The Old World and The New World. The wine industry has lived with these expressions for quite a few years. And it is convenient.
It was natural to call the countries outside Europe The New World when they appeared in our European wine shops in the 1980s and 1990s. Admittedly, they had been making wine for several hundred years, but far from as long as Europe.
The New World became a geographical designation but also a style. The New World countries (except for New Zealand) are warmer than most of the European wine regions. The wines were more full-bodied, more powerful, more alcoholic, and a little sweeter than those of the Old World.
The expression lives on. When we taste blind and have a full-bodied and powerful wine with few tannins in the glass, we often say, “aha, New World style”.
But is that really still the case? We have just returned from the first wine tour of the year, which always goes to South America’s two biggest wine countries, Chile and Argentina, and it gave us food for thought.
Several of our tour guests were surprised by the wines. Positively surprised because it was not quite what they expected from wines from The New World. Lots of elegance, freshness and “structure” (which is something that goes well with food).
This is not that strange. Perhaps this is the style the winemakers have always wanted to make. But beefy malbecs from Argentina and voluptuous shiraz from Australia were a massive success on the export market, especially when they arrived in bulk at low prices, and you don’t change a winning concept like that right away. Or at least a short-term winning concept.
But now it’s time, and it’s actually been in the works for a while.
Argentina takes advantage of its high mountains and plants vineyards at increasingly higher altitudes to give the grapes to cooler air, harvests a little earlier, and is careful to get the grapes just right in ripeness. Chile has its coastal regions where the chilly Pacific Ocean cools the vineyards. Many people talk about the wines from the Chilean coast and about the cooling influence of the Humboldt current. We even drank a delicious, fresh and elegant white wine made from the pisco grape pedro gimenez (not to be confused with the pedro ximenes of the sherry district), which came from a region near the extremely dry and hot Atacama desert.
But the fact is that here in The Old World, we have always simplified the concept of the New World. The summer days in Chile and Argentina are certainly very hot, but in the evenings, the temperature drops drastically in several wine regions. Here, they have always been able to maintain a fresh acidity and vitality in the wines.
Geographically, The Old World – New World expression is still handy, but stylistically, it is more questionable, not least if you then think of certain muscle wines they make in southern Europe.
So yes, it’s time to scrap the concept of a “New World style” of red wines on steroids and white butterscotch bombs. This you can, of course, best discover for yourself if you come with us to South America, South Africa or New Zealand.
Travel in harvest time
You can already start planning for wine tours next harvest season:
- Champagne, September 27 – October 1
- Champagne and Bordeaux, September 27 – October 5
- Bordeaux, October 1-5
Travel in winter (but summer)
Some of our most exceptional wine tours are during the winter. They are filled with very special experiences. In summer weather in the southern hemisphere!
You have three fantastic long-distance tours to choose from:
- Chile-Argentina in January 2024
- South Africa in February 2024
- New Zealand in March 2024
These are tours with unique and magnificent experiences.
More info on our wine tours here. “World’s Top Wine Tours“. Tours with the people who know wine and who have an unrivalled experience of wine and tours.
Enjoy the Brief!
Britt & Per
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What’s on at BKWine Tours
BKWine is also one of the world’s leading wine tour operators. Here’s what we currently have on our scheduled wine tour program:
- Champagne, September 27 – October 1
- Bordeaux and Champagne, Sept 27 – Oct 5
- Bordeaux, October 1-5
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- Chile-Argentina, January 2024
- South Africa, February 2024
- New Zealand, March 2024
We also make custom designed wine tours.
We’re different than most other wine tour operators. We are people who know wine inside out, who travel constantly in wine regions, who write award winning books about wine. Who do this out of passion. Our tours are different from others. More in wine tours: BKWineTours.com.
