Southern Hemisphere Wines

Wines are about grapes, which means they’re about farming, which means they’re about climate. There are only certain climate areas on Earth where wine grapes grow well. For instance, there’s a zone between 30° and 50° latitude above the Equator that contains almost all of the continental United States, Western Europe, Turkey, Georgia, the Middle East, much of northern China, and Japan. You’ll recognize, in this list, regions that hold most of the classic winemaking cultures. North of this zone, it quickly becomes too cold to grow grapes — south, it quickly becomes too hot.

Because of the way climate on a global planet works, there’s an equivalent zone between 30° and 50° latitude south of the Equator. This zone contains southern South America, southern Australia, all of New Zealand, and the southern tip of Africa. Here, you’ll find wine regions that are the results of European colonization — Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, southern Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. Once pooh-poohed by europhiles, these regions, today, boast younger and yet still exciting and engaging wine traditions. (Heck. Where would we be without the Argentinian Malbec or the New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc?)

This week, we taste some wines from this southern hemisphere equatorial grape zone. Please join us anytime between 5:00 and 6:30 PM for this free, walk-up tasting.