“What’s in a name?” The wine world’s love affair with place names | New Brief #271

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In the world of wine, as in real estate, the magic word is location. Or at least, that is what we are meant to believe. The world’s vineyards are increasingly being divided into separate geographical indications, smaller units, and even smaller single vineyards. This boosts the wine producer’s confidence. It is, after all, a recognition of their land. And it could be good for sales. Consumers tend to be willing to pay more for a well-defined place name, however, perhaps not if that name is totally unknown to them.

In the EU alone, there are 3,500 registered geographical indications for food products and wines. Wines account for about half of them. The USA will soon have 300 AVAs (American Viticultural Area); other countries outside of Europe have fewer, but they are getting there. Only a few years ago, I never thought South Africa’s many wards would have any relevance. (A ward is a small unit within a district, which in turn is part of a larger region.) Now, however, producers in Stellenbosch are talking about and promoting their specific ward and how it differs from the other wards. And they put the name of the ward on the label.

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Wine enthusiasts love to know where their wine comes from; actually, they demand it, they would not buy an anonymous wine brand without a clear geographical indication.

So even if the New World revolution that started in the 1980s-1990s was all about focusing on the grape variety, this has now changed back to the way it used to be, pre-New World, when provenance was the main thing and the grape variety was of minor importance.

Albeit with more names to remember.

Linked to the notion of geographical indications is the concept of “a sense of place”. This is an expression we hear all the time nowadays. It is not so easy to understand, though. The winemaker wants to bring out the character of the place. I interpret that as “I can make this particular wine right here, but nowhere else.” It sounds attractive. What you get in the glass is hopefully a delicious wine. But it is far from given that you, the wine enthusiast, sense the place in the same way that the winemaker does. The whole notion of sense of place touches on the philosophical. It is rarely so obvious that, say, you would exclaim, “yes, this wine must be from Jonkershoek, I can feel it.”

But when we were in Marlborough, New Zealand recently, we drove through the different sub-regions, from the Wairau Valley to the more southern Awatere Valley. We sensed that the wines from the hilly, spectacularly beautiful Awatere would be different. Were they?

Well, they were different in the way that most good quality wines are different from each other. Would we have said, “This tastes like the beautiful Awatere Valley,” if we didn’t know it? Hardly. But of course, it is never only the place; all the decisions the viticulturist and the winemaker make along the way impact the result. And the fact that one can not necessarily pinpoint the place from tasting the wine doesn’t mean that the origin is less interesting. Both the place and the person are important to the enjoyment of a wine.

Climate change, which brings with it different weather patterns, more drought, more rain, etc., is sometimes presented as a threat to appellations/geographical indications. That is because grape varieties, vineyard management practices, planting density etc., may need to be adjusted. Would this reduce the relevance of the geographical indications? Absolutely not. It is all about geography. The place is still the same, even if you must adapt.

Or as it were, “This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this vineyard”.

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Enjoy the Brief!

Britt & Per

Wine editors to the national encyclopedia, Forbes.com contributors, award-winning wine book authors, wine tour advisors to the UN and national wine organisations, wine judges … and, above all, passionate wine travellers.

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