Chile

Ten years ago, the wines of Chile were barely known on this side of the Atlantic but during the1990's Chile very quickly established itself as one of the best sources of good value tasty wines. Much of the key to Chile's success is due to the simplicity of their approach; sticking mostly with established varietal styles such as meaty, blackcurrant flavoured Cabernet Sauvignon, crisp fresh tasting Sauvignon Blancs, soft fleshy Merlots and creamy, fruity Chardonnays.

Chile is often called a paradise for vines. The warm dry temperate climate means disease is rare and melting snow from the Andes provides limitless irrigation waters. Grapes ripen consistently from year to year so vintages barely matter. Also Chile was spared the phylloxera aphid which devastated much of the world's vineyards late last century so grafting is unnecessary allowing vines to stay productive for up to 100 years.

Winemakers are free to blend with grapes from other regions, and although regional character is increasingly focused on, this tends to be for the premium wines.

Winegrowing began in Chile early in the 16th century. Cortes gave the gruesome order that Spanish colonists should plant 1,000 vines for 100 dead Indians. In 1578 the pirate Drake captured a Spanish ship carrying 1,700 wine-skins from Chile to Lima in Peru.

Modern winemaking began in the 1850s after Chile won independence from Spain, with the import of French vignerons and vinestocks by the (largely Basque) landowners around Santiago. Many of the estates were modelled after Bordeaux Chateaus and it was mostly Bordeaux grapes such as Cabernet, Merlot and Sauvignon that were planted.

In such temperate conditions and with fertile soil and easy access to water vine growing almost couldn't be easier. Also as grafting is unnecessary winemakers simply have to stick canes of the desired vines in the ground at two metre intervals. Within a year they are growing happily as new vines, and within three years are bearing their first grapes.

The Chilean wine industry grew rapidly but political difficulties late this century, particularly following the death of Allende, meant that it was not until the late1980's that the country received the injection of capital and expertise that it needed. In the 1990's this modernisation has moved in leaps and bounds and some of the cleanest freshest wines around are coming from Chile.

Chilean wines tend to resemble a European style rather than the power of the New World. The emphasis is on fruit, but with subtleties evident that other fruit-driven styles, from California to Australia, often lack. Traditionally Chile produced blockbuster Cabernets but the new found success has reined this in, and supple, medium-bodied early drinking wines now predominate.

The bulk of the vineyards are still to be found in the long broad Central Valley around Santiago, watered by the River Maipo and the more recently planted ones around Curico. Although on the same latitude as Beirut the relatively cool climate (from the glaciers of the Andes on one hand and from the Humbolt Current on the other) mean that grapes such as Pinot Noir and Sauvignon Blanc can also be grown successfully.

A recent development is the increase in premium bottlings coming onto the market such as Santa Rita's Casa Real and a number of boutique wineries opening. Chile must however be careful not to allow its success to go to its head and ensure that over cropping to increase profits does not occur. Many other countries in the region have kept a close eye on Chile and would love to take its place.

Italy

Since ancient times Italy has been known as a great wine-producing nation. The Greeks called it Oenotria - "land of the vine" - and to this day each of Italy's twenty regions is a producer.

In fact Italy vies each year with France to be the world's largest producer. However it still struggles to shake off the image of the cheap and cheerful (or nasty), and the fact that Italy is a producer of some superlative wines probably comes as a shock to many wine lovers.

Promiscuous Culture

The very ubiquitous nature of vines and wines in Italian life has been it's strength and it's weakness. To most Italians wine is of no more significance to the man in the street than tea is here. While France has spent centuries challenging, investigating, recording and perfecting her vineyards - and selling to a demanding world market - the Italians, by contrast, have carried on harvesting, fermenting and enjoying their God given fruits without too many questions.

Today, for example, Barolo is recognised as a world class wine, but up until the 1950's it's vines shared their soil with rows of wheat. Promiscuous culture, as it is called, persists even today in parts of Italy, with vines trained in between trees.

Everyday Success

Following the war the Italians reorganised and set their sights on world markets. Sadly they aimed low, at the bulk everyday market, although it has to be said that in this market they did achieve immense success. Consumers all around the world are familiar with Chianti in flasks and Soave and Lambrusco in big screwcap bottles.

In the early 1950's, as part of this export drive, they introduced their answer to the French A.C. system, known as D.O.C. or Denominazione do Origine. This sounds fine in theory but in practice it fossilised and enshrined in law the existing bad practices which had encouraged quantity over quality.

Dull but high yielding varieties like Trebianno prospered. Chianti producers even had to include not less than 10% of white grapes in their blends. They could also adulterate - sorry, correct - with 15% of wine or more from another zone.

Absurd Laws

As time went on, quality conscious producers realised that this was a rut from which they needed to escape. They turned the law on it's head and bottled their top wines as Vino da Tavolas to circumvent the confines of absurd laws. The Tuscan pair Sassicaia and Tignanello are probably the most famous examples of this.

To address this bizarre situation, the Italian wine authorities recently introduced a new ladder of quality. At the top is DOCG, a more stringent guaranteed DOC with lower yields and tasting panels. Below this is a new category IGT (Indicazione Geographica Tipica), the equivalent of the French Vin de Pays.

Finally there is Vino da Tavola, which presently allows no reference to place or grape variety on the label. In order to include them in the system, the most famous estates that previously sold VdT's are being allowed to virtually write their own formulas for their own DOC's.

The authorities are working towards a situation where quality is the main criterion for each level of designation, not marketing expediency, making the classifications more meaningful for the consumer.

Rising Standards

What of the wines themselves? Well, standards are rising. The Northeast is a hotbed of activity, particularly Veneto, Alto Adige and Friuli. New varieties, blends and techniques are being experimented with continually. Even old favourites like Soave are being improved by quality conscious producers like Lamberti.

Elsewhere ancient varieties such as Piemonte's Arneis and Camaniia's Falanghina are being revived to good effect. In general, overtly aromatic wines are for some reason regarded with suspicion in Italy. The whites tend to be soundly made, but often tend towards the neutral, and lack character.

The reverse, however, is true for the reds. The character in a great many reds is a flavour of bitter cherries, whatever the provenance or variety. Allied to this, northern Italian reds are usually high in acids and tannins, peaking in Barolo, whilst their Southern cousins are slightly fuller and softer, if a touch rustic.

Exciting Times

With reds too there is much experimentation throughout the country. Harsh edges are being tamed, fruit accentuated as in Col di Sasso, and country cousins in the south are becoming more refined. Even so, most of the reds are best consumed, as the Italians do, at the table with food.

These are exciting times for italian wines. Paid up members of the ABC club could do a lot worse than head for the Italian shelves at their local wine shop. ABC? That's the Anything But Cabernet (or Chardonnay) club.

New Zealand

In 1984 I was working in a wine bar in central London owned by a New Zealander, who was justly proud of the quality of his country's wines. One evening an overweight striped shirt and braces city type ordered a bottle of his usual Sancerre. As a fan of the Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc on our list, I proposed he try that instead, as an interesting and high quality alternative. He snorted and sneered, uttered an unrepeatable oath and demanded his Sancerre. I sheepishly obliged. It wouldn't happen today. In the intervening decade and a half or so Marlborough, at the Northern tip of the South Island, has become recognised by many authoritative observers as home to the finest Sauvignon Blancs in the world.

New Zealand may appeared to have burst onto the scene in recent years, but wine has been made their since 1835. That honour fell to Briton James Busby, who also did so much to found the Australian industry. The industry has been on a roller coaster ride of highs and lows ever since. Nature has played its role with attacks of pylloxera and mildew but government policy has often had an even stronger impact.

The ravages caused by the phylloxera aphid at the turn of the century saw much replanting with poor American hybrid varieties, rather than the more commonplace grafting of quality varieties onto resistant rootstocks. In the 60s the government sought guidance and advice and unfortunately went to eminent German Helmut Becker who advised them to plant Muller Thurgau. To this day they probably produce the world's finest Muller Thurgau, but nobody is interested. As recently as 1986 a government sponsored vine pull saw a quarter of vineyards uprooted and they weren't all hybrids or Muller Thurgau. Today they are rushing to replant in better sites with noble varieties.

New Zealand's government and general social structures have made life difficult for wine-makers too. The temperance movement has been strong throughout this century with the country voting for total prohibition in 1919. Licenses have always been restricted. The first licence at a sports club wasn't granted until 1980 and the last 'dry' areas weren't abolished until 1990.

Peaks have included a boom from 1890 - 1910, when Hawkes Bay reds became quite renowned. The first government viticulturist, Romeo Bragato, was at least partly responsible for this. More recently a successor of his, Dr Richard Smart, has been at the core of improvements in quality. His work on canopy management techniques, since discovering that too dense a leaf canopy produces unripe herbaceous flavoured fruit, has transformed many weedy vegetal tasting wines into ripe classics within a single vintage.

Today the star turn is unquestionably Sauvignon Blanc from Marlborough, an area that wasn't even planted until 1973. The style is iconoclastic, brash with a collection of flavours never seen before in a wine. Ripe gooseberries, passion fruit, lime, asparagus, peapods and capsicum can often be encountered. You may not like it, but then trend setters rarely have universal appeal. Detractors often airily dismiss the exotic cocktail of flavours found with the memorable phrase “Cat's pee on a gooseberry bush” Which side are you on? Try a bottle of the benchmark Hunter's Sauvignon Blanc and decide for yourself.

Although Sauvignon has caught the eye there is plenty more besides. Marlborough actually has twice as many plantings of Chardonnay as Sauvignon. At its best, it can be like a ripe Chablis. Rich and fruity with a backbone of steely acidity. Riesling also thrives here too. Fans of Riesling may find ripe dry lime scented wines and occasional luscious sweeties.

Further south around Canterbury and further south still around Otago, in the heart of the skiing region, brave pioneers are breaking new ground. The climate here is cool, too cool some of the text books say and yet the capricious Pinot Noir, lover of coolish climates is starting to produce exciting wines. Pinot Noir also thrives around the town of Martinborough at the southern tip of the North Island. This is my varietal tip for the future.

The wine industry was originally based on the North Island, naturally enough, near the population centres. Hot humid Auckland still has a thriving industry, being successful with both Cabernet and Chardonnay. Heading east one comes to Gisborne. A revamped industry here is starting to attract moniker's such as 'New Zealand's Chardonnay capital'. Time will tell.

Hawkes Bay, the next bay South, is unquestionably the Cabernet Capital. Warm temperatures, piercing ultra violet light, gravel beds and underground springs mean that they are planting red grapes as fast as they can to make wines to rival Bordeaux. Don't bet that they won't be a match, tastings so far are impressive and can only improve.

The future then for New Zealand wine is exciting and this infant industry has already achieved something with Sauvignon Blanc that other New World rivals have not. They have a unique new classic that the world want's to copy.

Back in London, our friend in the striped shirt is probably pouring a Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc at his dinner parties these days and claiming that he's known all about New Zealand wines for years.

South Africa

Considered New World but strictly speaking part of the old world, South Africa has been making wine since the 17th Century. Long before wines such as Chateau Lafite had made their name South African muscat based dessert wines of Constantia were commanding huge prices throughout Europe, rivalled only by Tokaji - then the most expensive and exclusive wine available.

Late in this century when Southern Hemisphere wines of Australia, New Zealand and Chile were beginning to win over the palates of Europe with their upfront fruity styles, the wines of South Africa were still fairly much unfamiliar due to the political isolation of the country and consequent economic sanctions. When the wines did begin to appear they seemed old fashioned and from a different era, lacking much of what we had come to expect from warm climate wines. This was partly due to the isolation of the country but also due to the growers body KWV founded in 1918 that could fix quotas and prices and favoured bulk producers over private wineries.

From 1992 onwards KWV began to relax its rules and allowed the quality conscious wine makers more scope, however the vast majority of grape production is still focused on quantity rather than quality with much of it destined for grape spirit and grape concentrate production. As quality once again became a focus in the 1980's this coincided with a drop in local consumption so with the dropping of sanctions quality producers began to look more intently at their wine's export potential.

Oak ageing began to increase as did plantings on cooler vineyard sites. Constantia was re-discovered and re-planted and "international" varieties such as Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay began to be planted creating more modern styles replacing the tough old traditional blends of old and replacing the bulk producing Cinsualt and Chenin Blanc. Chenin Blanc still makes up almost one third of all land under vine and produces wines at all levels from dry to sweet, from boxed wine to expensive exclusive bottlings.

Since the lifting of sanctions and throughout the 1990's South Africa has been sprinting to catch up with its New World counterparts and as more quality wines have appeared so has marketing expertise increased and South Africa now produces quality wines to rival much of the best that is offered by Australia and New Zealand (if still not quite in the same quantities).

The vineyards outside Capetown are probably the most visually stunning in the world nestling as they do in the shadow of Table mountain. Climate ranges from searing hot vineyards saved by cool Atlantic breezes to areas such as the southerly Walker Bay region which is much cooler and where companies such as Hamilton Russell produce excellent cool climate wines using Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.

Stellenbosch and Paarl are probably the two best known regions and both produce wines of quality as well as inexpensive bulk wines for local consumption (mostly by whites as the black population still drinks mostly beer).

As would be expected the varities of viticulture vary as much as the quality varies with bulk producers operating completely different styles of growing to the quality oriented producers. Clonal selection, close planting, organic pest control methods, French oak barriques and even the addition of large quantities of lime (to increase the ph levels in the country's notoriously acidic soils) have all helped improve quality over the past couple of decades with South Africa now producing quality dry, sweet and sparkling whites and complex, flavourful reds at most price levels.

White varieties make up 85% of all vines with Chenin Blanc dominating but also quantities of Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay and Muscat among the other varieties grown. Reds are dominated at the quality end by Cabernet Sauvignon and other Bordeaux varieties such as Merlot. Syrah makes up around 5% and is one to watch out for and local variety Pinotage (a crossing of Pinot Noir and the lowly Cinsault) makes up around 3.5%. South Africa has recently begun to take great pride in its Pinotage and in 1996 it was the most widely planted new red grape variety. The future for South Africa's wines is looking good and they now compete more or less equally with the wines of Australia and Chile on Irish shelves.