designation and append the name of their village to the appellation. (Laudun is still pending so not included in this total.) More are likely to be added in the future. When new crus are established, they tend to be taken from this group, causing the number to fluctuate.

Most named villages are permitted to make wine in all three colors, though the tendency more recently has been to restrict color variations to those considered most traditional or typical.

The list below contains all current named villages. If colors are restricted, this is noted in parentheses.

Chusclan (red and rosé)
Gadagne (red)
Massif d’Uchaux (red)
Nyons (red)
Plan de Dieu (red)
Puyméras (red)
Roaix
Rochegude
Rousset-les-Vignes
Sablet
Saint-Andéol (red)
Saint-Gervais
Saint-Maurice
Saint-Pantaléon-les-Vignes
Sainte-Cécile (red)
Séguret
Signargues (red)
Suze-la-Rousse (red)
Vaison-la-Romaine (red)
Valréas
Visan

Some of these named villages have a more discernible terroir expression than others. The sandy soils of Sablet, for example, yield reds and whites with relative lightness, finesse, and fine tannins. The banks of galets roulés in Gadagne and Signargues produce potent, muscular reds. Plan de Dieu is an alluvial terroir in the central Vaucluse that also produces reds with heft and power. The reds of Massif d’Uchaux, a vast, wooded hill just north of Châteauneuf-du-Pape, are medium-bodied, with piquant red-berry flavors.

The Grapes of the Rhône Valley

The Rhône Valley is driven by its diversity of planted varieties, especially in the south. Plantings of reds are dominated by Grenache and Syrah, which amount to 85% of the total of all red grapes, but other cultivars can be useful in a blend and contribute to the wines’ unique sense of place.

Red Grapes

Grenache (35,671 ha): By far the most prevalent red grape in the Rhône Valley is Grenache, accounting for over 50% of total red plantings. It’s only planted in the Southern Rhône, and, like so many grapes here, it originated elsewhere—possibly Sardinia (it is the same grape as Cannonau, which is widely planted there) or, more likely, Spain. Grenache was established in the Southern Rhône by the 19^th century and is well suited to the region’s hot, dry conditions. The grape is planted throughout the Southern Rhône but is especially important in Châteauneuf-du-Pape. It is mostly grown for dry wines but is also used for sweet Rasteau Vin Doux Naturel.

Grenache is traditionally grown as a self-supporting bush vine, but it is also trained on wires (Guyot or cordon de Royat) to aid mechanization. It’s resistant to trunk diseases and can be very long-lived; centenarian vines are not uncommon. Grenache is prone to coulure, however, which can severely affect yields. It’s also sensitive to downy mildew and botrytis.

Grenache has naturally low levels of polyphenolic compounds, which in greater amounts help prevent oxidation. Winemakers must be careful in the cellar—minimizing racking, for example—to protect Grenache wines against contact with air. Otherwise, the grape’s already pale color can take on a brownish tinge and the wines can lose freshness.

Grenache wines are rarely deep in color. Acidity levels are moderate, and tannic structures vary depending on the terroir, but Grenache is not a very tannic variety. One challenge of Rhône Valley Grenache is that, by the time the grapes are physiologically ripe, they often have high levels of sugar, resulting in elevated alcohol levels. Blending with lower-alcohol varieties, such as Cinsault, can counteract this tendency. While Grenache does not always produce the most structured wines, they can be very long-lived.

Bush vine in Gigondas (Credit: Christophe Grilhé for Inter Rhône)

Syrah (23,518 ha): Syrah is the dominant red grape variety of the Northern Rhône. Although rare in practice, Saint-Joseph, Crozes-Hermitage, and Hermitage can include a small amount of Marsanne or Roussanne, or both. Côte-Rôtie can include up to 20% Viognier, and this addition is more commonly practiced. Syrah, a natural crossing between Mondeuse Blanche and Dureza, likely originated in the Northern Rhône. An unusually adaptable variety, it has since spread around the world. It arrived in Châteauneuf-du-Pape in 1830, gradually reached the rest of the Southern Rhône, and went farther afield from there.

A vigorous variety, Syrah needs physical supports. In the north, échalas are used; in the south, vines are more commonly trained on wires. Syrah is prone to botrytis, but the main concern today is Syrah decline (dépérissement de la Syrah). This disease, first noticed in Languedoc in the 1990s, is a fatal ailment that causes reddening of the leaves, followed by swelling and splitting of the trunk, typically around the graft union. There is currently no cure, but it appears that certain clones are considerably more susceptible than others, underlining the importance of careful clonal selection when establishing new vineyards.

Syrah vs. Serine

Northern Rhône winemakers occasionally refer not to Syrah but to Serine or Petite Serine. This is an ancient, preclonal Syrah that developed in and around Côte-Rôtie. Genetically, Serine and Syrah are the same, but Serine has a distinctive physiology after centuries of selection by growers. Some winemakers, such as Agnès Levet, say that their vineyards are exclusively planted with Serine rather than Syrah; she says that the bunches are longer, the olive-shaped berries are less tightly packed than those of Syrah, and the wines have a spicier flavor. But there is no consensus, even in Côte-Rôtie, as to whether Serine is really any different from normal Syrah. Other winemakers say that it’s simply the local name for Syrah.

In the winery, Syrah is prone to reduction, the production of sulfur compounds during fermentation that can lead to off-aromas. In small amounts, reduction can add smoky notes and complexity, but larger amounts of sulfur compounds can smell rubbery or tarry and can dominate a wine’s expression. To minimize reduction, it is crucial to ensure adequate contact with air during or after fermentation, or both, typically through délestage (rack and return) and racking during maturation in barrel. This is one reason Syrah is usually aged in small- and medium-sized oak barrels, which provide some oxygen ingress.

Syrah wines are darkly colored, with a purple tint. In the Northern Rhône, Syrah usually produces wines with moderate to high acidity and strong, sometimes rigid, tannic structures. The wines can be aromatically complex, with notes of wood smoke, black olive, blackberry, violet, and smoky bacon.

Another aromatic marker commonly associated with Syrah is black pepper, resulting from the naturally occurring compound rotundone, which is highly prevalent in Syrah grapes. Rotundone is in all “peppery” plants, including black peppercorns, oregano, and rosemary, as well as other grape varieties, in differing concentrations, such as Durif, Gamay, Vespolina, and Grüner Veltliner—but it is by far most prevalent in Syrah. It is likely that the buildup of rotundone in grapes results from a combination of factors, including length of time between veraison and harvest, bunch exposure to sunlight, specific clone type, and vine age. As a result, it is difficult for growers and winemakers to control it. Since the onset of climate change, however, pepperiness in Northern Rhône Syrah has become less common, as the buildup and retention of rotundone in Syrah are minimized by warmer growing conditions.

In the Southern Rhône, while Syrah produces wines with fewer floral and spice notes, the grape brings welcome tannin, acidity, and color to Grenache. But as the Southern Rhône warms, Syrah is falling out of favor.

Carignan Noir (4,104 ha): The Rhône Valley might be famous for the GSM blend (composed of Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre), but Carignan is the third most widely planted red grape. It’s another import from Spain, most likely Aragon. Carignan is widespread throughout the Southern Rhône, especially Cairanne and Rasteau, but it is not permitted in certain AOCs, including Gigondas and Châteauneuf-du-Pape.

Because Carignan can be very productive, its yields must be tightly controlled. In blends, it provides intense color, strong acidity, and bold tannins—all of which can be lacking in Grenache. Old vines are prized, as they result in naturally lower yields. Resistant to heat and drought, Carignan is increasingly well suited to the Southern Rhône.

Mourvèdre (2,871 ha): Mourvèdre was originally introduced to Provence from the Camp de Morvedre [sic] area of Valencia in the 16^th century; there, it is called Monastrell. Mourvèdre’s heartland is still Bandol, on the Provence coast, but it has been rapidly embraced by the Southern Rhône, where it performs brilliantly, enjoying the extended periods of heat and sun that the area provides. Because Mourvèdre needs access to water, it’s less forgiving than Grenache when it comes to site selection. As vignerons plan for climate change, Mourvèdre is gaining significant popularity.

Late budding and late ripening, Mourvèdre produces wines with deep color, firm acidity, and a strong tannic base. Alcohol levels are typically generous but lower than those of Grenache. Aromas tend toward blue and black fruits, with notes of blackberry, blueberry, violet, and fresh earth, becoming complex and gamy with age. Varietal Mourvèdre wines remain very rare in the Rhône Valley.

Cinsault (2,215 ha): Cinsault was once considered lacking in complexity and power, but it is increasingly admired for its juiciness, finesse, and low alcohol. It hails from the South of France (either Languedoc or the Rhône Valley) and is at home in hot, dry conditions. Cinsault is often used for rosés as well as reds, and it is particularly widely planted in Tavel.

The variety produces big bunches of large berries with thin skins and lots of juice, resulting in wines with relatively pale colors and subtle, tealike tannins. Because Cinsault can suffer from esca, old vines are relatively rare compared with Grenache. The best examples of pure Cinsault currently hail from South Africa, whose winemakers are, for now at least, more adept than those of France at bringing out its full potential.

Marselan (1,025 ha): By far the most popular of the three crossings permitted in Côtes du Rhône AOC wines (the others are Caladoc and Couston, discussed below), Marselan is a crossing of Grenache and Cabernet Sauvignon. It was produced in Montpellier, France, in 1961 by Paul Truel, an ampelographer who worked at Domaine de Vassal, a viticultural research post belonging to the Institut national de recherche agronomique. Truel worked here from 1954 to 1985, creating over a dozen new grape varieties.

Marselan is appreciated by growers for its resistance to botrytis, coulure, and powdery mildew. It produces wines with a very dark color, marked acidity, and concentrated red and black berry flavors. It’s late to ripen and prone to green, herbal notes if not fully ripe. Marselan has been enthusiastically adopted by the Chinese wine industry and is prevalent in Ningxia.

Caladoc (237 ha): Caladoc is another crossing with Grenache, this time with Côt (Malbec), developed in Montpellier by Truel in 1958. With Caladoc, Truel intended to create a grape variety resistant to coulure, and he was successful. Caladoc is also resistant to drought, botrytis, and powdery mildew. It produces wines that are dark in color, full-bodied, and powerfully tannic, and it is used for both red and rosé production.

Counoise (140 ha): Counoise is cultivated in small amounts throughout the Southern Rhône, mostly in Châteauneuf-du-Pape, where it’s gaining in popularity, notably at Château de Beaucastel, which has made examples with strong aging potential.

Counoise has been grown in the Southern Rhône for at least four centuries. It is well adapted to hot and stony terroirs, where it produces wines that are relatively pale in color, with a peppery note and subtle tannins. Good acidity and moderate alcohol make it a useful blending component with Grenache. Plantings are likely to increase.

Muscat à Petits Grains Noirs (101 ha): There are two areas that grow plentiful Muscat in the Rhône Valley: Beaumes-de-Venise and Diois, where it is used in sparkling Clairette de Die. Most of this is Muscat à Petits Grains Blancs, but the grape readily mutates in the vineyard from white to red, into Muscat à Petits Grains Noirs. Given that Muscat de Beaumes-de-Venise can be produced in all three colors, the Noirs variant is not discouraged (there’s less in Diois). The red grape has grapey aromatics similar to those of its white counterpart, with some additional red-fruit flavors and light tannins.

Couston (20 ha): The least prevalent of the three crossings permitted in Côtes du Rhône AOC, Couston is a natural crossing of Grenache and Aubun that was discovered by Julien Couston in the early 1970s. It’s resistant to coulure but needs abundant water during the growing season. Wines from Couston tend to be dark in color, full-bodied, and very tannic, and they are often very high in alcohol.

Other Red Grapes: Gamay, at 20 hectares (50 acres), and Pinot Noir, at 9 hectares (22 acres), are used only in Diois. The Southern Rhône grows even more red varieties that assist in its long-standing tradition of blending. These grapes are rarely used in monovarietal examples. Piquepoul (16 hectares, or 40 acres) comes in three colors: blanc, gris, and noir. It produces relatively pale wines with good acidity. Muscardin (14 hectares, or 35 acres) is grown almost exclusively in Châteauneuf-du-Pape, where it yields fairly pale wines with strong tannic structure and acidity, with musky spice and floral notes. Vaccarèse (14 hectares, or 35 acres) produces midweight, structured wines with juniper and violet notes. Terret Noir (5 hectares, or 12 acres), originally from Languedoc, was once valued for its high yields. It is pale in color, with notable structure but often rustic tannins.

As Rhône Valley producers consider their future in a rapidly changing climate, there’s an increasing interest in VIFA varieties. Vidoc is being introduced for its resistance to powdery mildew, downy mildew, and botrytis. It demonstrates spicy aromas and high alcohol and is more commonly used for rosé than for red wine. Montepulciano is being trialed in Costières de Nîmes AOC for its resistance to spring frost (it’s late budding) and suitability to hot climates. Morrastel (Graciano) was once widespread in Languedoc. Experiments with the grape are happening in Costières de Nîmes AOC, where it has been selected for its drought resistance and low alcohol.

White and Pink Grapes

Among white varieties, six grapes (Grenache Blanc, Viognier, Muscat à Petits Grains Blancs, Clairette Blanche, Roussanne, and Marsanne) make up 84% of plantings—contrasting with just two (Grenache and Syrah) composing the same percentage of red plantings.

Grenache Blanc (2,060 ha): Grenache Blanc is the most planted of all white and pink grapes in the Rhône Valley, with 21% of all plantings, and it’s widely dispersed throughout the south. This is by far its most important growing region worldwide. Some Grenache Blanc is cultivated in Spain (where it originated) and Roussillon, and a small amount in California and South Africa. There is very little elsewhere.

Alone, Grenache Blanc produces wines that are full-bodied and rich in glycerol, with high alcohol and moderate acidity. It is a texture-driven grape variety, with a neutrality that allows more characterful varieties in the blend to shine. Grenache Blanc is mostly used to produce still, dry wines in the Rhône Valley, but it is also used to make sweet Rasteau Vin Doux Naturel.

Viognier (1,549 ha): The next most planted white grape in the Rhône Valley is Viognier. It likely originated in Condrieu or nearby. It is a parent of Mondeuse Blanche, which means that it is either a half-sibling or grandparent of Syrah, and it is also related to Nebbiolo, reflected by its close genetic relationship to Freisa.

Viognier is early budding and early ripening. It’s aromatically distinctive, producing wines with exuberant peach and apricot scents. In Condrieu, jasmine, violet, almond, and ginger are also common. It is typically full-bodied, with mild acidity and generous alcohol. Identifying the picking date with precision is the key to retaining Viognier’s freshness and drinkability. With these characteristics in mind, winemakers are increasingly reducing lees stirring and maturation in new oak barriques when working with the grape.

In the Southern Rhône, where Viognier can be richer, it is typically used as a blending component, adding aromatics and textural richness.

Viognier is mostly used in the production of still, dry wines, but a very small amount of sweet Condrieu is still made (permitted under the rules of the AOC). Up to 20% Viognier can be used in the reds of Côte-Rôtie AOC, but in practice more than 10% is unusual. Historically, Viognier was blended into Syrah in Côte-Rôtie to bolster body and alcohol levels in weak vintages, add aromatic complexity, and stabilize color.

Muscat à Petits Grains Blancs (1,480 ha): There are many grapes whose names include Muscat, but Muscat à Petits Grains Blancs is considered one of the best. It’s early ripening, with smaller berries than most other Muscats. It likely originated in Italy or Greece, but it has been grown in Beaumes-de-Venise AOC for over two millennia. Here, it creates full-bodied, still, sweet wines. They are usually white, but rosé and red Muscats are also allowed under the appellation Beaumes-de-Venise. Although delicious when young, thanks to flavors of fresh grape, orange-flower water, honeysuckle, and apricot, the best examples can last for decades, taking on butterscotch and dried-fruit aromas as they develop.

The majority of Muscat à Petits Grains Blancs in the Rhône Valley is grown for sparkling wine, mostly the low-alcohol, sweet white Clairette de Die (it makes up a minimum of 75% of the blend) and dry Crémant de Die (maximum 10% of the blend).

Clairette Blanche (1,336 ha): In the Southern Rhône, where blending dominates, there is only one white grape that is often bottled varietally, and that is Clairette Blanche, usually referred to simply as Clairette. There are two appellations, albeit small, that require varietal Clairette: Clairette de Bellegarde and Coteaux de Die. Gigondas AOC blanc can also be 100% Clairette (a minimum of 70% is stipulated).

Although likely to originate in Languedoc, Clairette thrives in the hot, dry Southern Rhône. Its name refers to the tiny white hairs on the undersides of its leaves that reflect the light. Many winemakers appreciate the grape for its innate freshness, which tends to present itself in an aromatic, floral lift. Clairette yields full-bodied wines, and its acidity is moderate at best. Even so, wines made from Clairette can age remarkably well.

Mostly used for dry, still whites, Clairette is also grown in Diois for sparkling wines. Crémant de Die must contain at least 55%; Clairette de Die is limited (somewhat confusingly) to a maximum of 25% Clairette Blanche or Clairette Rose, or both.

Roussanne (1,164 ha): Roussanne is among the few white grape varieties that produce excellent wines in cool, moderate, and hot climates. It originated in the Northern Rhône and spread to the hotter Southern Rhône and the cooler Savoie (where it’s known as Bergeron), and it can make excellent wines in all three. Roussanne is also grown in small amounts in South Africa, Australia, and the US.

In the Northern Rhône, all crus south of Condrieu that produce white wine use Marsanne, Roussanne, or a blend of both. Roussanne is planted across the Southern Rhône, with large quantities in Costières de Nîmes, Ventoux, and Luberon. It is usually blended but sometimes bottled varietally, especially in Châteauneuf-du-Pape (where Marsanne is not permitted). Like Marsanne, Roussanne thrives on poor, stony soils and is susceptible to powdery mildew and botrytis. Its yields are inconsistent compared with those of Marsanne, however, and Roussanne is also more prone to fungal diseases, perhaps explaining Marsanne’s prevalence in the Northern Rhône.

The name Roussanne refers to the red- or russet-colored freckles that the grapes develop as they ripen. Roussanne is genetically related to Marsanne, and both grapes produce medium- to full-bodied, texturally rich, medium-acidity wines. Roussanne tends to yield white fruit flavors (pear, lychee) and white flower aromas, while Marsanne produces yellow fruit flavors (apricot, peach, mango) and yellow flower aromas (honeysuckle) and becomes nuttier with age.

Roussanne is mostly used for still, dry wines, but it also appears either with or without Marsanne in sparkling Saint-Péray. It is used for sweet white Hermitage Vin de Paille as well.

Marsanne (872 ha): While Roussanne spread far and wide from its Northern Rhône heartland, Marsanne is more of a homebody. Although it grows in the Southern Rhône, it doesn’t thrive in the warmer climate, and varietal Marsanne wines in the south are rare. Marsanne is mostly planted in Costières de Nîmes, Grignan-les-Adhémar, and Côtes du Vivarais. Elsewhere, there are limited Marsanne plantings in Switzerland (where the grape is known as Hermitage or Ermitage), and even smaller amounts in California and Australia.

Like Roussanne, Marsanne is mostly used for still, dry wines, but it can appear with or without Roussanne in sparkling Saint-Péray. It is also used for sweet white Hermitage Vin de Paille.

Rolle (619 ha): Rolle (otherwise known as Vermentino, though the EU gave ownership of that name to the Italians in 2022) is a white grape that’s grown widely around the Mediterranean, particularly southern France, northern Italy, Corsica, and Sardinia.

Until 2023, only four Rhône Valley appellations—Luberon, Costières de Nîmes, Ventoux, and Duché d’Uzès—were permitted to use Rolle, and, of these four, Luberon had embraced it most closely. In 2024, Rolle was also listed as a VIFA variety permitted for limited use in Côtes du Rhône AOC and Côtes du Rhône Villages AOC.

Rolle crops inconsistently, but it’s popular for the style of wine it creates. While most Rhône whites are medium- to full-bodied, with low to moderate acidity and high alcohol, Rolle is different. Although it can be made successfully in a richer style, it can also produce a lighter, brisker, fresher style. Flavor-wise, Rolle offers plentiful citrus, pineapple, and pear. It takes well to oak aging, which adds body and spice. It is a very promising grape that could in time be more broadly accepted in other Rhône Valley appellations.

Ugni Blanc (458 ha): Ugni Blanc, also known as Trebbiano Toscano, is mostly planted in Luberon, where up to 50% is allowed in white wines. Elsewhere in the Rhône Valley, its use is more restricted. Ugni Blanc is a rot-resistant, vigorous variety that produces large bunches of small berries and ripens late. Although its aromatics are subtle, it is valued for its acidity and freshness.

Bourboulenc (244 ha): While it composes only 2% of plantings of white and pink grape varieties in the Rhône Valley, Bourboulenc is an important grape to know. It appears to originate in Vaucluse. Its name likely comes from Barbolenquiera, the name of an old vineyard in Aubignan, near Beaumes-de-Venise. Bourboulenc is rarely seen outside the Rhône Valley.

Bourboulenc ripens late but is resistant to botrytis because of its thick skins. Since it retains its acidity and has an energetic profile, it is well suited to blends. It’s rarely made as a varietal wine. Domaine de Saint-Siffrein Châteauneuf-du-Pape Le Berlou is one Rhône Valley example; Tablas Creek in Paso Robles also makes a varietal Bourboulenc. Both are excellent, showing the potential of this little-known variety.

Clairette Rose (87 ha): Clairette Rose is a pink-skinned natural mutation of Clairette Blanche. Small parcels are dotted around Côtes du Rhône, with the majority in the appellations of Châteauneuf-du Pape, Ventoux, Tavel, and Lirac. It is also permitted in Clairette de Die in small quantities. Clairette Rose is stylistically similar to Clairette Blanche but has a more pronounced floral aroma.

Grenache Gris (34 ha): Grenache Gris is the pink-skinned version of Grenache Noir and is minimally planted in the Rhône Valley, mostly around Côtes du Rhône and in Costières de Nîmes. It’s vinified primarily for rosé, as use in white-wine appellations is inexplicably restricted. Grenache Gris shares many viticultural characteristics with Grenache Noir: drought and wind resistant, prone to coulure. It produces wines with breadth and fullness, generous alcohol, and low acidity but a good sense of tension, which Grenache Blanc can lack. It is mostly used for dry wines but permitted in all three colors of Rasteau Vin Doux Naturel.

Piquepoul Blanc (34 ha): Piquepoul Blanc is mostly planted in Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Lirac, and Tavel, but it might be poised for renewed interest following selection as a VIFA grape in April 2025 for trial in Costières de Nîmes AOC. Of the three colors of Piquepoul (blanc, gris, and noir), the white version is the most prevalent. It is planted around Côtes du Rhône, where it’s allowed only as a minor blending component, but most plantings are centered around the west bank in the AOCs of Tavel, Lirac, and Laudun. Because Piquepoul Blanc thrives in hot climates, ripens late, and retains its acidity, it is a valuable blending component.

The grape is more commonly grown in Languedoc, most notably in Picpoul de Pinet AOC. It’s garnering interest in South Australia, which produces several good varietal examples that are now commercially available.

Other White Grapes: Chardonnay (32 hectares, or 79 acres) and Aligoté (28 hectares, or 69 acres) are cultivated along the Drôme River in the Northern Rhône. A color mutation of Carignan Noir, Carignan Blanc (3 hectares, or 7.5 acres) is gaining traction as a variety adapted to climate change. Macabeu (3 hectares, or 7.5 acres) is grown in small amounts in Costières de Nîmes, where it produces neutral wines with high alcohol and low acidity. Picardan (3 hectares, or 7.5 acres) is an ancient variety with large bunches and big berries that is indigenous to the South of France but now nearly extinct.

White VIFA varieties include Floréal, a hybrid selected for its resistance to downy mildew, powdery mildew, and black rot; it requires ample water. Floréal produces aromatic, floral whites. Souvignier Gris, a crossing of Seyval Blanc and Zähringer, is a pink-berried VIFA variety from Germany, created by Norbert Becker in 1983. It was selected for its resistance to downy and powdery mildew and is being trialed in Costières de Nîmes.

Northern Rhône

Harvest at Domaine Pierre Gaillard (Credit: Christophe Grilhé for Inter Rhône)

Côte-Rôtie AOC

Planted hectares: 343
Hectoliters produced: 11,752
Average yield (hl/ha): 34
Volume by color: 100% red

Côte-Rôtie, the northernmost AOC in the Northern Rhône, produces some of the finest, most transparent, and most complex renditions of the Syrah grape. The appellation contains three communes: Saint-Cyr-sur-Rhône to the north, and Ampuis and Tupin-Semons to the south. It follows the west bank of the Rhône River as it flows southwest between Vienne and Condrieu.

The vineyards of Côte-Rôtie occupy a slope between 180 meters (590 feet) and 325 meters (1,070 feet) above sea level that’s dramatically folded and corrugated, resulting in vineyards that have multiple expositions but largely face south or southeast. Because of the steepness of the slopes, the vineyards are grown on terraces that follow the contours of the hills, requiring much of the vineyard work to be done by hand, leading to some of the highest bottle prices in the Rhône.

Granite dominates in the Northern Rhône but not in Côte-Rôtie. The region contains some granite soils at its southernmost point, where it shares a border with Condrieu, but most of the appellation is composed of schist, particularly in the northern part, with significant outcrops of gneiss to the south (there is gneiss and schist on the opposite sides as well). The main meeting point of the schist to the north and the gneiss to the south is around the lieu-dit La Côte Blonde. The main granite lieux-dits are Corps de Loup, Coteaux de Bassenon, Maisons Blanches, and part of Maison Rouge.

These soil types impact the resulting wines. The more southerly gneiss soils (and the granite section, too, in practice) are locally referred to as blonde soils because of their pale color. Wines produced from these sites are described as highly aromatic, with notes of rose, cedar, incense, and tobacco, and with lighter tannic structures, making them ready to drink sooner. The darker schistose soils are called brune (brown or brunette) soils. These yield more robust wines, with firmer tannins that take longer to develop, and contain flavors of darker fruit.

The slopes of Côte-Rôtie have been cultivated for at least two millennia. The wines of Vienne were mentioned by Pliny the Elder, who wrote in Natural History, in roughly 77 CE, that wines were already being made here by a tribe called the Allobroges. The slopes were slow to be replanted after phylloxera, and by 1973 there were just 72 hectares (178 acres) in production. Since then, the wines have once again gained renown, in part thanks to the driving force of the Guigal family.

The impact and significance of the négociant house E. Guigal is hard to overstate. Located in the heart of Ampuis, it was founded in 1946 by Étienne Guigal. When he became temporarily blind in 1961, his son Marcel took over the management of the company. Unusually for a business of this size, the family remains directly involved in the winemaking process. Marcel’s son, Philippe, is the chief winemaker, and Marcel is still involved in day-to-day operations. Today, the house produces 8.5 million bottles annually and owns 152 hectares (376 acres) of vineyards, 40 hectares (99 acres) of which are in Côte-Rôtie. Its success has allowed it to acquire numerous other properties, including the neighboring négociant house Vidal-Fleury; Domaine de Bonserine, in Côte-Rôtie; Château de Nalys, in Châteauneuf-du-Pape; and Château d’Aqueria, in Tavel.

Domaine E. Guigal is best known for its role in catapulting the wines of the Northern Rhône toward luxury territory. Beginning in the 1960s, Guigal introduced the La-Las, single-site wines aged for around 42 months in 100% new French oak: La Mouline (the first vintage was 1966), La Landonne (1978), and La Turque (1985). La Reynarde will join the famed La-Las starting with the 2022 vintage.

Côte-Rôtie is an exclusively red-wine appellation, and the only red variety permitted is Syrah. Up to 20% Viognier can be co-planted in the vineyards. Historically, Viognier’s generous alcohol levels helped bolster weak vintages, and its floral notes combine well with those of the Syrah grown here, which often has aromas of violet. Viognier also plays an important role in color stabilization.

Côte-Rôtie is almost always aged in barrel, typically for between 12 and 24 months, sometimes longer. The new oak barriques that were fashionable from the 1990s to 2010s are increasingly making way for more traditional demi-muids of either 500 or 600 liters, and less new oak is being used than in the past. Whole-bunch fermentation, which can add structure, increase freshness, and reduce alcohol levels, is also increasing in popularity.

The wines of Côte-Rôtie can be very long-lived; 15 to 20 years is common, and some continue to drink well at 50 years. They can also be delicious young, around 4 years of age, and are often in a sweet spot between 10 and 20 years. The best examples are among the finest wines in the world.

There are 73 official lieux-dits in the appellation, and, while it has long been traditional to blend across different parcels to create a unified vision of the terroir, many producers also create single-vineyard expressions. There are benefits to both approaches. Not all single vineyards excel every year, so creating a blend can lead to a more balanced, complete wine. But single-vineyard wines are more limited in production, creating scarcity and justifying higher prices. These, in turn, can elevate prices of other wines in a producer’s range.

Although there is no official classification of Côte-Rôtie lieux-dits, some are considered better than others. The following are broadly considered among the most desirable:

La Côte Brune: While the entire northern, schistose side of the appellation is sometimes referred to as La Côte Brune, and the southern gneiss half as La Côte Blonde, there are also individual lieux-dits with these names in the heart of Ampuis. La Côte Brune is a large, steep lieu-dit, much of which is south facing, composed of schist. It is the source of reliably complete and harmonious Côte-Rôtie wines of the highest quality. Single-vineyard expressions include Domaine Jean-Paul Jamet, Domaine Rostaing, and Domaine E. Guigal’s La Turque.

La Côte Blonde: Just south of the lieu-dit La Côte Brune is the lieu-dit La Côte Blonde. It’s a steep slope comprising intricate terraces built on both gneiss and schist, facing south and southeast. The typical style is highly fragrant and very fine and lithe. Top single-vineyard bottlings include Domaine Stéphane Ogier, Domaine Rostaing, and Domaine E. Guigal’s La Mouline.

Lancement: Lancement is situated high above the lieu-dit La Côte Blonde, with similar soils. Its wines offer perfume and depth. Top examples are made by Domaine Stéphane Ogier and Domaine Garon.

La Landonne: North of Ampuis, this well-known lieu-dit is a triangular slice of hillside that faces southeast. La Landonne is vertiginously sloping and has schist soils with red stains from iron deposits. Its assertive, strongly tannic wines aren’t always well balanced by themselves. Excellent examples are made by Domaine Xavier Gérard, Domaine Rostaing, and Domaine E. Guigal.

La Viallière: Farther north than La Landonne is La Viallière, a schistous, midslope lieu-dit that produces wines with aromas of violet and ink, and with very fine tannins. Top examples include those from Domaine Rostaing and Domaine Clusel-Roch.

Les Grandes Places: This rocky site consists of steep outcrops of mica and schist with inflections of iron. Notable wind, a result of elevation and position, is a unique characteristic of this lieu-dit. The wines of Domaine Clusel-Roch and Jean-Michel Gerin are the standard-bearers of the vineyard.

Other notable lieux-dits include Côte Rozier, Chavaroche, Fongeant, and Coteaux de Tupin.

Condrieu AOC

Planted hectares: 221
Hectoliters produced: 7,167
Average yield (hl/ha): 32
Volume by color: 100% white

Directly south of Côte-Rôtie is Condrieu. The two share a border, and, to the naked eye, the terrain is similar from one to the next: steep, often terraced slopes of vines grown on stakes. Condrieu, however, is 100% white and always pure Viognier.

The original appellation, established in 1940, covered just three villages: Condrieu, Vérin, and Saint-Michel-sur-Rhône. Here, the bedrock is composed of dark biotite granite with some lighter muscovite granite at each end. Many of the best parcels, such as the lieu-dit Vernon, have a coarse, sandy topsoil known locally as arzelle that is made of decomposed granite and mica. In 1967, multiple small islands of land to the south were added to the appellation, in the communes of Chavanay, Saint-Pierre-de-Boeuf, Malleval, and Limony. These are more geologically diverse, largely featuring types of granite and migmatite with some outcrops of gneiss and loess.

Whether these additional terroirs are the equal of the original slopes is debatable, but, during this period of expansion, the appellation was struggling following the ravages of phylloxera and two world wars. Although today Viognier is planted around the world, it had nearly become extinct by 1965, with just 8 hectares (20 acres) remaining in the village of Condrieu—at this point, it wasn’t found anywhere else. Thanks to the hard work of Condrieu winemakers, spearheaded by the indefatigable Georges Vernay, the hillsides of Condrieu were replanted and the variety rescued from the brink.

Today, Condrieu is almost exclusively dry. Sweet Condrieu, typically with 60 to 80 grams of residual sugar per liter, is permitted in the AOC, but very few producers make it. Notable examples include those of Xavier Gérard and Yves Cuilleron.

Condrieu shows the exuberant, heady aromatics of Viognier in youth, but the best examples demonstrate a freshness and a salinity that bring balance. These elements, when present, also give the wine its ability to develop in bottle, with toasty gingerbread notes emerging over time. In a warming climate, most winemakers are doing what they can to accentuate freshness and acidity. As such, lees stirring and new oak barriques are falling out of favor, though some degree of oak aging remains commonplace. Blocking malolactic fermentation is still relatively rare.

Château-Grillet AOC

Château-Grillet AOC (Credit: Christophe Grilhé for Inter Rhône)

Planted hectares: 3.5
Hectoliters produced: 96
Average yield (hl/ha): 26
Volume by color: 100% white

The tiny domaine of Château-Grillet, straddling the communes of Saint-Michel-sur-Rhône and Vérin, at the heart of Condrieu AOC, was awarded its own appellation in 1936. At the time, if an estate had a property designated as a château (a building with at least two turrets) and vineyards in one single block around the property, it could apply for its own appellation. The owners did exactly that, and thus this monopole was created.

Château-Grillet owns just 3.5 hectares (8.5 acres) of Viognier grapes, which are grown in a south-facing amphitheater of biotite granite, with 104 tight terraces that begin at 150 meters (490 feet) above sea level and end at 250 meters (820 feet). The estate itself is ancient, with château records dating it to the early 1600s. Its historic fame was such that in 1787 it attracted a visit by Thomas Jefferson, the future US president. From 1827 to 2011, it was owned by the Neyret-Gachet family. It was then sold to the French businessman François Pinault, and it is now part of his Artémis Domaines portfolio of wineries. On purchasing the estate, Pinault converted it to biodynamics and introduced two cuvées, a declassified Côtes du Rhône AOC and a Condrieu named La Carthery, made from a newly purchased 0.25-hectare (0.6-acre) parcel of Condrieu that borders Château-Grillet at the top of the amphitheater.

The rules of production for Château-Grillet AOC are similar to those of Condrieu AOC, with 100% Viognier required for the wines. Some rules are tighter, however. For example, Château-Grillet has slightly lower maximum yields (37 hectoliters per hectare versus 41 hectoliters per hectare). Also, it must be vinified dry and sold in a fluted Alsace-style bottle known as vin du Rhin.

Compared with typical Condrieu wines, those of Château-Grillet display a marked tension and salinity—perhaps because of the estate’s south-facing slope—and they have a rare longevity.

Saint-Joseph AOC

Planted hectares: 1,415
Hectoliters produced: 50,689
Average yield (hl/ha): 36
Volume by color: 86% red, 14% white

While some Northern Rhône appellations represent a single village or terroir, such as Cornas or Hermitage, Saint-Joseph covers a thin, 50-kilometer (30-mile) stretch of the west bank, from Condrieu to Saint-Péray. It encompasses many of the small but high-quality south- and southeast-facing slopes on this immense block of Massif Central granite. (There are small outcrops of limestone, gneiss, loess, and alluvial soils, too, in the appellation.)

Like Condrieu, Saint-Joseph started small but was extended. When the appellation was established, in 1956, it included six communes (Glun, Mauves, Tournon-sur-Rhône, Lemps, Saint-Jean-de-Muzols, and Vion) just over the river from the hill of Hermitage. Mauves and Tournon-sur-Rhône, their vineyards grown on an atypically coarse-grained type of granite called granite de Tournon, had long been famous for the quality of their wines. In the Middle Ages, vin de Tournon was praiseworthy enough to be supplied to King François I. The appellation was extended, mostly northward, in 1969, adding another 20 communes.

Mauves, Saint-Jean-de-Muzols, and Tournon-sur-Rhône contain the top terroirs in the AOC. Mauves is known for tension-driven Syrah wines grown on its firm granite soils, and Saint-Jean-de-Muzols’s decomposed granites and vineyard aspects create structured and savory wines. Tournon-sur-Rhône’s inflections of clay and galets yield powerful expressions of Saint-Joseph that are among the best Syrah wines of the Rhône Valley.

Saint-Joseph reds are usually pure Syrah (they can include up to 10% Marsanne or Roussanne, or both, but in practice the reds are monovarietal). Whites can be made with Marsanne, Roussanne, or both; in 2024, 67% of white plantings were Marsanne.

The grapes grown at the northern end of the appellation take about a week longer to ripen than those on the southern side, and stylistically the wines of the north are lighter and more fragrant than the robust wines of the south.

The best slopes are as difficult to work as those of Côte-Rôtie and Hermitage, but, because of its size and relatively varied terroir, Saint-Joseph doesn’t have the same reputation; as a result, these wines are considerably less expensive. There are some exceptional terroirs in the appellation, though, resulting in the best Saint-Joseph wines often representing excellent value for money.

Cornas AOC

Planted hectares: 164
Hectoliters produced: 4,938
Average yield (hl/ha): 30
Volume by color: 100% red

Although considered through much of the late 1900s as a more rustic alternative to Côte-Rôtie and Hermitage, Cornas has largely been freed of this image and taken its rightful place as the equal of these other great Northern Rhône crus.

Like many of the most challenging terroirs in the Rhône Valley, Cornas was slowly rebuilt after phylloxera and both world wars. Because the Cornas hillside is so hard to work—it’s rumpled, steep, and difficult—most holdings were, and still are, under 10 hectares (25 acres). When prices were low, families couldn’t rely on selling wine alone to make a living. Because most estates were run on a part-time, semiprofessional basis alongside other jobs, modern winemaking techniques arrived here slightly later, hence the reputation for rusticity.

Most of Cornas is situated on heavily weathered, coarse-grained granite called gore. Geologically, the appellation can be viewed as three zones: granite interspersed with limestone in the north; gneiss, clay, and gore in the center; and decomposed, sandy granite in the south. Wines must be 100% Syrah. The best terroirs are on the slope that rises immediately behind the little village of Cornas, between 120 meters (390 feet) and 400 meters (1,310 feet) in elevation. It faces mainly east, with some south- and southeast-facing parcels.

Cornas wines are known for their powerful, assertive nature. They can have chiseled, serrated tannins that need time to soften. Although they don’t develop as predictably as most Hermitage wines, they tend to show well between 8 and 20 years in bottle and can take on a thrilling complexity with time. Those who enjoy Syrah wines with dramatic textures will also appreciate these within four years of bottling.

Single-vineyard wines are relatively rare in Cornas, compared with Hermitage and Côte-Rôtie, but this may change as certain top lieux-dits are increasingly appearing on labels. The greatest lieu-dit is Reynard, a south-facing amphitheater at the heart of the appellation, with parcels owned by the domaines of Clape, Farge, A & E Verset, Allemand, and Paul Jaboulet Aîné. A subsection called La Geynale is vinified by Vincent Paris. Other important lieux-dits include Chaillot, Les Mazards, La Côte, and Patou.

Chaillot: Known for producing the most powerful wines in the appellation, this hillside features a range of exposures, from east to southwest, with myriad granite expressions. Protected by trees on the northern side, the site soaks up the sun, with the higher elevations famous for the tannins of their wines.

Les Mazards: This vineyard is home to two distinct terroirs: its higher-elevation, steep granite and its flatter, lower-slope clay-limestone soils. The wines are known for their fruitiness and rounder tannins compared with those from nearby sites. Franck Balthazar, Matthieu Barret, and Vincent Paris are key producers.

Reynard: Hard gneiss and granite, with some clay, define Reynard. The site sits around 260 meters (850 feet) in elevation, with southern and southeastern exposures. Clay soils facilitate its success in drought vintages. The hillside is subdivided into multiple climats, including La Geynale, La Côte, and Tézier.

Since the original slope on which these great lieux-dits are located is now fully planted, an increasing number of winemakers are establishing vineyards high on the plateau above. This cooler, windswept, rolling landscape can produce very good wines but without the intensity and concentration of those grown on the slope.

Saint-Péray AOC

Planted hectares: 116
Hectoliters produced: 3,075
Average yield (hl/ha): 26
Volume by color: 100% white

Just south of Cornas are the Marsanne and Roussanne vineyards of Saint-Péray. This is the southernmost appellation in the Northern Rhône and reserved exclusively for white wines. As of 2024, 77% was planted to Marsanne and 23% to Roussanne. The terroir here is slightly different from that of the surrounding areas. While much of the appellation is granite, there’s also a significant outcrop of limestone.

In the early 20^th century, around 90% of Saint-Péray was sparkling. The first successful attempts at Saint-Péray mousseux were made by Maison Faure in 1829, with the help of a winemaker from Champagne, and the wines are still made in the traditional method today. The category thrived, and prices soon rivaled those of Saint-Péray’s more famous competitor.

Today, the proportions of still to sparkling are reversed, but the small amount of sparkling produced is dry and fairly rich in mouthfeel. These wines can be good, if rarely supremely elegant. The still wines, however, can be excellent and rival the best white wines of Saint-Joseph.

Vines on the hill of Hermitage and the Rhône River (Credit: Christophe Grilhé for Inter Rhône)

Hermitage AOC

Planted hectares: 136
Hectoliters produced: 3,843
Average yield (hl/ha): 28
Volume by color: 69% red, 31% white

Millions of years ago, the Rhône River gradually sliced a chunk of the Massif Central from the west bank, leaving an island of granite on the east bank. Gradually, other types of rock have fused to it, and today this is the hill of Hermitage. It forms a kink in the river where the Rhône River skirts around it, traveling briefly east before continuing south.

This hill presents its south-facing slope to the sun, sheltering the vines from the wind and creating a stunning site that appears as if it were designed for growing grapes. The top of the hill has deposits of loess, which are usually used for growing white grapes. The bottom of the hill has more clay and alluvial deposits, which yield wines with fruit and elegance, if rarely the intensity of wines from the top and middle of the slope. It’s an imposing sight, but the hill itself amounts only to 136 hectares (336 acres).

The name Hermitage (Ermitage) refers to a local legend about the knight Henri Gaspard de Stérimberg. Returning injured from the Albigensian Crusade (1209–1229), he came across the hill and wanted to stop and build a hermitage there. He made a request to Blanche de Castille, the queen of France, which she granted, and he remained there until his death. It’s said that he tended vines around the tiny Chapelle de Saint-Christophe (since rebuilt), which still sits at the top of the hill.

The wines of Hermitage quickly gained renown. Louis XIII visited in 1642, and he served the wines at his court. By the early 19^th century, prices of Hermitage equaled those of Burgundy grands crus and Bordeaux premiers crus.

Today, reds are almost always 100% Syrah, though up to 15% Roussanne or Marsanne, or both, is permitted. Red wines account for just over two-thirds of production. Whites are made from Marsanne, Roussanne, or both. In 2024, Marsanne made up most white plantings at 88%. Sweet white Hermitage Vin de Paille was a historically important style, but now it is made only by a handful of producers (including Jean-Louis Chave). All three styles can develop for decades in bottle, and the whites age as well as the reds. While white Hermitage can be drunk young, red Hermitage tends to show its best from 20 years of age.

Hermitage is divided into 20 lieux-dits. These are some of the most important, from west to east:

Les Bessards: Les Bessards is the most important lieu-dit on the granitic western flank of Hermitage, which makes up around one-fourth of the hill and is the highest part, rising to 320 meters (1,050 feet). Les Bessards produces wines with structure and backbone.

L’Hermite: L’Hermite sits in the middle of the hill’s western flank and is heavily influenced by its neighbors. The site’s granite section, around the chapel, is better for reds and has many similarities to Les Bessards, while its sandy loess section, better for whites, reflects the spirit of Le Méal. This part can deliver thrilling wines with pronounced tension, intensity, salinity, and longevity.

Le Méal: The most important lieu-dit after Les Bessards is the large, central, stony, calcareous section known as Le Méal. Although it is principally planted with Syrah, some producers, such as Chapoutier, have whites planted here, too. Both colors of wine are rich and potent.

Les Greffieux: Les Greffieux is situated underneath Le Méal at the bottom of the slope, with younger alluvial soils and clay. Its wines can be very good, though they’re not typically as interesting as those from the sites higher up. A blend from this lieu-dit, Les Bessards, and Le Méal was historically considered the traditional expression of the hill.

Maison Blanche: Eastward, in the third major section of the hill, the highest lieu-dit is Maison Blanche. It has mostly loess soils and is considered one of the best terroirs for white wines.

Les Beaumes: A thin strip of land that runs from the top of the hill all the way to the bottom, Les Beaumes contains varied soils, including some compacted stone locally known as poudingue. Wines from the foot of the hill are richer, while those from the top are fresher.

Péléat: This is a small lieu-dit at the center of the hill that produces whites with minerality. It is a core parcel for Domaine Jean-Louis Chave’s L’Hermitage blanc.

Les Rocoules: A large, midslope section just underneath Maison Blanche, Les Rocoules is mostly planted with white grapes. It produces wines with power and richness. Domaine Sorrel makes an excellent single-vineyard white Hermitage from Les Rocoules.

Les Diognières: At the foot of the slope underneath Les Rocoules, Les Diognières is geologically similar to Les Greffieux but can produce wines with finesse (if not great concentration) in the hands of producers such as Domaine Laurent Fayolle.

Crozes-Hermitage AOC

Planted hectares: 2,073
Hectoliters produced: 83,064
Average yield (hl/ha): 40
Volume by color: 89% red, 11% white

The village of Crozes invokes the name of Hermitage, but, while Hermitage is one of the smallest appellations in the Northern Rhône, Crozes-Hermitage is the largest. Its soils are very different from those of the other Northern Rhône crus. Between the Rhône and Isère Rivers, it is based mostly on red clay and rounded pebbles, successive low terraces of which were laid down by the action of glaciers.

A much smaller section north of Hermitage is grown on granite (albeit without the same combination of aspect and elevation as Hermitage). Wines from these villages, such as Gervans, lack the amplitude and concentration of the wines from the south, instead offering purity and finesse.

Another small terroir within Crozes-Hermitage with a distinct character is Larnage. This village east of Hermitage has large deposits of white kaolin sands, which yield elegant whites and reds.

Similar to Hermitage, Crozes-Hermitage reds are in practice made from 100% Syrah, but up to 15% Roussanne or Marsanne, or both, is permitted. Whites are made from Marsanne, Roussanne, or both. In 2024, Marsanne accounted for 80% of white grape plantings and Roussanne composed the remainder. Although Crozes-Hermitage can be a source of delightful and highly aromatic expressions of Northern Rhône Syrah, the wines don’t show the depth, intensity, or longevity of those from Hermitage.

Diois

The wines of Diois were welcomed into the administrative Rhône Valley family in the 1940s. The Diois vineyards are in the winding Drôme River valley, a tributary of the Rhône that flows in from the east, located between the Northern Rhône and the Southern Rhône. Although the wines made here are often based on the same grapes as those of other Rhône Valley appellations, the terroir has a more alpine influence. Vineyards are generally small and surrounded by other crops. They are planted at up to 700 meters (2,300 feet) in elevation. It is cooler and wetter here than in the Southern Rhône, and the area is shielded from the mistral.

Clairette de Die AOC

Planted hectares: 1,443
Hectoliters produced: 53,675
Average yield (hl/ha): 37
Volume by color: 100% white

This is by far the biggest appellation in Diois, with about 94% of production. Clairette de Die is an ancient style, mentioned by Pliny the Elder in his Natural History. It is made in two styles. Around 95% is méthode ancestrale. This is a sweet (minimum 35 grams of residual sugar per liter) sparkling white wine based on Muscat à Petits Grains Blancs (it can also contain up to 25% Clairette, Clairette Rose, or Muscat à Petits Grains Noirs, or all three). It is low in alcohol, around 8% ABV, and highly aromatic. The other style is méthode brut, a dry sparkling white wine made from 100% Clairette.

To produce the méthode ancestrale wines, after pressing, the juice is chilled and undergoes a long, slow fermentation using natural yeasts. Partially fermented must (4% to 5% ABV) is bottled, and the fermentation continues at low temperature. Fermentation ends at around 8% ABV, when the yeasts stop functioning because of high pressure. Malolactic fermentation does not take place. Rather than classic disgorgement, the wine is emptied into tanks where it is filtered, then rebottled.

Crémant de Die AOC

Planted hectares: 66
Hectoliters produced: 2,994
Average yield (hl/ha): 45
Volume by color: 100% white

Crémant de Die is a sparkling dry white wine made mostly from Clairette (though small amounts of Aligoté and Muscat à Petits Grains Blancs are allowed), using the traditional method.

Châtillon-en-Diois AOC

Planted hectares: 28
Hectoliters produced: 670
Average yield (hl/ha): 24
Volume by color: 42% red, 12% rosé, 46% white

Châtillon-en-Diois is an appellation for dry still wines made in three colors. Whites are light-bodied and made from Chardonnay or Aligoté, or both. Reds and rosés are light- to medium-bodied and made mostly from Gamay, with optional Pinot Noir and Syrah.

Coteaux de Die AOC

Planted hectares: 6
Hectoliters produced: 256
Average yield (hl/ha): 42
Volume by color: 100% white

Coteaux de Die is a dry still white wine made from 100% Clairette. This is one of the smallest appellations in the Rhône Valley, but these Clairette wines can rival those made farther south.

Southern Rhône

Châteauneuf-du-Pape AOC

Planted hectares: 3,135
Hectoliters produced: 78,200
Average yield (hl/ha): 24.9
Volume by color: 90% red, 10% white

Châteauneuf-du-Pape is one of the most famous wine regions in the world—not only because of the quality of the wines but as a result of its long commercial history, papal endorsement, and role in developing the appellation system. The first written references to the village date to 1094, with the first mention of local viticulture in 1157. But the arrival of the popes in the early 1300s marked a turning point in the region’s history.

Clément V, the archbishop of Bordeaux, was elected pope in 1305. Instead of taking a seat in Rome, in 1309 he chose Avignon, which was within the papal lands then known as Comtat-Venaissin. This marked the start of the Avignon papacy. It was Clément V’s successor, Jean XXII, who started the construction of the château neuf (new castle) in the village now known as Châteauneuf-du-Pape (formerly Châteauneuf-Calcernier, for the area’s limestone quarries). This new castle was a summer residence, and vineyards were also established to cater to the pope and his thirsty entourage.

The rise of private estates came later. In 1560, the Tulle de Villefranche family bought the building and farmland that became Château La Nerthe, but it wasn’t until 1730 that the wines were sold commercially. In the early 1800s, more estates were established on the strength of La Nerthe’s success, such as Domaine de la Solitude (established in 1809), which was one of the first Châteauneuf-du-Pape estates to export wine and to use private labels on its bottles. In 1923, at the request of local growers, Le Roy developed the framework for Châteauneuf-du-Pape that later served as the model for other AOCs.

Châteauneuf-du-Pape is a gently rolling countryside stretching over nearly 3,200 hectares (7,900 acres) at a bend in the Rhône River. Its highest point is just 128 meters (420 feet) above sea level. The powerful mistral sweeps through all the vineyards here, helping reduce disease pressure. The appellation has land in five communes: at the center is Châteauneuf-du-Pape, then clockwise from the north are Orange, Courthézon, Bédarrides, and Sorgues. Ideally, the different terroirs of Châteauneuf-du-Pape would be reflected in commune boundaries, which would make it much easier to discuss the appellation, but that’s not the case. Even individual lieux-dits contain multiple soil types and exposures. Yet there are several distinct zones in Châteauneuf-du-Pape that are worth defining.

Toward the south of the appellation, there is a large strip of land close to the river, in the communes of Sorgues and Châteauneuf-du-Pape, that is composed of large galets roulés (sometimes called “pudding stones” in English). These are rounded silica pebbles, usually with clay underneath them, that are relatively recent deposits. Some of the best lieux-dits are directly south of the village of Châteauneuf-du-Pape, such as Le Bois de Boursan, Le Bois de la Ville, Les Galimardes, and Les Grandes Serres. Leading producers based here include Famille Isabel Ferrando and Mas Saint-Louis.

Most limestone is west and northwest of the village. This is rarely considered the best terroir for red wines, but grapes grown here can add complexity to a blend. This is an excellent place to plant white grapes, however, delivering wines of tension and freshness. Few estates are physically located in this area, but many own parcels, including Domaine de Beaurenard.

Following the appellation clockwise, bordering this limestone terroir is the vast, elevated plateau of Montredon, which has very old galets roulés, then the substantial lieux-dits of Farguerol and Cabrières, with more rounded stones. These are called the Villafranchian galets roulés, referring to the age in which they were deposited by the Rhône River. This area is among the best alluvial terroirs in the Southern Rhône, and it also includes the highest elevations in the appellation, reaching 129 meters (423 feet) at Pied Long. Estates such as Château Mont-Redon and Domaine Charvin are located here, making powerful, muscular reds.

The most significant outcrops of sand are northeast of the village, in the commune of Courthézon. This is where Château Rayas, Le Clos du Caillou, and Domaine Font de Courtedune are located. The sandy soils facilitate the wines of great finesse that have solidified these estates’ reputations.

A few kilometers east of the village is the other very large plateau of Villafranchian galets roulés, La Crau. Spreading over the meeting point of the three communes of Châteauneuf, Courthézon, and Bédarrides, it is an enviable terroir. There are few wineries of note built on these stones, but many leading estates have parcels here, including Domaine Henri Bonneau, Domaine de la Janasse, Domaine du Vieux Télégraphe, Domaine de la Mordorée, and Château La Nerthe. The best wines combine intensity, concentration, and refined tannins.

In Châteauneuf-du-Pape, rules around grape varieties are unusually lenient. Producers can use any combination of the following grapes for white or red wine (rosé is not permitted): Bourboulenc, Cinsault, Clairette, Clairette Rose, Counoise, Grenache Blanc, Grenache Gris, Grenache Noir, Mourvèdre, Muscardin, Picardan, Piquepoul Blanc, Piquepoul Gris, Piquepoul Noir, Roussanne, Syrah, Terret Noir, and Vaccarèse. Varietal wines from all these grapes are allowed. Grenache is by far the most widely planted red variety, followed by Syrah and Mourvèdre; Grenache Blanc is the most common white. Around 30 producers in the AOC use all the allowable varieties for their wines, with famous examples including Château de Beaucastel, Clos des Papes, Château Mont-Redon, and Château La Nerthe.

A century ago, the wines of Châteauneuf-du-Pape were commonly fermented and aged in large old oak foudres, but today concrete tanks are much more common for Grenache, as they are less expensive and easier to clean, reducing the risk of Brettanomyces. Stainless steel is used, too, but it’s less common. A benefit of concrete over stainless steel is that it holds heat better, so warming and cooling during fermentation are more gradual. Destemming is very traditional in the area, with examples of the practice dating to the 1860s. Today less than 10% of producers produce whole-cluster wines.

Châteauneuf-du-Pape, like so many other European regions, endured its so-called modern period in the 1990s and early 2000s, with new oak barriques gaining a brief following. They have fallen out of favor today, as new oak and Grenache are rarely an ideal combination—the natural sweetness of Grenache is embellished by sweet oak spice, which can produce confected wines. But barriques, new and recent, are still used for maturing Syrah, and to some extent Mourvèdre, as these grapes require contact with air during or after fermentation, or both, to mitigate the risk of reduction.

Special cuvées have been an important modern development for Châteauneuf-du-Pape. The first was Henri Bonneau’s Clos des Célestins (now Réserve des Célestins) in 1927, but the practice of bottling special cuvées grew in the period from the late 20^thto early 21^st centuries. These wines highlight old vines, specific varieties, and, for many producers, the significant use of new French oak. Famous examples are Beaucastel’s Hommage à Jacques Perrin, Domaine du Pégau’s Cuvée Da Capo, and Clos Saint-Jean’s Deus ex Machina.

Châteauneuf-du-Pape wines have an unusual ability to age in bottle. Most reds, even in average vintages, will last for 15 to 20 years, and the best wines in top vintages will last for well over 50 years. Whites can also age well, often developing highly complex aromas. Aging between 10 and 20 years is common. Because these wines can enter an oxidative phase between 5 and 10 years of age, it’s advisable to avoid drinking them in this window.

The Dentelles de Montmirail and vineyards in Gigondas (Credit: Christophe Grilhé for Inter Rhône)

Gigondas AOC

Planted hectares: 1,205
Hectoliters produced: 33,363
Average yield (hl/ha): 28
Volume by color: 98% red, 1% rosé, 1% white

Châteauneuf-du-Pape and Gigondas share a handful of grape varieties, but their terroirs are completely different. While Châteauneuf is spread across rolling countryside by the river, Gigondas covers the Dentelles de Montmirail, a small chain of mountains. The Dentelles are effectively the foothills of Mont Ventoux, the highest mountain in Provence. They sit above the Nîmes fault, whose action has caused some ancient soils to be pushed to the surface. Like stabbing a knife upward through a mille-feuille pastry, the once-horizontal layers of limestone and clay have been driven vertical. The peaks of the Dentelles are crowned with distinctive jagged white limestone teeth that point toward the sky.

The pretty village of Gigondas is perched on the western edge of the Dentelles massif. It faces northwest, affording morning shade to the vines. Only a small proportion of Gigondas’s vineyards are among these raw limestone peaks, with the highest at around 500 meters (1,640 feet) in elevation. These higher-elevation sites benefit from cooler temperatures.

Most vines are grown on the lower foothills and on the alluvial fan known as the Cône de la Font des Papes, which has ferried soil and rock down the mountain toward the Ouvèze River. These soils have more clay and marl, offering plentiful nutrients and providing moisture during the dry summer months. Another important soil type is sand, a band of which skirts around the base of the Dentelles, running through the appellations of Gigondas, Côtes du Rhône Villages Sablet, and Côtes du Rhône Villages Séguret.

Gigondas was the fourth cru established in the Southern Rhône, following Châteauneuf, Lirac, and Tavel. It was granted in 1971 after extended negotiation with the appellation authorities. Red wines, as well as the tiny amount of rosé produced, must be at least 50% Grenache and can be 100% Grenache. They may also include the following grape varieties: Bourboulenc, Cinsault, Clairette, Clairette Rose, Counoise, Grenache Blanc, Grenache Gris, Marsanne, Mourvèdre, Muscardin, Piquepoul Blanc, Piquepoul Noir, Roussanne, Syrah, Terret Noir, Ugni Blanc, Vaccarèse, and Viognier. In practice, after Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre are by far the most widely used grapes.

Whites must be 70% or more Clairette Blanche, and they may also contain Bourboulenc, Clairette Rose, Grenache Blanc, Grenache Gris, Marsanne, Piquepoul Blanc, Roussanne, Viognier, and Ugni Blanc. White Gigondas has been permitted only since the 2023 vintage, a sensible change in the appellation rules given the abundance of limestone and relative freshness of this spectacular terroir.

Beaumes-de-Venise AOC

Planted hectares: 729
Hectoliters produced: 22,238
Average yield (hl/ha): 31
Volume by color: 100% red

Muscat de Beaumes-de-Venise AOC

Planted hectares: 264
Hectoliters produced: 4,557
Average yield (hl/ha): 17
Volume by color: 2% red, 12% rosé, 86% white

Counterclockwise from Gigondas, around to the southern face of the Dentelles de Montmirail massif, is the picturesque village of Beaumes-de-Venise. It’s commonly associated with sweet Muscat and received the appellation for this style in 1945. Only much later, in 2005, did it receive an appellation for dry reds. These two styles are usually made in different parts of the appellation, however. Muscat is grown on the flat, hot, sandy soils of the commune of Aubignan, whereas the dry reds are produced at higher elevation on the clay-limestone slopes of the Dentelles.

Beaumes-de-Venise shares a hillside border with Gigondas, and their red wines have many similar characteristics. The rules of production are slightly different: red Beaumes-de-Venise wines must contain Grenache and Syrah, which together must constitute the largest component of the blend; they may also contain Bourboulenc, Carignan, Cinsault, Clairette, Clairette Rose, Counoise, Grenache Blanc, Grenache Gris, Marsanne, Muscardin, Piquepoul Blanc, Piquepoul Noir, Roussanne, Terret Noir, Ugni Blanc, Vaccarèse, and Viognier. Up to 10% of the blend can be white grapes.

Muscat de Beaumes-de-Venise is an ancient wine, mentioned by Pliny the Elder. It is a vin doux naturel, whose fermentation is stopped by mutage, or adding pure alcohol, leaving some natural grape sugars in the wine. The best producers make several passes through the vineyard to pick grapes at optimum ripeness, and the resulting juice must have a sugar content above 252 grams per liter before fermentation. The finished wine must contain at least 100 grams of residual sugar per liter and have a minimum ABV of 15%.

Muscat de Beaumes-de-Venise is made with Muscat à Petits Grains Blancs, and most is white. But thanks to this variety’s propensity to naturally mutate to the red-skinned Muscat à Petits Grains Noirs, rosé and red wines are also made. This is the only still, sweet wine made in any notable quantity in the Rhône Valley (Rasteau Vin Doux Naturel, Hermitage Vin de Paille, and sweet Condrieu are made in very small amounts).

Vacqueyras AOC

Planted hectares: 1,445
Hectoliters produced: 40,703
Average yield (hl/ha): 28
Volume by color: 93% red, 1% rosé, 6% white

Most of Vacqueyras AOC covers a vast, stony terrace known locally as the garrigues, with a small section of land at the base of the Dentelles de Montmirail that rises to 200 meters (660 feet). The terrace is the old riverbed of the Ouvèze River and lies at around 100 meters (330 feet) in elevation, and it’s made up of small, irregular galets roulés and red, black, and white clays and marls. It’s a hot terroir, open to the sun and swept by the mistral.

Winemaking here has been practiced for centuries, with the first written records dating to 1414. The name Vacqueyras comes from Vallis Quadreria, meaning “valley of stones.” Traditionally, the best area was the northern half of the garrigues, as the southern half can be very arid. At the very northern limit, the appellation shares a border with the Cône de la Font des Papes, which is home to some excellent wines and very good estates. There is a band of sand that runs around the edge of the appellation, which produces reds with finesse and some fantastic whites. Overall, the whites of Vacqueyras are among the best of the Southern Rhône. The region’s rosés are rarely as exciting.

Reds must be mostly Grenache and include Syrah or Mourvèdre, or both. They may also include the following accessory grapes: Bourboulenc, Carignan, Cinsault, Clairette, Clairette Rose, Counoise, Grenache Blanc, Grenache Gris, Marsanne, Muscardin, Piquepoul Noir, Roussanne, Terret Noir, Vaccarèse, and Viognier.

For rosés, the main grapes are Cinsault, Grenache, Mourvèdre, and Syrah; they can include the same accessory grapes as reds. Whites must contain at least two of the following: Bourboulenc, Clairette, Grenache Blanc, Marsanne, Roussanne, and Viognier.

Rasteau AOC (Dry Reds)

Planted hectares: 935
Hectoliters produced: 28,635
Average yield (hl/ha): 31
Volume by color: 100% red

Rasteau Vin Doux Naturel AOC (Sweet Wines)

Planted hectares: 19
Hectoliters produced: 551
Average yield (hl/ha): 29
Volume by color: 33% red, 66% rosé, 1% white

As in Beaumes-de-Venice, in Rasteau the appellation for sweet wine (established in 1944), predates the appellation for dry wine (established in 2010). But while Muscat de Beaumes-de-Venise is a wine with a tradition stretching back over two millennia, Rasteau Vin Doux Naturel is a more recent product.

The Ventabren massif is a wide hill of clay-limestone soils with outcrops of small pebbles. The vineyards of Cairanne occupy the western half of its south-facing slope; the vineyards of Rasteau cover the eastern half. At the foot of the slope is Côtes du Rhône Villages Plan de Dieu AOC, a vast, flat, low terrace of gravels that lies between the Aigues River and the Ouvèze River (both of which can appear more like streams in summer). Both Cairanne and Rasteau have annexed a section of this hot, stony terroir for themselves, giving them more-varied soil types and terrain.

Rasteau winemakers refer to this lower terroir (around 110 meters, or 360 feet) as Le Plan, and the concentrated grapes it produces are ideal for sweet wines, though some good dry wines are made, too. To the north of this section is the village of Rasteau and the surrounding blue and gray marls. Farther north, into the wooded montagne, vineyards sit at up to 350 meters (1,150 feet) in elevation. This part of the appellation is more suitable for producing dry wines.

The main red grape used for dry reds must be Grenache, and wines must also contain Syrah or Mourvèdre, or both. Other minor permitted grapes are Bourboulenc, Carignan, Cinsault, Clairette, Clairette Rose, Counoise, Grenache Blanc, Grenache Gris, Marsanne, Muscardin, Piquepoul Blanc, Piquepoul Noir, Roussanne, Terret Noir, Ugni Blanc, Vaccarèse, and Viognier. Stylistically, these wines are powerful and bold, with an intense fruit ripeness (sucrosité) and muscular but smooth tannic structure.

Rasteau Vin Doux Naturel was first developed in 1934 with the help of a winemaker from Rivesaltes, in Roussillon, an area with a long history of making sweet Grenache. Grapes are handpicked, and yields cannot surpass 30 hectoliters per hectare; the juice must reach a minimum natural sugar level of 252 grams per liter. Like all vins doux naturels (VDNs), the fermentation is stopped by adding pure grape spirit, leaving natural grape sweetness in the wine and raising the overall alcohol level to a minimum ABV of 15%.

Rasteau Vin Doux Naturel can be white, rosé, or red. Locally, the red version is referred to as grenat (garnet). Extended aging of any color brings additional categories into play. A white or rosé VDN with a further 30 months of oxidative aging is described as ambré, while the same style of red is called tuilé. Ambré and tuilé styles with a minimum of 60 months’ oxidative aging are called hors d’âge. Finally, rancio is an hors d’âge wine that has taken on a green tint and a nutty, maderized flavor.

For Rasteau Vin Doux Naturel, grapes from the Grenache family (Grenache Noir, Gris, and Blanc) must make up 90% of the blend. The minor permitted varieties are Bourboulenc, Carignan, Cinsault, Clairette, Clairette Rose, Counoise, Marsanne, Mourvèdre, Muscardin, Piquepoul Blanc, Piquepoul Noir, Roussanne, Syrah, Terret Noir, Ugni Blanc, Vaccarèse, and Viognier.

Cairanne AOC

Planted hectares: 889
Hectoliters produced: 26,776
Average yield (hl/ha): 30
Volume by color: 93% red, 7% white

The appellation of Cairanne covers the western half of the south-facing slope of the Ventabren massif. The terroir is similar to that of the neighboring Rasteau; soils are principally marls with outcrops of small pebbles. Also like Rasteau, there is a large section of the appellation on the flatland at the foot of the hill, known locally as the garrigues. This area is hotter, with deep, free-draining gravel soils with brown and red clay. The third main section of the appellation, known as the Terrasses de l’Aigues, lies on the other side of the Aigues River. As in Rasteau, the highest point is at 350 meters (1,150 feet), but the hillsides here are gentler.

Although this part of the Rhône has been home to overperforming estates for centuries, it was only granted its own appellation by the INAO in 2015, with approval by the EU in 2016. The appellation’s syndicat opted to include three rules of production in its cahier des charges that were pioneering at the time: to ban machine harvesting, set a tight limit on added sulfites, and restrict the use of herbicides.

Stylistically, a typical red or white Rasteau wine is fuller and more powerful, which is likely just as much (if not more) a result of winemaking as terroir. White wines are particularly reliable in Cairanne and tend to be less oak driven and gentler in style compared with those of Châteauneuf-du-Pape, for example.

Reds must contain 40% Grenache along with Syrah or Mourvèdre, or both. They may also contain Bourboulenc, Carignan, Cinsault, Clairette, Clairette Rose, Counoise, Grenache Blanc, Grenache Gris, Marsanne, Muscardin, Piquepoul Blanc, Piquepoul Noir, Roussanne, Terret Noir, Vaccarèse, and Viognier.

Whites must contain at least two of the following: Clairette, Grenache Blanc, and Roussanne (and at least 20% of any variety used). They may also contain Bourboulenc, Marsanne, Piquepoul Blanc, and Viognier, but no more than 10% of any one and no more than 30% of these additional varieties in total.

Vinsobres AOC

Planted hectares: 550
Hectoliters produced: 18,278
Average yield (hl/ha): 33
Volume by color: 100% red

Vinsobres was elevated from Côtes du Rhône Villages to its own appellation in 2006, but it remains relatively unsung. Perhaps people find its oxymoronic name confusing; it’s certainly not from a lack of good estates or quality wines. The appellation is for reds only, though producers are lobbying for the inclusion of whites.

Vinsobres shares a large massif (around four times the size of the Ventabren massif of Cairanne and Rasteau) with several other appellations, all Côtes du Rhône Villages with geographic designation: Visan, Valréas, and Saint-Maurice.

Vinsobres is on the far eastern side of this massif, close to the Lance Mountains, which mark the natural frontier of the Southern Rhône growing area. An air current whistles through a gap in the mountains here and follows the Aigues River, which runs along the foot of the largely south-facing slope where Vinsobres is located. This brings a freshening effect to the vines. The impact of elevation compounds this; vines are grown between 250 meters (820 feet) and 450 meters (1,480 feet) in elevation.

Grenache must be the largest component of the blend, and wines must contain Syrah or Mourvèdre, or both. Also permitted in the blend are Bourboulenc, Carignan, Cinsault, Clairette, Clairette Rose, Counoise, Grenache Blanc, Grenache Gris, Marsanne, Muscardin, Piquepoul Blanc, Piquepoul Noir, Roussanne, Terret Noir, Ugni Blanc, Vaccarèse, and Viognier. An unusually large proportion of Syrah is grown here; in 2024, 62% of red plantings were Grenache and 31% were Syrah.

The amount of Syrah used, alongside the influences of wind, elevation, and northerly latitude, results in a tense and structured style, with relatively high acidity and assertive tannins.

Tavel AOC

Planted hectares: 731
Hectoliters produced: 19,492
Average yield (hl/ha): 27
Volume by color: 100% rosé

In 1936, Tavel was established as one of the first five wine appellations of France (along with Arbois, Monbazillac, Cassis, and Châteauneuf-du-Pape), reflecting the esteem that these wines were held in at that time. While Le Roy gave the appellation to Châteauneuf-du-Pape for reds and whites, Tavel was restricted to making rosé. Today, it remains the only 100% rosé appellation in the Rhône Valley.

Tavel’s fortunes have waxed and waned over the centuries. Tavel was known for quality wine well before the popes arrived in Châteauneuf in the 14^th century. The first text mentioning its vines dates to 897 CE. But today Tavel struggles commercially. Its rosés are traditionally—and as stipulated in the cahier des charges—dark in color, in contrast with the pale rosé style now in vogue.

Located on the west bank of the Rhône River around the Malaven tributary, Tavel has a varied terroir, with sandy soils and limestone (known locally as lauzes). It also shares a large plateau of galets roulés with the neighboring Lirac.

While Grenache dominates, there is an unusually large amount of Cinsault here, at 21% of plantings, a higher proportion than in any other Rhône Valley appellation. Cinsault produces big berries with thin skins, typically making wines with a relatively pale color.

Tavel is a rosé of maceration. Grapes are cold-macerated for 12 to 48 hours before pressing, and then the press and free-run juices are fermented at low temperature, usually between 14 degrees Celsius (57 degrees Fahrenheit) and 18 degrees Celsius (64 degrees Fahrenheit). The wines are sometimes clarified by flotation, or sparging with nitrogen to make suspended particles rise to the top; malolactic fermentation is usually blocked; and the wines are typically filtered. The resulting wines are deep in color as well as flavor. Quality is variable. Some Tavel wines have confected red fruit flavors and lack interest. But the growth of a back-to-basics approach (here defined by organic farming, handpicking, semicarbonic maceration, and malolactic fermentation), spearheaded by Eric Pfifferling, who founded Domaine l’Anglore, is resulting in a new wave of exceptional wines of tension, minerality, and sublime drinkability.

Lirac AOC

Planted hectares: 852
Hectoliters produced: 17,182
Average yield (hl/ha): 20 (atypically low in 2024; usually approximately 30–35)
Volume by color: 82% red, 3% rosé, 15% white

Like Tavel, Lirac is located on the west bank, and it, too, has had mixed fortunes over the centuries. The appellation spans four communes: Lirac, Roquemaure, Saint-Geniès-de-Comolas, and Saint-Laurent-des-Arbres. In the Middle Ages, Roquemaure was a major port, and, by the 16^th century, Lirac wines were served in royal courts in France and beyond. But in 1862, a resident of Lirac received some vine cuttings from a friend who lived in the US. He planted them in his garden, unaware that, in their roots, they contained phylloxera, which had an enormously destructive impact on French vineyards.

Although Lirac is situated just over the river from Châteauneuf-du-Pape, it is shadier, more enclosed, and less carpeted with vines. It’s similarly diverse in soil types (sand, galets roulés, limestone) but with more forest, and it is bordered to the west by hills.

Lirac produces red, white, and rosé wines. For reds, most of the blend must come from Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre, and Cinsault. The following accessory varieties may be used but cannot make up more than 10% of the blend: Carignan, Clairette Rose, Counoise, Grenache Gris, Marsanne, Piquepoul Blanc, Piquepoul Noir, Roussanne, Ugni Blanc, and Viognier. Rules for rosés are the same as for reds, but the accessory varieties can contribute up to 20% of the blend.

For whites, most of the blend must be composed of Bourboulenc, Clairette, Grenache Blanc, and Roussanne. Marsanne, Piquepoul Blanc, Ugni Blanc, and Viognier can also be used.

While powerful reds and whites are produced in Lirac, the wines don’t tend to be quite as rich, full-bodied, and potent as those from the east bank.

Costières de Nîmes AOC

Planted hectares: 2,540
Hectoliters produced: 110,510
Average yield (hl/ha): 44
Volume by color: 42% red, 47% rosé, 11% white

Costières de Nîmes AOC and the remaining appellations in this guide are classic expressions of the Southern Rhône, though they do not sit within the Côtes du Rhône AOC growing area.

With some vineyards just 20 kilometers (12.5 miles) from the Mediterranean, Costières de Nîmes is the southernmost Rhône Valley appellation. The soils here are composed of vast banks of galets roulés brought by the Rhône and Durance Rivers. Despite its far southern location, this is not the hottest appellation in the Rhône Valley. Costières de Nîmes is close to the coast, and the sun heats up the pebbles during the day, which causes warm air to rise, drawing in cooler sea breezes and clouds in the afternoon that shelter the vines from the sun. This is one reason that Syrah is more widely planted here than Grenache. Another unusual characteristic of this appellation is that it makes more rosé than red or white.

Reds must be a blend of at least two varieties, including at least one of the principal varieties, Grenache, Mourvèdre, and Syrah. These varieties must make up at least 50% of the blend. Accessory varieties include Carignan, Cinsault, and Marselan. No more than 10% Marselan is permitted.

Rosés follow the same blending rules as reds. Whites must be a blend of at least two varieties and must include at least one of the principal varieties: Grenache Blanc, Marsanne, and Roussanne. Principal grape varieties must make up at least 60% of the blend. Whites may also contain Bourboulenc, Clairette, Macabeu, Rolle, and Viognier. No more than 20% Viognier is permitted.

In April 2025, five new VIFA varieties were selected for trial in the appellation. The two reds are Montepulciano and Morrastel (Graciano); the three white and pink varieties are Tourbat, Piquepoul Blanc, and Souvignier Gris. Vignerons can use these within the limit of 5% of their vineyard area and 10% of the final blend of any wine.

Clairette de Bellegarde AOC

Planted hectares: 9
Hectoliters produced: 436
Average yield (hl/ha): 46
Volume by color: 100% white

Bellegarde is one of the 24 communes in the growing area of Costières de Nîmes. In this rolling landscape of galets roulés, vignerons can choose to produce Clairette de Bellegarde AOC if they follow a different cahier des charges, which is reserved for dry still white wines made of 100% Clairette Blanche. Despite the relatively low acidity of the wines (malolactic fermentation is sometimes blocked), they can be surprisingly ageworthy.

Duché d’Uzès AOC

Planted hectares: 294
Hectoliters produced: 9,595
Average yield (hl/ha): 33
Volume by color: 55% red, 15% rosé, 30% white

Duché d’Uzès, established in 2013, covers a vast area: 77 communes, all on the west bank between the Cévennes Mountains and the Rhône River. The appellation is solely for the higher-elevation, clay-limestone terroirs within these communes. Only a small amount of wine is currently bottled under this AOC (much of what is grown in this area is bottled under one of the various possible IGPs).

For a young appellation, the rules around blending are quite restrictive. Reds must contain at least 40% Syrah and at least 20% Grenache; they may also contain Mourvèdre, Carignan, or Cinsault, or all three. The result is an aromatic style of Southern Rhône wine, tense and smoky.

Rosés must contain at least 20% Syrah and at least 50% Grenache; they may also contain Mourvèdre, Carignan, and Cinsault. Stylistically, they are between Tavel and Provence.

Whites must contain at least 40% Viognier and at least 30% Grenache Blanc, and they must also contain at least 20% Marsanne, Roussanne, and Rolle. Ugni Blanc and Clairette are also permitted. These wines show aromatic lift and freshness from the Viognier, tempered by Grenache Blanc’s aromatic neutrality.

All three colors can be very good. The appellation has yet to receive much market recognition, but it holds promise.

Côtes du Vivarais AOC

Planted hectares: 139
Hectoliters produced: 4,457
Average yield (hl/ha): 32
Volume by color: 60% red, 29% rosé, 11% white

Côtes du Vivarais is the northernmost Rhône Valley appellation on the west bank of the Southern Rhône, with most of its growing area in the Ardèche department, directly north of the Ardèche River (except for a small area south of the river in the Gard department). This large area of 14 communes was granted its appellation in 1999.

The wines were praised by the influential French agronomist Olivier de Serres in the late 16^th century. After phylloxera, however, the area was planted with large quantities of hybrid vines, which stunted its progress. Most of these plantings have since been ripped out and replaced with Vitis vinifera.

The defining characteristic of this part of the Rhône Valley is its limestone bedrock. Its solubility has resulted in a dramatic landscape of deep river gorges and huge cave networks. Given the calcareous soils, it’s surprising that more white wines aren’t produced here. Whites must contain at least 50% Grenache Blanc. Clairette and Marsanne combined must make up at least 30% of the blend, and Viognier and Roussanne must be no more than 10%.

Rosés are largely commercial in style. Grenache must constitute 60% to 80% of the blend, and the wines may also contain Syrah, Cinsault, or Marselan, or all three. For reds, Syrah must make up at least 40% of the blend and Grenache at least 30%; red wines may also contain Cinsault or Marselan, or both. These wines tend to be more tense and less generous compared with the reds of Vaucluse.

Grignan-les-Adhémar AOC

Planted hectares: 1,170
Hectoliters produced: 37,105
Average yield (hl/ha): 32
Volume by color: 73% red, 15% rosé, 12% white

Grignan-les-Adhémar is the northernmost appellation on the east bank of the Southern Rhône, stretching nearly as far north as Montélimar. Much of the vineyard area was established by pieds-noirs, a term for people of mainly French descent born in Algeria during the period of French colonization, who came to France in the 1960s following the Algerian War of Independence. The appellation was established in 1973 under the name Coteaux du Tricastin, and the name was changed in 2010 to avoid associations with the nearby Tricastin nuclear power plant.

Grignan-les-Adhémar is a large appellation covering 21 communes, and the terroir is varied. Toward the Rhône River are sandy clay and galets roulés; the northern part is hillier, featuring more clay-limestone content; and to the east, there is more sand and sandstone. Climatically, this area is a meeting point of continental, alpine, and Mediterranean influences. This diversity of terroir makes it difficult to discern a strong sense of place for the appellation’s wines.

Reds must contain a majority of Grenache and Syrah. They may also include Bourboulenc, Carignan, Cinsault, Clairette Blanche, Grenache Blanc, Marsanne, Marselan, Mourvèdre, Roussanne, and Viognier. White varieties may contribute up to 10% of the blend.

Rosés follow the same rules as reds, but white varieties may contribute up to 20% of the blend. Whites may include Bourboulenc, Clairette Blanche, Grenache Blanc, Marsanne, Roussanne, and Viognier. Bourboulenc and Clairette Blanche combined cannot make up more than 50% of the blend.

Ventoux AOC

Planted hectares: 5,442
Hectoliters produced: 211,691
Average yield (hl/ha): 39
Volume by color: 58% red, 33% rosé, 9% white

Reaching 1,912 meters (6,273 feet), Mont Ventoux is the highest mountain in Provence, visible from most of the vineyards of Vaucluse. Ventoux AOC, named after the mountain, covers 51 communes. Most are west of the mountain, and there’s a separate section to its south. Although the vineyards scale the mountain and its foothills, many are planted on the flatter plains below.

Naturally, the terroir is varied. On the hillsides, there is more limestone and marl, with colluvial limestone gravels farther down, and more sand and alluvial deposits on the flat portions. Vineyards rise to 500 meters (1,640 feet), and, as they do, the air temperature drops, helping conserve freshness and acidity. The mistral’s impact is significant on the slopes. Even areas at the foot of the mountain benefit from the mountain’s influence, as cool air descends at night, helping retain freshness and aromas in the grapes.

Ventoux AOC produces 10% of all AOC wine made in the Rhône Valley. Given this size, generalizations are difficult, as the range of styles and quality levels is large. Until the early 2000s, Ventoux had a reputation for thin, acidic reds, but there has been a revolution since then, partly thanks to global warming and partly thanks to an influx of talented winemakers from elsewhere. Today, the most gifted winemakers working the best terroirs (most notably those in the more northerly communes) make wines that rival good bottlings from Vacqueyras and Gigondas—and often at lower prices.

Both reds and rosés must be a blend of at least two of the principal varieties: Carignan, Cinsault, Grenache, Mourvèdre, and Syrah. The wines may also contain a maximum of 20% Bourboulenc, Clairette, Counoise, Grenache Blanc, Marsanne, Marselan, Piquepoul Noir, Roussanne, Rolle, and Viognier.

White wines must also be a blend of at least two of the principal varieties, the majority of which must come from Bourboulenc, Clairette, Grenache Blanc, or Roussanne. They may also contain Marsanne, Rolle, and Viognier.

Luberon AOC

Planted hectares: 3,021
Hectoliters produced: 118,210
Average yield (hl/ha): 39
Volume by color: 26% red, 46% rosé, 28% white

Luberon AOC is another very large appellation impacted by nearby mountains. Here, the Luberon mountain range is the main influence on the wines. This chain is 60 kilometers (37 miles) long and runs roughly west to east, rising to 1,125 meters (3,690 feet) at its highest point. This creates two growing areas. One section is between the north-facing slope of the mountain and the Calavon River. The larger, southern section is between the south-facing slope of the mountain and the Durance River. Although the appellation is warm and sunny, the two rivers act as channels for cool air that flows from the mountains to the east. Vineyards are situated between 200 meters (660 feet) and 500 meters (1,640 feet) in elevation.

It’s a picturesque area, located within the Luberon Regional Nature Park and dotted with ancient, unspoiled villages. Soils are mostly clay-limestone, with deep gravels at the foot of the mountain range, and outcrops of sand and sandstone.

Although viticulture here dates to Roman times, the influx of private estates is relatively new, with the first ones appearing in the 1980s. Today, production is still heavily dominated by cooperatives.

In 2024, 88% of plantings of red varieties were Grenache and Syrah, with just 1% more Syrah than Grenache. Luberon reds must be a blend, the majority of which must come from at least two of the following three grapes: Grenache, Mourvèdre, or Syrah. They may also contain Bourboulenc, Carignan, Cinsault, Clairette, Grenache Blanc, Marsanne, Marselan, Roussanne, Ugni Blanc, Rolle, or Viognier. Production is mostly rosé, however, in a pale, Provençal style. The blending rules for rosé are the same as those for reds.

Whites are arguably the Luberon’s strength, with many white wines here rivaling those from more famous crus. This is thanks to winemakers embracing Rolle, which produces fresh and zesty wines. Luberon whites must also be a blend, the majority of which must come from at least two of the following varieties: Bourboulenc, Clairette, Grenache Blanc, Marsanne, Roussanne, or Rolle. They may also contain Ugni Blanc and Viognier.

Compiled by Matt Walls (May 2026)

Edited by Stacy Ladenburger

Bibliography

Bailly, Robert. Histoire de la vigne et des grands vins des Côtes du Rhône. Orta, 1978.

Dion, Roger. Histoire de la vigne et du vin en France des origines au XIXe siècle. CNRS Editions, 2010.

Dovaz, Michel. Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Jacques Legrand, 1992.

The Encyclopedia of Côtes du Rhône and Rhône Valley AOC Wines. Inter Rhône, 2019. https://www.vins-rhone.com/sites/vignoble/files/documentation/2026-04/INTER-RHONE-ENCYCLOPEDIE-2026-EN-BAT_0.pdf.

Fanet, Jacques. Les Terroirs du vin. Hachette, 2001.

Johnson, Hugh, and Jancis Robinson. The World Atlas of Wine. 6th ed. Mitchell Beazley, 2007.

Karis, Harry. The Châteauneuf-du-Pape Wine Book. Kavino, 2009.

Key Figures 2024. Inter Rhône, 2025. https://www.vins-rhone.com/sites/vignoble/files/documentation/2025-04/INTER-RHONE-CHIFFRES-CLES-2025-EN-BAT.pdf.

Livingstone-Learmonth, John. Gigondas: Its Wines, Its Land, Its People. Les Éditions du Bottin Gourmand, 2012.

Livingstone-Learmonth, John. The Wines of the Rhône. 3rd ed. Faber & Faber, 1992.

Maltman, Alex. Taste the Limestone, Smell the Slate: A Geologist Wanders through the World of Wine. Académie du Vin Library, 2025.

Maltman, Alex. Vineyards, Rocks, and Soils: The Wine Lover’s Guide to Geology. Oxford University Press, 2018.

Portes, Jean-Claude. Châteauneuf-du-Pape, première AOC de France. Châteauneuf-du-Pape: Organisme de défense et de gestion de l’AOC Châteauneuf-du-Pape, 2016.

Robinson, Jancis. The Oxford Companion to Wine. 4th ed. Oxford University Press, 2015.

Robinson, Jancis, Julia Harding, and José Vouillamoz. Wine Grapes. Allen Lane, 2012.

Truc, Georges. Châteauneuf-du-Pape: Histoire Géologique et Naissance des Terroirs. Syndicat des vignerons de l’appellation d’origine Châteauneuf-du-Pape, 2023.

Walls, Matt. Wines of the Rhône. Infinite Ideas, 2021.

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Rhône Valley

GuildSomm Admin — Tue, 28 Jul 2026 15:15:51 GMT

Revision 68 posted to Expert Guides by GuildSomm Admin on 7/28/2026 3:15:51 PM

History of the Rhône Valley
Rhône Valley Wine in Context
Land and Climate
Rhône Valley Wine Law
The Grapes of the Rhône Valley
Northern Rhône
Southern Rhône
Bibliography

The Rhône Valley has a very long history of viticulture and today produces some of the most characterful and impressive red, white, and rosé wines in the world.

History of the Rhône Valley

In 476 CE, the last emperor of the Western Roman Empire was deposed. Grapes continued to be cultivated, though documentary evidence until the Middle Ages is scarce.

Both world wars had huge impacts on the wines of France. Many wine professionals lost their lives. Some vineyards abandoned in the aftermath are being rediscovered only today.

Barrels in a Rhône cellar (Credit: Jeff Habourdin for Inter Rhône)

Rhône Valley Wine in Context

Credit: Inter Rhône

The top five export markets by volume for Rhône Valley AOC wine in 2024 were Belgium (19%), the UK (16%), the US (13%), Canada (10%), and Germany (8%).

Land and Climate

Geology and Topography of the Northern Rhône

Geology and Topography of the Southern Rhône

Climate of the Rhône Valley

The climates of the Northern Rhône and the Southern Rhône are very different. Côte-Rôtie is equidistant from Châteauneuf-du-Pape and Beaune, and its climate lies between the two.

Rhône Valley Wine Law

Vin de France

Indication Géographique Protégée

The following IGPs can be used by some Rhône Valley estates.

Regional IGPs

Méditerranée IGP, including the territorial references Comté de Grignan and Coteaux de Montélimar
Comtés Rhodaniens IGP

Departmental IGPs

Gard IGP
Ardèche IGP, including the territorial reference Coteaux de l’Ardèche
Vaucluse IGP, including the territorial references Principauté d’Orange and Aigues
Drôme IGP, including the territorial references Comté de Grignan and Coteaux de Montélimar

Zonal IGPs

Coteaux des Baronnies IGP
Cévennes IGP
Coteaux du Pont du Gard IGP
Collines Rhodaniennes IGP

Côtes du Rhône AOC

Planted hectares: 28,462
Hectoliters produced: 974,144
Average yield (hl/ha): 34
Volume by color: 83% red, 9% rosé, 8% white

All figures are 2024 unless otherwise noted.

Permitted grape varieties for red and rosé wines:

Principal varieties: Grenache, Mourvèdre, Syrah
Accessory varieties: Bourboulenc, Caladoc, Carignan, Cinsault, Clairette, Clairette Rose, Counoise, Couston, Grenache Blanc, Grenache Gris, Marsanne, Marselan, Muscardin, Piquepoul Blanc, Piquepoul Noir, Roussanne, Terret Noir, Ugni Blanc, Vaccarèse, Viognier
VIFA varieties: Carignan Blanc, Floréal, Rolle, Vidoc

Permitted grape varieties for white wines:

Principal varieties: Bourboulenc, Clairette, Grenache Blanc, Marsanne, Roussanne, Viognier
Accessory varieties: Piquepoul Blanc, Ugni Blanc
VIFA varieties: Carignan Blanc, Floréal, Rolle

Whites must contain mostly principal varieties, with VIFA varieties composing no more than 10% of the blend.

Côtes du Rhône Villages AOC without Geographic Name

Planted hectares: 2,672
Hectoliters produced: 82,740
Average yield (hl/ha): 31
Volume by color: 96% red, 1% rosé, 3% white

The next level up in the appellation pyramid is Côtes du Rhône Villages AOC, which may be used by 95 of the 172 communes allowed by Côtes du Rhône AOC. All of them are in the Southern Rhône.

Côtes du Rhône Villages AOC with Geographic Name

Planted hectares: 5,335
Hectoliters produced: 165,258
Average yield (hl/ha): 31
Volume by color: 96% red, 1% rosé, 3% white

Most named villages are permitted to make wine in all three colors, though the tendency more recently has been to restrict color variations to those considered most traditional or typical.

The list below contains all current named villages. If colors are restricted, this is noted in parentheses.

Chusclan (red and rosé)
Gadagne (red)
Massif d’Uchaux (red)
Nyons (red)
Plan de Dieu (red)
Puyméras (red)
Roaix
Rochegude
Rousset-les-Vignes
Sablet
Saint-Andéol (red)
Saint-Gervais
Saint-Maurice
Saint-Pantaléon-les-Vignes
Sainte-Cécile (red)
Séguret
Signargues (red)
Suze-la-Rousse (red)
Vaison-la-Romaine (red)
Valréas
Visan