Italy is home to twenty unique wine regions and hundreds, if not thousands of native grape varieties. One of the largest producers of wine on earth, Italy perhaps represents the most diverse and interest wine country there is.
Switzerland is a mountainous country in Central Europe famed for chocolate, cowbells and sweeping vistas of dramatic alpine scenery. But is wine the nation’s best kept secret?
The golden state of California - so named for its Golden Gate Bridge, fields of golden poppies and perhaps most significantly, the 1848 discovery of gold which led to the rapid population growth of the region - is also the golden child of the US wine family. Accounting for nearly 90% of the country’s production, the area delivers world renowned mono-varietals and blends from the principal grapes - Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay.
For many, Burgundy is the most fascinating wine region on earth and offers a lifetime of study. White wines from Chardonnay and reds from Pinot Noir is what to expect, but quality ranges from rubbish to utterly sublime.
Extending for approximately ninety kilometres around the southwestern French city of Bordeaux, the wine region of the same name is perhaps the world’s most renowned and revered. Principally a region of reds, the traditional Bordeaux blend is a much imitated, rarely matched assemblage of predominantly Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc.
Until the country’s recent and long awaited name change, North Macedonia was known as The Republic of Macedonia. It is a small but high potential territory special in red wines from international varieties and the regional Vranec.