Champagne and sparkling wines
History: Trapped CO2 was originally a fault. Champagne was a still wine region until the 18th century. In 1941, the “Comité Interprofessionnel du Vin de Champagne” was founded. The CIVC is a decision structure that defines the policies applicable to both growers and Houses alike, notably: Organization and transparency of relations, quality control and protection and [...]
South Africa
History First serious vine plantings in the New World by Jan Van Riebeek in 1650’s. The first wine made from Cape grapes was in 1659. 200 French Protestant (known as the Huguenots) refugees brought wine making expertise to the Cape after loosing their french citizenship because of their religion. After phylloxera – South Africa sees massive re-plantings [...]
United States : California
History The Franciscan missionaries planted the first vinifera around 1770, and the Franciscan Mission grape was the most important for next 80 years. Following the Gold Rush of 1849, the vineyards (and population) expanded rapidly. In the 1960s and 1970s, thanks to wineries such as Robert Mondavi, Stag’s Leap and Ridge Vineyards, the world starts to [...]
Austria
History Austria has a long history of winemaking dating back to the Celts 3000 years ago. The most significant episode in modern history was the 1985 “anti-freeze” scandal. That year, a few of the 40,000 wine producers used diethylene glycol to sweeten their wines artificially. The world media, always out for a good story, claimed that [...]
Germany
History During the early part of the 19th century the Rhineland came under the control of Napoleon and lead to a similar pattern of fragmented vineyard ownership that exists in Burgundy. Two World Wars caused strain on German economy and reduced export markets. Wine law of 1930 -Forbid blending of red and white and of foreign and domestic [...]
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Decanter- Wine Spectator
