Looking at Old World vs New World wines

IN THE wine world, there is an almost unwritten dichotomy. On one end, we have the Old World wines, and on the other end, the New World wines. Old World refers to countries which were into serious wine production for centuries and centuries already (yup, even during the time BC as history would say).
The first vintners were said to be the Phoenicians and the Greeks. The Phoenicians’ influence in Europe included the triumvirate of what is modern day Italy, France, and Spain — the countries at the forefront of some of the oldest and most traditional wine production. Other Old World wine countries include Germany, Portugal, Austria, and Hungary. A lot of pride and legacy already exist in these wines, and their vineyards and wine regions are already old and tested.
New World, on the other hand, refers to wine-producing countries that have only been into serious wine production in the last century or less. While there were already wines produced in these “new world” countries way back in the past, these wines were more for small domestic consumption and of lesser quality. South Africa, for one, has a wine history dating back to the 17^th century when Cape Town founder Jan van Riebeeck, a Dutch colonial administrator, reportedly bottled the first wines from this country as early as 1659. Another example is the United States — it was only after the repeal of Prohibition in 1933 that the Americans started planting more vines and improved their winemaking. Now, the US is solidly the 4^th largest wine producing country, just behind Italy, France, and Spain. Aside from South Africa and the United States (around 90% of its wine is still from California), other New World wine countries are Australia, New Zealand, South American countries of Chile and Argentina, and even China — which is growing exponentially in terms of vine planting.
Much more than the historical difference in length of serious wine production between the two divisions, there are other general differences between what is Old World wine, and what is New World wine. Below are some of the more salient ones from my point of view:
• The concept of “terroir”: The Old World makes wine from what in French is known as terroir — a difficult word to get an exact English translation for, because it refers to the land, soil, temperature, altitude, coastal influence, growing conditions — all rolled into one. The terroir is different from one region to another, even if similar grape varietals are used. It basically means that every centigrade difference in temperature, every variation in soil composition, rain drops, and other details can alter the quality of grapes, and thus, its finished product — the wine. Terroir cannot be manufactured nor disguised and takes the form of what nature gives to a particular region at a particular vintage year. On the other hand, irrigation systems in support of natural rain, soil transfer, re-cultivation, and other scientific modern methods are used in the New World to create the most ideal vine growing conditions — no longer terroir or “natural” in its purest sense. Vintage is therefore super important when it comes to Old World wine regions.
• Winemaker: Note that there may not even be a term “winemaker” in Europe. The closest term to a winemaker in Europe is a “vigneron” or “viticulteur” — terms that refer more to vineyards than the process of turning grapes into wines. This is because the Old World believes that wine is made by the vineyards, not by winemakers who intervene in the process. On the other hand, winemakers are major influences in the New World. And it makes perfect sense. To overcome the tradition of its Old World counterparts, the New World needed modern winemaking skills to offset whatever inherent advantages the Old World has. Winemakers have within their powers to adjust the wine mix as they see fit. Methods like chaptalization (adding of grape sugar) and acidification (adding of tartaric acid) are pretty much within the manipulative scope of a New World winemaker. Winemakers can salvage a grape harvest from vineyards in bad vintages, and impose their wine style on the finished product. While Old World wine is “made by the vineyards,” New World wine is made after the grapes are harvested from the vineyards, and is “made by winemakers.” It also does follow that 1^st growth Chateau Margaux in the Margaux AOC subregion of Bordeaux France will still be very much an amazing wine, even if the vigneron/wine-maker of the estate leaves for another Chateau, as the terroir will remain superior to others, and their wines will continue to be patronized at the highest price levels. On the other hand, a New World winemaker may leave a winery in Napa California, for example, and take with him his award-winning style of winemaking, and show up in Sonoma to create another masterpiece in this neighboring Californian wine region. That is why New World winemakers are highly paid, because of their craftmanship, winemaking skills, and ability to create from given raw materials (vineyards in particular).
• Highly Regulated: In the Old World, there are more governing laws or rules to comply with, including, those on demarcated vineyard area, allowed grape varietals, harvesting, production yields, winemaking methods, and wine labeling. These are monitored by the Regulatory Council of the different wine regions. For example, when it comes to varietal composition, in Bordeaux only the following five grape varietals are allowed in their red wine: cabernet sauvignon, merlot, cabernet franc, malbec, and petit verdot — though malbec is already almost obsolete now. In Rioja Spain, only the native grapes tempranillo, garnacha, mazuelo, and graciano are allowed in making a red Rioja wine, and so on in many Old World wine regions. This same dictated varietal limitation is not applicable in the New World. In fact, pinot noir grapes can be planted side by side with syrah and cabernet sauvignon in Chile, Argentina, or any New World vineyard, and wines can be made from any of these grapes, blended or single varietal at any vintage. This is the case because Old World wines have so much legacy and history (given centuries of existence), and no longer experiment on which varietal grows on which terroir, unlike the New World, where you still hear about wineries uprooting certain varietals in exchange of others in order to find the right varietal fit for the vineyards.
• Classification by Region — or what we term appellation: This is the Old World way of classification. It is called Appellation Origine Controlee (AOC) in France, Denominazione di Origine Controllata (DOC) in Italy, Denominacion de Origen (DO) in Spain, etc. These are all collectively part of the European Union (EU) general categorization of wine called Quality Wines Produced in a Specific Region (or QWPSR ). Amongst the more popular regions are Bordeaux, Champagne, and Bourgogne from France; Chianti, Asti, and Barolo from Italy; Rioja, Cava, and Sherry from Spain; Oporto from Portugal; and Rhine from Germany. In the New World, there are also regional names, similar to the American Viticultural Area (AVA) in the US, or the Geographic Indication (GI) in Australia, but the stage of regional classification in the New World is very much at its infancy, relatively speaking, and it would still take a while before these New World regions command the same quality statement their Old World counterparts manifest by mere regional name alone.
• Classification by Varietal: This is the New World way of classification. Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Merlot, Syrah or Shiraz, Zinfandel, Sauvignon Blanc are just some of the most common varietals we see in wine labels. Varietals are a natural way of labeling wine when the New World has not much heritage to start with. Imagine, a wine that simply says Napa, Sonoma, or Barossa — these wines won’t be commercially viable given that Napa means nothing without a varietal. Unlike, say, an Old World region such as Barolo. Barolo is a long established Italian DOCG Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita, and people in the know would associate it with the grape varietal nebbiolo — the only allowed grape varietal under legislation in this wine region in Piedmont. On the other hand, varietal names make it viable for New World wine consumers to know what to expect inside the wine bottle.
The author is now a proud new member of UK-based Circle of Wine Writers. For comments, inquiries, wine event coverage, and other wine-related concerns, e-mail the author at protegeinc@yahoo.com. He is also on Twitter at twitter.com/sherwinlao.