t winehe world atlas of first edition of the world atlas of wine made publishing history when it...

The first edition of The World Atlas of Wine made publishing history when it appeared in 1971 and was hailed by the French Government as ‘Un événement majeur de la littérature viticole.’ To date, the Atlas has been published in 16 languages and its total sales exceed 4.5 million copies. Hugh Johnson and Jancis Robinson, the world’s most authoritative wine-writing duo, have joined forces for a third time and have created a seventh

edition of this wine-literature classic.

Much has changed since the last edition of the Atlas in 2007. Changes in climate, in winemaking techniques and in where wine is grown, for example, are all

reflected in this new edition.

The Atlas also charts major worldwide wine trends, such as the move away from predictable international grapes towards possibly less familiar, local varieties and to wine styles that are lighter, fresher and more transparently the product of their geography. Wine that expresses its precise location has once more come to the fore and an Atlas that allows the reader to understand a region’s

topography is more necessary now than ever before.

Such trends, alongside the growth of such ‘new’ figures in the wine world as China, not just as a consumer of wine but also as a grape-grower and wine producer, are just a few of the many topical issues covered by the Atlas. By chronicling in detail the developments reported from each wine region, each edition of this landmark publication provides an up-to-date and comprehensive

representation of the world of wine.

The Atlas is renowned for its superb cartography and this seventh edition has 215 unique and specially created maps. Dynamic wine regions such as coastal Croatia, Khaketi in Georgia, Canterbury in New Zealand, Swartland in South Africa, northern Virginia in the US, and Ningxia in China are examples of just some areas

that are covered in this guide for the first time.

The World Atlas of Wine is widely recognized by critics and experts as the most authoritative wine reference work available. This, the seventh edition in the Atlas’s 42-year history, confirms its position as the ultimate

book for every wine lover.

‘Hugh Johnson and Jancis Robinson are the Bordeaux and

Burgundy of wine writers’THE TIMES

By Hugh Johnson & Jancis RobinsonPublished 7th October 2013 by Mitchell Beazley

Hardback £40.00

WINETHE WORld ATlAs Of

‘A thing of beauty and a joy for ever ... fine cartography combines with expert

text and evocative photography to create an irresistible package’

INDEPENDENT

for further information about the book and to see videos with the authors, please visit www.worldatlasofwine.com.

To request an interview with the authors or to receive a review copy, please contact fiona smith at [email protected] or call 07831 193250 or 020 3701 2268

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Simonsberg mountain range overlooking the Stellenbosch and Franschhoek wine districts, Western Cape.

SOUTH AFRICA


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No one ever accused the Chianti hills of lacking drama. This decidedly apocalyptic scene is of dawn over the vineyards of Badia a Passignano in the west of the Chianti Classico zone.

wines that are complex, satisfyingly tannic, and savoury rather than voluptuous.

The rest of their output often includes olive oil, a Riserva Chianti Classico to drink after extended bottle-ageing, sometimes a fairly inconsequential local dry white and increasingly a rosato, perhaps a Vin Santo (Central Italy’s famous dried-grape, long-aged, sweet white, or rather tawny; see p.174), and perhaps a Super Tuscan IGT or two – though these seem to be on the wane as Chianti Classico waxes. It may now even be made from nothing but Sangiovese, the most Tuscan grape of all. These wines are typically fastidiously made, and there has been a return to the traditional large

oak vats known as botte after a dalliance with the French barriques, the fashion of the 1980s.

The best way for the highly individual wines of Chianti Classico to distinguish themselves from mere Chianti would probably be to develop an identity for the individual communes, rather as has been done in France’s Côtes du Rhône. The wines of Gaiole, for example, are generally higher in acidity because of the Gaiole vineyards’ altitude, while the wines from lower-lying Castellina in Chianti are generally fuller and a little richer. The wines from Castelnuovo Berardenga in the very south of the Chianti Classico zone are often characterized in youth

by their compact, grainy tannins. And although Panzano is actually administratively part of the much more varied commune of Greve, the wines grown on its amphitheatre of vineyards are quite distinct. Bathed in the sun all day long, they tend to be fruit-driven wines with particularly fine tannins. To an outsider, making these geographical distinctions clear on the label seems to make perfect sense.

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MontalcinoIn the 1970s, Montalcino was the poorest hilltop town in southern Tuscany. Little was heard of this part of Italy. It was purely local knowledge that the climate here was more equable than farther north or south. Monte Amiata, rising to 5,600ft (1,700m) just to the south, collects the summer storms that come from that direction. Montalcino has the warm, dry climate of the Tuscan coast (see p.168) with, in the best vineyards, the rockier, less fertile soils of the cooler Chianti Classico zone.

At the same time as Ricasoli was devising an ideal formula for Chianti, Clemente Santi and his kin (now called Biondi-Santi) were establishing a model for what they labelled Brunello (a local selection of Sangiovese clones) di Montalcino. Odd bottles of such ancient vintages of this wine as were made were not just revered rarities, but also impressively muscular and worthy of emulation. Many did. In the 1970s, the mammoth US Banfi corporation, flushed with success with its Lambrusco in the USA, tried to repeat the trick with a sweetish white Moscadello di Montalcino, planting hundreds of Montalcino acres. It was a flop. The company rapidly converted the vineyards to Brunello and thus, from the 1980s, thanks to Banfi’s clout and distribution network, Montalcino has been engulfed in American, then international, interest. It became Tuscany’s answer to Barolo.

The old Brunello di Montalcino, wine for heroes, aged almost to destruction, has adapted considerably to modern tastes. The mandatory minimum of four years in oak was reduced to two and some producers started to deepen the Sangiovese, legally 100% of Brunello di Montalcino, with illegal “international” grape varieties. This came to a head in a flurry of accusations in 2008. Producers eventually voted not to allow foreign grapes into the blending vat; recent vintages have been more recognizably Tuscan, and the Sant’Antimo DOC – same boundaries as Brunello, different name – is designed for grapes other than Sangiovese. Montalcino was the first DOCG to be graced with a “junior DOC”, Rosso di Montalcino, a (relatively) lighter Sangiovese that can be released at only one rather than four years old.

Encouraged by Brunello’s high prices, the zone has been expanded enormously, from just over 150 acres (60ha) in 1960 to more than 5,000 acres (2,000ha) today. Altitudes vary from 490ft (150m) above sea level in the Val d’Orcia in the south, where the most potent wines tend to be made on heavy clay soils, to 1,640ft (500m) just south of Montalcino itself, where wines grown on galestro marls are more elegant, aromatic, and, to some tastes, “true”. Some areas are definitely better than most, but individual site classification has so far been regarded as too politically sensitive.

Black is back – though, alas, it will be some time before Gianfranco Soldera applies any labels to his irreproachable Case Basse Brunello. An intruder broke into his cellar late in 2012 and opened the taps on all six of his most recent vintages.

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THE WORld ATlAs Of WINEiBook edition

Published 7th October 2013 | £19.99For the first time in its 42-year history, The World Atlas of Wine is being published as an iPad eBook.

The £19.99 digital offering, which includes the complete content of the physical edition, will be released in Apple’s iBook Store in October. The eBook includes panoramic maps, allowing each region to be

enjoyed in stunning detail. Galleries of wine labels can be viewed as full-screen images and the stunning photography of the book is brought to life on the backlit screen of the iPad.

KEy fEATuREs:Author video

Interactive mapsGalleries of labels

Note-taking featuresThe World Atlas of Wine as it has never been seen before!

As Jancis Robinson commented, ‘Being able to zoom in on the detail of our wonderfully detailed

maps really makes a difference – and the pictures are extra-sumptuous on an iPad. Now I understand why our picture editor was so excited.’



Hugh Johnson has led the world of wine writing in many new directions over the 48 years since his first book, Wine, was published. The World Atlas of Wine, his Wine Companion (now in its sixth edition), the annual Pocket Wine Book (since 1977), The Story of Wine, and his memoirs, A Life Uncorked, have all been best-sellers. Indeed, his Pocket Wine is the world’s best-selling annual wine book. His unique approach, serious and informed yet entertaining and unpretentious, has earned him the admiration of wine lovers all over the world. He makes complicated subjects accessible and enjoyable.

Hugh’s International Book of Trees, The Principles of Gardening, and his regular gardening column over 36 years gained him another loyal following. In 2011, his Trees: A Lifetime’s Journey won the Garden Media Guild’s Reference Book of the Year award, and its translation was awarded the 2012 Prix Redouté for the best gardening book in the French language. Total sales of his books now exceed 16 million copies. In 2003, Hugh was made a Chevalier of the Ordre National du Mérite by President Chirac, and in 2007, he was awarded an OBE for services to winemaking and horticulture, his two great passions.

Jancis Robinson is one of only a handful of wine writers with an international reputation. Her multi-award-winning books, including the hugely successful Oxford Companion to Wine (1994, 1999, 2006), and Wine Grapes (2012), are among the most important landmarks in wine literature. Jancis is the Financial Times wine correspondent and writes a bi-monthly column that is published around the world. She writes daily for www.JancisRobinson.com, which has subscribers in 100 countries and was voted the first-ever Wine Website of the Year in the Louis Roederer International Wine Writers Awards 2010.

Critically acclaimed as the ‘the most respected wine critic and journalist in the world’ (Decanter), Jancis was the first person outside the wine trade to qualify as a Master of Wine, in 1984. She was awarded an OBE in 2003 by Her Majesty the Queen, on whose cellar she now advises, and was made an Officier of the Ordre du Mérite Agricole in 2010 by the French Minister of Agriculture. Jancis has been Honorary President of the Wine & Spirit Education Trust since January 2012.

NOTEs TO EdITORsThe Seventh Edition of The World Atlas of Wine brings together the unrivalled talents of the world’s most famous wine writers,

Hugh Johnson and Jancis Robinson.

This new edition is the most thorough and expansive wine atlas ever, providing an up-to-date representation of the world of wine in 2013.

Available for the first time as an iPad eBook.

Sales of the Atlas since 1971 total over 4.5 million copies.

The Atlas has been published in 16 languages.

25 brand new, specially commissioned maps have been added to the Atlas to reflect new and flourishing wine regions such as coastal Croatia, Australia’s

Mornington Peninsula, Ningxia, China and more.

Charts the rise of Asia as a major force in wine.

Includes breathtaking new photography.

THE AuTHORs



‘A useful investment whether you are planning a holiday with a little wine,

or a wine trip with a little holiday’BBC GOOD FOOD MAGAZINE

‘The maps are intricate, informative and perfect for understanding some

of the complicated wine regions… a necessary tool for anyone in the

wine trade or any aspiring wine buffs’COUNTRY LIFE

‘A truly comprehensive reference book by two of our foremost authorities

on the subject’DELICIOUS

‘The secret of its success lies in its comprehensiveness’ THE GOOD BOOK GUIDE

‘A bible of the wine industry’HARPERS

‘A great reference work for the serious wine buff’

STELLA, SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

‘The “bible” for oenophiles’SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

‘Heavy meat but good value sprinkled with “Johnson gold dust”’

THE TIMES

PRAIsE fOR THE PREVIOus EdITION


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The village of Riex nestled among the UNESCO-listed vine terraces of Lavaux, Switzerland


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Bangor

Llandudno

Wrexham

Chester

Stoke-on-Trent

Sheffield

MansfieldLincoln

Newark-on-Trent

Peterborough

Spalding

Skegness

King’s Lynn

EastDereham

Norwich

GreatYarmouth

Aldeburgh

Bury St Edmunds

Thetford

CambridgeNewmarket

Bedford

SaffronWalden

Leicester

MarketHarborough

Loughborough

Coventry

Northampton

WolverhamptonSuttonColdfield

Worcester

Kidderminster

ShrewsburyTelford

Ludlow

Oswestry

Aberaeron

Aberystwyth

Builth Wells

BreconCarmarthen

Pembroke

Fishguard

Swansea

CardiffNewport

GloucesterCheltenham

Swindon

Hereford

Ross-on-Wye

BristolBath

Weston-Super-Mare

Bridgwater

Minehead

Taunton

Yeovil

Ilfracombe

Barnstaple

Bude

ExeterOkehampton

Exmouth

Camborne

BodminSt Austell

Penzance

Plymouth Torquay

Weymouth

DorchesterPoole

Bournemouth

Ipswich

Colchester

ChelmsfordHarlow

Luton

Banbury

Oxford

Kington

DevizesNewbury

WatfordBasildon

Southend

Margate

CanterburyMaidstone

FolkestoneCrawley

Guildford

Winchester

Salisbury

AndoverFrome

Portsmouth

Shanklin

Southampton

Eastbourne

Hastings

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Anglesey

Lundy

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Birmingham

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England and WalesClimate change has played straight into the hands of those growing vines in the British Isles. England’s wine-growers now have such confidence that nearly 4,000 acres (1,600ha) of vineyard are scattered widely over the southern half of the country, with the greatest concentration in the southeast – the counties of Kent, East and West Sussex, and Surrey. A large number of smaller vineyards (there are more than 500 in total) are also found across the south to the West Country, along the Thames and Severn valleys, and in East Anglia, the driest part of England, as well as in southern Wales and Ireland. The largest grower is sparkling pioneer Nyetimber, with 410 acres (166ha) of vines in West Sussex and Hampshire – very much an exception in an industry where the average is 6.5 acres (2.65ha), and many of even the larger ones depend heavily on tourism for sales. Well over 100 wineries now process the crop, which fluctuates dramatically but averages over 2.5 million bottles per year.

About 80% of English wine is white, with most of the rest rosé. The Champagne varieties Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Meunier already account for 45% of the total area, a proportion expected to rise to 75% as new vineyards are

planted and older ones pulled out. Bacchus, Seyval Blanc, Reichensteiner, Müller-Thurgau, Madeleine x Angevine 7672 (a variety unique to the UK, bred by Georg Scheu in Germany in the 1930s), the red-fleshed hybrid Rondo, Schönburger, Ortega, and Pinot Blanc (in that order) are the next most widely grown varieties. A few light red wines and an increasing number of good rosés (especially sparkling) are being made from Pinot Noir and Meunier, with other reds and pinks being made from Rondo, Dornfelder, and Regent.

English sparkleBottle-fermented sparkling wines – most of the best based on the Champagne grapes – are England’s strongest suit; the best match champagne selling at the same price. There is little difference in the chalk soil between Champagne and England’s Downs, and climate change has been decidedly in England’s favour. Heavy chaptalization was once routine but this century natural sugar levels have risen, and in the ripest years many wines have no added sugar at all. Generally warmer spring and summers, better viticultural and winemaking skills, more experience, and better equipment mean that

many wineries can make very respectable whites and pinks almost every year. Imports can (easily) be cheaper, but the wines being made in England and Wales today, especially those that sparkle, have their own uniquely crisp, bright-fruited, lively style. They can – and often should – improve with time spent in bottle.

England: East malling

Latitude / Altitude of WS 51.29° / 105ft (32m)

Average growing season temperature at WS 57.3°F (14.1°C)

Average annual rainfall at WS 26in (648mm)

Harvest month rainfall at WS October: 2.9in (74mm)

Principal viticultural hazards Poor fruit set, high acids in cooler years, low yields

Principal grape varieties Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Bacchus,Seyval Blanc, Reichensteiner

Ridgeview of Sussex and Camel Valley of Cornwall, both run by dedicated and charismatic individuals, have a consistent and admirable record of winning awards for their well-made sparkling wines – not just in the UK, but in blind tastings abroad, too.


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ITALYCorniglia in the white wine DOC of Cinque Terra, Liguria


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San Bernardino

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Bakersfield

Lompoc

Santa Maria

San Luis Obispo

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Independence

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Mariposa

Hollister

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Santa Cruz

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Sonora

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San Andreas

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Willows

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the climate regions of california and the Pacific northwest

This climate classification scheme for viticulture was developed by UC Davis professors Amerine and Winkler for California and updated by Dr Gregory Jones for other cooler-climate regions. Wine regions are classed on a scale of “growing degree-days”, which measures the heat accumulated over 50°F (10°C) between 1 April and 31 October (northern hemisphere). The classes broadly define grape-variety suitability (cool to hot) and wine style potential (light to full-bodied and fortified wines). For example, in Region Ia, only very early-ripening varieties, mostly hybrids, will produce high-quality, light-bodied table wines. Region III is suited to the production of high-quality, full-bodied wine, and Region V is typically suited to high-volume production, fortified wines, and table grapes.

n o r t h a m e r i c a

CaliforniaNinety per cent of all American wine is grown in California: more wine than in any country outside Europe. And the planting goes on. Here at the vine’s western limit there is a distinct shortage of geographical generalities and physical truisms. California’s wine geography presents a series of surprises, and much more variety than outsiders give it credit for. The potential of a vineyard site is linked hardly at all to latitude but is crucially determined by what lies between it and the Pacific Ocean. The more mountains there are between the site and the sea, the less chance there is of marine air, often fog, reaching it to moderate the climate.

So cold is the inshore water of the Pacific here that it causes a perpetual fog bank all summer just off the coast. Each day that the temperatures approach 90°F (32°C) inland, the rising hot air draws the fog inland to fill its space. The Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco straddles its most famous pathway, but everywhere up and down the coast where the Coast Ranges dip below about 1,500ft (460m), cold Pacific air spills over

and cools the land. Certain valleys that lie end-on to the ocean, particularly in Santa Barbara County, act as funnels that allow sea air to invade as far as 75 miles (120km) inland. So effectively are cool winds sucked off the Pacific over San Francisco Bay that they even have an effect on the climate in the Sierra Foothills, nearly 150 miles (240km) inland. Since foggy San Francisco Bay is northern California’s chief air-conditioning unit, vineyards close to the waters of the bay, such as those of Carneros, skirting the south of Napa and Sonoma counties, can be rather cool, too. Within the inland Napa Valley, sheltered from Pacific influence by its almost unbroken ridge of western hills, it is those most southerly vineyards surrounding the town of Napa that are the coolest, due to the breezes off the bay, and those around Calistoga at the northern limit of the valley that are hottest. For similar reasons, if the result of different topography, the vineyards of the Santa Maria Valley way down the coast in Santa Barbara County, 140 miles (225km) northwest of Los Angeles, are some of the coolest in the state.

The Central (or San Joaquin) Valley on the other hand, the flat farmland that still makes agriculture California’s most important economic activity (and grows three-quarters of the state’s wine grapes), is too far inland to be directly influenced by the Pacific. It is one of the world’s sunniest wine regions, with a hotter, drier climate than anywhere else in this book. Irrigation, increasingly expensive and controversial, is essential. Dry-farming is the dream of terroir-driven growers everywhere; it is a distant one in most of California.

The key facts panels show that summers are very much drier than those of most European wine regions. Total annual rainfall is not exceptionally low but it does tend to be concentrated in the first few months of the year, topping up reservoirs used throughout the summer for irrigation. In the warmth that is typical of a California September, atypical rain can wreak havoc. Autumn rains are very unusual, however, allowing growers to prolong the grapes’ “hang time” almost as long as they like, or are asked to by the wine producers to whom they sell. This is just one important reason why California’s wines have tended to be especially potent.

The most important of California’s roughly 120 AVAs are mapped opposite and on the following pages, but even those marked should not be given too much significance. Some of the viticultural areas are so small that they affect only one winery, while North Coast, for example, encompasses much of Lake, Mendocino, Napa, and Sonoma counties.

looking beyond the brandThere are excellent winemakers who still ignore AVAs, preferring to use good grapes from wherever they can get them, while others are as precise about individual sites as they can be. Hundreds of individual vineyard names are now in use on labels – powerful confirmation that California is moving on from the stage where it was only the grape variety and the brand name that counted. Geography has definitively entered the picture, although many producers use custom crush facilities and own little other than a label and the barrels they store there. They are not marked on these maps.

Fashion has always been important in California. Wine producers and consumers tend to act more uniformly than you would normally expect in a geographical unit roughly half as big as France. Recent vineyard trends have included better matching of grape variety to a specific site, more densely planted vines from a wider variety of clones, with much more controlled, less-dense foliage, more precise irrigation, and, this century, a new appreciation of freshness as opposed to super-ripeness.

Too cool

Region Ia: 1,500 to 2,000 degree days

Region Ib: 2,000 to 2,500 degree days

Region II: 2,500 to 3,000 degree days

Region III: 3,000 to 3,500 degree days

Region IV: 3,500 to 4,000 degree days

Region V: 4,000 to 5,000 degree days

Too hot


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I N Y O

T U L A R E

K E R N

VENTURALOS ANGELES

SANTA BARBARA

SAN LUIS OBISPO

KINGS

M O N T E R E Y

SANBERNARDINO

F R E S N O

MADERA

SANBENITO

MERCED

SANTACLARASANTA

CRUZ

ALAMEDASTANISLAUS

TUOLUMNE

ALPINE

MARIPOSA

M O N O

CALAVERAS

AMADOR

EL DORADO

SAN JOAQUIN

SOLANO

NAPA

MARIN

SANMATEO

CONTRACOSTA

SACRAMENTO

NEVADAYUBACOLUSA

LAKE

MENDOCINO

SONOMAYOLO

SUTTERPLACER

SIERRA

PLUMAS

GLENN

TEHAMA

BUTTE

SanFrancisco

LosAngeles

San Bernardino

Oakland

San Jose

SacramentoSanta Rosa

Chico

Napa

Vallejo

Woodland

Stockton

Fremont

Modesto

Merced

SalinasFresno

SantaBarbara

Oxnard

Ventura

Bakersfield

Lompoc

Santa Maria

San Luis Obispo

Delano

Hanford Visalia

Independence

Madera

Mariposa

Hollister

Monterey

Santa Cruz

Lodi

Sonora

Jackson

San Andreas

Placerville

Marysville

Paradise

Truckee

Portola

Yuba CityNevada

CityColusa

Orland

Thermalito

CorningLeggett

Willows

Ukiah

Willits

Covelo

Fort Bragg

ClearLake

LakeOroville

LakeTahoe

MonoLake

San LuisReservoir

BuenaVista Lake

OwensLake

Markleeville

Sa

n

Jo

aq

ui

n

Va

ll

ey

S

i

e

r

r

a

N

e

v

a

d

a

Ow

ens

Stan

islau

s

Tuolumne

Salinas

Sacr

amen

to

Sacr

amen

to

San Joaquin

PointArena

PointReyes

PointSur

PointConcepcion

Co

as

t

Ra

ng

es

Co

as

t

Ra

ng

es

Eel

NORTHYUBA

SIERRA

FOOTHILLS

MADERA

CENTRALCOAST

DIABLOGRANDE

DUNNIGANHILLS

SOLANO COUNTYGREEN VALLEY

SUISUNVALLEY

NORTHCOAST

NORTH COAST

SONOMACOAST

SAN FRANCISCO BAY

FORT ROSS-SEAVIEW

COOMBSVILLE

SF BAY

RIVERJUNCTION

SALADO CREEK

ROCKPILE

COVELO

DOS RIOS

FICKLINQUADYTHE WINE GROUP

BRONCO WINE CO.

CASEY FLAT RANCH

E & J GALLO

SANLUCAS

HAMESVALLEY

SAN ANTONIOVALLEY

MALIBU-NEWTON CANYON

310

303

301

298

296

309

312

P295 California

World Atlas of Wine

296

MADERA

E & J GALLO

AB

BC

CD

DE

EF

FG

1 2 2 3 3 4 4 5 5 6


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State boundary

County boundary

AVA boundaries not shown or not completedon larger-scale maps are distinguished bycoloured lines

AVA

Notable producer

Area mapped at larger scale on page shown

N

50Miles 0 100 Miles

1:2,631,578100Km 0 50 150 Km

295

Text

california’s major wine regionsNorth Coast is a pretty extensive portion of a vast state. But an even larger area – from San Francisco all the way down to Santa Barbara –qualifies as Central Coast, and more and more of it is being planted with California’s most valuable crop (after marijuana): grapes.

Bokisch (see p.310) is in Lodi, the most promising part of the vast Central Valley. South Coast Winery (see p.318) is near Los Angeles and Casey Flat Ranch is high above Lake Berryessa north of Napa.

c a l i f o r n i a | n o r t h a m e r i c a


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