Wait, Vitis What is Grown Where?
I made you a map.
My love of maps is real, come to my home and you will see how much I adore them. My grandfather was a cartographer during WWII, maybe I got the love of maps from him, or maybe it just helps me connect to places visually. Regardless of why, I have made a visual map of the wine growing regions of the world as a quick way for you to see the areas that the majority of the worlds wines are grown.
Of course I couldn’t just give you just a basic graphic map, I had to fill in the map with my hand dyed fabrics, because in the end, I was a designer for 15 years and have to make things a little more unique for you.
Where are most wines grown?
The majority of all wines produced in the world are grown between latitudes 30 and 50 degrees, north and south of the equator. Vitis vinifera vines need specific growing climates to thrive, too much extreme cold or heat will make the vines shut down and sometimes die.
Oregon Pinot Noir grapes, a variety of vitis vinifera from 1859 Oregon Magazine
What on earth is vitis vinifera?
Vitis vinifera, the common grapevine, is indigenous to southern Europe and western Asia. It is the most important grape species in the wine making world, there are actually thousands of varieties of vitis vinifera. Most of the wine you drink is a variety of this grapevine, think Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, etc.
These grapevines need to be grown within the regions highlighted on the map below, because they are not as cold hardy as other species. They are also prone to fungal disease, so a super humid climate is not ideal for them as well as extreme heat.
Design by Kate Marie
Exceptions to the rule? Always!
With climate change, some wine regions are having to adapt their vineyard practices to keep up with changing weather. Wine makers are harvesting earlier, allowing new grape varieties to be grown or even changing where they plant their vines, planting higher up on hillsides or mountains to escape the heat, or on the slopes facing away from the sun.
The above photo is of Catamarca, Argentina from South American Wine Guide.
Because of climate change we now have regions popping up in places that have not been able to have solid harvests year after year before, even within these latitudes. Areas in England, Norway, Belgium, Canada, Japan are producing grapes that are consistently ripening now. This is something I am loving to learn about. I am by no means a climate change expert, there are incredible people studying climate change and the effects on the wine industry. Please use them for your resources and knowledge into this fascinating and rapidly changing subject.
If you are interested in doing a deeper dive into this subject, I suggest starting by checking out the following:
TED Talk from Dr. Gregory Jones, ‘Climate, Grapes and Wine’
Tasting Climate Change and Michelle Bouffard who is a great resource for anyone looking to learn more
The above photo is from Les Vins Débrouillards in Shiojiri City, Nagano Prefecture, Japan.
For now, I leave you to explore this subject deeper if you want. It is fascinating to learn about. If you’d like more resources and articles to read, please leave me a comment.
