1. Other European Regions and the Mediterranean © 2007 Thomson Delmar Learning. All Rights Reserved. Chapter 9

2. © 2007 Thomson Delmar Learning. All Rights Reserved. Objectives After reading this chapter, you should be able to –identify the lesser-known but increasingly important wine regions of Europe and the Mediterranean. –demonstrate an understanding of the winemaking heritage, the terroir, and the major varietals of these regions. –describe the style of wine made in each region.

3. © 2007 Thomson Delmar Learning. All Rights Reserved. Introduction When wine consumers think of Europe, they think of France, Italy, Spain, Germany, and Portugal. However there are other lesser-known wine producers with just as long a history: –Central Europe (Austria and Switzerland) –Southern Europe (Greece) –Eastern Europe (Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria) –Middle Eastern countries along the eastern edge of the Mediterranean

4. © 2007 Thomson Delmar Learning. All Rights Reserved. Austria—Historical Perspective It is believed that the Celts grew grapes in Austria as early as 1000 BC, but historians are not sure whether they actually made wine. During the Roman period, viticulture was expanded. During the rule of Charlemagne around AD 770, wine was definitely being produced in Austria, and rudimentary grape classifications and wine laws were enacted.

5. © 2007 Thomson Delmar Learning. All Rights Reserved. Austria—Historical Perspective (continued) Many vineyards at the time were owned by monasteries, and monks were important wine producers throughout the Middle Ages. It is monks who brought the Pinot Noir grapes here from Burgundy and the Riesling from Germany. By the end of the Middle Ages, acreage under vine was approximately 10 times what it is today.

6. © 2007 Thomson Delmar Learning. All Rights Reserved. After the Napoleonic Wars, many Church-owned vineyards reverted to private ownership. In the nineteenth century, after losing many vineyards to hard frosts and phylloxera, Austrian botanists experimented on which varieties would do best in Austria’s terroir. One of Europe’s oldest schools of enology was established in Klosterneuburg, Austria, in 1860. Austria—Historical Perspective (continued)

7. © 2007 Thomson Delmar Learning. All Rights Reserved. Austria’s wine business was dealt a nearly fatal blow in 1985 when a small number of unethical wine merchants adulterated their dessert wines with a chemical (ethylene glycol) to make the wines taste sweeter and more viscous. The international press jumped on this scandal, and although only a small amount of wine was affected, the international reaction was immediate and exports fell by 80 percent. Austria—Historical Perspective (continued)

8. © 2007 Thomson Delmar Learning. All Rights Reserved. The Wine Laws of Austria were first enacted in 1972, based essentially on the laws of neighboring Germany. Since the revamping of these laws in 1985, Austria’s laws are among the most comprehensive and strict in Europe. The name of an Austrian wine indicates varietal, geographic place of origin, and sugar content. Austria—Historical Perspective (continued)

9. © 2007 Thomson Delmar Learning. All Rights Reserved. The varietal and vintage mentioned on the label, at all levels of classification, must comprise at least 85 percent of the bottle’s content. –Tafelwein and Landwein are at the low end. –At the level of Qualitätswein, the quality level is indicated by ripeness, as in Germany. –However, unlike Germany, Kabinett is not a Prädikat. –The Prädikatswein category includes seven classifications, from Spätlese through Trockenbeerenauslese. Austria—Historical Perspective (continued)

10. © 2007 Thomson Delmar Learning. All Rights Reserved. The Wine Regions of Austria The climate of Austria is definitely continental, with harsher winters and hotter, drier summers than is the case in most of Western Europe. All viticulture is located in the eastern half of the country, where the climate and soil are more conducive to growing vines that would be the case closer to the towering Alps. The majority of grapes are of the cold-resistant, early-ripening varietals. Austria has 136,000 acres under vine.

11. © 2007 Thomson Delmar Learning. All Rights Reserved. The Wine Regions of Austria (continued) The most widely planted is the white grape Grüner- Veltiner, with 37 percent of the total. Second most prevalent is Müller-Thurgau, a lesser but hardy white. Riesling is expanding but only accounts for 3 percent of acreage today. The two most prevalent red varietals are Portugeiser and Blau Zweigelt. There is also some Pinot Noir, called spätburgunder. Red wines make up less than 10 percent of Austria’s production.

12. © 2007 Thomson Delmar Learning. All Rights Reserved. Niederösterreich (Lower Austria) Most of Austria’s wine (60 percent) comes from the five subdistricts within the large region of Niederösterreich (Lower Austria). –Clustered along the Danube in the western part of the region with a continental climate are these three districts Kamptal Kremstal Wachau

13. © 2007 Thomson Delmar Learning. All Rights Reserved. Burgenland and Stelermark The second largest wine region is Burgenland, which borders Hungary. –It is warmer than the Niederösterreich and produces primarily soft, fruity reds and sweet dessert wines. The third major region is Stelermark (or Styria). It is located west of Burgenland, up against the foothills of the Southern Alps. –Styria’s three districts combined produce less than 5 percent of the country’s wine.

14. © 2007 Thomson Delmar Learning. All Rights Reserved. Switzerland Although wine has been produced in Switzerland since the time of the Romans, the high altitudes make grape growing difficult. –Today wine is made from local grapes in all 24 Swiss cantons. –In 1988 the country instigated a series of Appellation Contrôlée laws. –At that time, the government started working to promote Swiss wines abroad. However, today, exports account for only 1 percent of production.

15. © 2007 Thomson Delmar Learning. All Rights Reserved. Switzerland—Historical Perspective Switzerland’s most important grapes include: –Chasselas: 37 percent of vineyards are planted to this grape. It produces a pleasant, dry white. –Sylvaner: Second most widely planted varietal, it produces a full bodied wine and is often sold as “Johannisberg.” –Müller-Thurgau: Named for Dr. Müller, who developed it in the canton of Thurgau, it is a cross of Riesling and Sylvaner. –Pinot Noir: Called Blauburgunder in German-speaking cantons, it is the most widely planted red grape. –Merlot: Found mostly in the southeast.

16. © 2007 Thomson Delmar Learning. All Rights Reserved. The Wine Regions of Switzerland The region of origin must show on Swiss wines. The most common appellations are: –Valais, which is the southern section, has one-third of the country’s vineyards and produces a light, crisp white called Fendant (made with Chasselas). –Vaud, located in the southwest section, is planted almost entirely to Chasselas. –Neuchâtel, north of Vaud, has 5,300 acres, most of which are planted to Blauburgunder. –Ticino, near Italy and heavily influenced by Italian culture, this region produces primarily Merlots.

17. © 2007 Thomson Delmar Learning. All Rights Reserved. Eastern Europe The history in Eastern Europe is replete with disruptions, mostly man-made. –Although wine consumption was an inherent part of the culture, the production of wine all but disappeared during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries when many nations were under the rule of the Ottoman Empire. –The twentieth century brought the devastation of two world wars, followed by Communist rule. –Under the Communists, most vineyards and farms were reorganized into collectives to produce food and wine for the Communist bloc of nations.

18. © 2007 Thomson Delmar Learning. All Rights Reserved. Eastern Europe (continued) The end of the Cold War did not bring immediate restoration of the heritage of wine production. –The style of wine that had been preferred by the Soviets was slightly sweet and/or fortified, a style that is not popular internationally. –Standards of cleanliness under the Communists were not high, leading to spoiled wines. –With government support, international funding, and the expertise of enologists, Eastern European vintners are addressing these problems.

19. © 2007 Thomson Delmar Learning. All Rights Reserved. Hungary As early as 1641, even before the country’s emergence from Muslim rule, a set of Vine Laws were drawn up to protect the legitimacy of the dessert wine Tokay Aszú. In 1686 Hungary became part of the Hapsburg Empire; vineyard plantings increased across the country. After phylloxera arrived, Hungarians began planting on resistant rootstock. By the early 1990s, there were just over 272,000 acres devoted to grapevines. During the 1990s there was an influx of foreign investment into the Hungarian wine business.

20. © 2007 Thomson Delmar Learning. All Rights Reserved. The Wine Regions of Hungary Hungary lies east of Austria and south of Slovakia. It extends to Russia’s western border. –The River Danube runs through the country from north to south, dividing it almost exactly in half. –The northeast section, called the Northern Massif, contains the volcanic hills whose south- facing slopes are particularly well suited to viticulture.

21. © 2007 Thomson Delmar Learning. All Rights Reserved. The Wine Regions of Hungary (continued) In the extreme northeast of the Massif, against the border with Slovakia, is the region of Tokaj- Hegyalja, home of the famous dessert wine. –The climate throughout Hungary is entirely continental, with predictably cold winters and sunny, hot summers. –Soils are varied, with sand predominating in the Great Plain, and basalt rock lying atop sandstone being typical all around Lake Balaton. –The Northern Massif and Tokaj-Hegyalja are covered with volcanic rock covered with decaying lava.

22. © 2007 Thomson Delmar Learning. All Rights Reserved. Hungarian wine laws, which are overseen by the National Wine Qualifying Institute, have established four levels of quality for wine: table wine; regional wine; quality wine (minöségi bor); and extra-quality wine (különleges minöségi bor). The quality control laws are still being amended to bring them more in line with those of the European Union. Chardonnay, Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, and Austria’s Gruner Veltliner and Müller-Thurgau are planted along with the red varieties Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Pinot Noir. The Wine Regions of Hungary (continued)

23. © 2007 Thomson Delmar Learning. All Rights Reserved. The existing wine laws divide the country into 20 regions, spread among the three geographic sections: Transdanubia: This western part of Hungary contains 13 of her 20 designated wine regions. –Burgenland, which is famous for its sweet white wines. However, Sopron is known for its big, full reds, which are made from Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. The Great Plain: With three official wine regions, this huge area accounts for over half the country’s vineyards. The Wine Regions of Hungary (continued)

24. © 2007 Thomson Delmar Learning. All Rights Reserved. The Northern Massif: In the Northeast, there are three important wine regions: the Mátra Foothills (or Mátraalja), Eger, and Tokaj-Hegyalja. –Just to the east of the Mátra Foothills is the wine region named for the historic village of Eger. –Here harsh growing conditions help to produce the full-bodied, age-worthy red wine, Egri Bikavér, or Bull’s Blood. The Wine Regions of Hungary (continued)

25. © 2007 Thomson Delmar Learning. All Rights Reserved. Moving even further east and north, one comes to Tokaj-Hegyalja. –Once Europe’s most popular sweet wine, Tokaj has a long history. And botrytis has been used to make delicious balanced sweet wines since the 1600s. –The terroir of the Tokaj-Hegyalja region has the humidity and long, warm autumns that help to develop botrytis, here called aszú. –The wine is still made from furmint and other white grapes. The Wine Regions of Hungary (continued)

26. © 2007 Thomson Delmar Learning. All Rights Reserved. Eastern Europe: Other Countries There are four other countries in Eastern Europe that produce wine: Russia, Bulgaria, Moldova, and Ukraine. –After the Second World War, the vineyards of these countries were organized into collectives under Soviet rule with the emphasis on quantity, not quality, of wine. –Total vineyard acreage increased considerably in the years between 1953 and the mid-1980s. –In the mid-1980s, in an effort to reduce alcoholism, vines were pulled out reducing vineyard acreage by a third.

27. © 2007 Thomson Delmar Learning. All Rights Reserved. Eastern Europe: Other Countries (continued) Since the end of the Soviet regime, efforts by new governments to improve the quality of wine produced have had mixed results. –Consultants from the European Union have advised countries in Eastern Europe on matters of sanitation in the wineries and on the health of vineyards. –Foreign corporations have made investments in wine- producing facilities, the most notable being that of the Australian company, Penfold, in the country of Moldova.

28. © 2007 Thomson Delmar Learning. All Rights Reserved. Eastern Mediterranean Countries The eastern Mediterranean is the true birthplace of viticulture and winemaking. –This coastal area, comprising part of what is now Turkey, and the coasts of modern Syria, Lebanon, and Israel, provided wine (and food) for the armies of the Pharaohs of ancient Egypt. –Researchers have discovered evidence of wine production and consumption in what is now Greece from as far back as the second millennium BC.

29. © 2007 Thomson Delmar Learning. All Rights Reserved. Greece Greece is rightly called the cradle of civilization. –Here viticulture and enology have been studied, researched, and perfected for over 4,000 years. –In modern times, Greece continues to make interesting, food-compatible, unique wines that are barely known outside that country.

30. © 2007 Thomson Delmar Learning. All Rights Reserved. Greece—Historical Perspective During Greece’s Classical Period (approximately 6500 BC to about 200 BC), wine was produced throughout Greece. –The Greeks spread viticulture to Sicily and the Italian mainland, the south of France, the Iberian Peninsula, and to coastal regions around the Black Sea. –Wine was stored in large clay containers called amphorae and shipped to both domestic markets and around the Mediterranean. –Greece remained the hub of the trade in wines even as the Roman Empire expanded.

31. © 2007 Thomson Delmar Learning. All Rights Reserved. Greece—Historical Perspective (continued) During medieval times, Greece was part of the Byzantine Empire, –Most wine was produced by small property owners or by monasteries. –During this period, the Greeks forsook their amphorae for wooden casks, emulating their former colonists in Western Europe. –The Greeks of the Byzantine era continued to make plentiful wine for domestic consumption and export.

32. © 2007 Thomson Delmar Learning. All Rights Reserved. Greece—Historical Perspective (continued) When the Ottomans of Turkey captured Byzantium in 1453, control of the Eastern Mediterranean fell into their hands. –Although the Muslim Ottomans did not forbid the population from producing wine, viticulture and winemaking as well as trade in wine was set back. –The amount of wine produced fell off precipitously, and what was made was consumed locally. –In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, while other European countries were perfecting their viticultural and vinification practices, Greece retained its obsolete practices.

33. © 2007 Thomson Delmar Learning. All Rights Reserved. Greece—Historical Perspective (continued) The Turks were overthrown in 1913, but Greece was not able to get immediately back on its feet. –The impoverished Greek state was set back by both wars and economics. –Wine technology was essentially primitive. It was not until the 1960s that the government began devoting effort to the modernization of the wine industry. –With admittance into the European Union in 1981, Greece marked the beginning of its modern wine era.

34. © 2007 Thomson Delmar Learning. All Rights Reserved. Greece—Historical Perspective (continued) During the 1970s, Greece drafted quality control laws harmonious with E.U. countries. Greece divides its wines into four levels of quality. –Quality wines that are dessert style are labeled OPE (Controlled Appellation of Origin), or they are dry table wines and are labeled OPAP (Appellation of Superior Quality). –The term Réserve on Quality wines indicates additional aging in oak casks. –The Vins de Pays designation applies to a variety of larger regions. –The Table Wine category includes wines made outside the parameters of the appellation laws.

35. © 2007 Thomson Delmar Learning. All Rights Reserved. The Wine Regions of Greece Wine is made all over Greece, and there are 26 wine regions, including: –Macedonia and Thrace in Northern Greece are known for full-bodied red wines. –In Central Greece, Zitsa produces a pleasant, light sparkling wine made from a native white varietal. –The southern peninsula of Peleponnese has a warm and hospitable climate. It produces fully 25 percent of national production.

36. © 2007 Thomson Delmar Learning. All Rights Reserved. The Wine Regions of Greece Many of the islands off Greece produce wine including: –Santorini, whose chalky subsoil, dry climate, and cooling winds produce a dry, crisp white. –Cephalonia is famous for the lemon-scented white made from the native grape, robola. –The island of Crete, in the Mediterranean Sea, produces a variety of wines, most notably intense reds made from native varietals.

37. © 2007 Thomson Delmar Learning. All Rights Reserved. Israel Wine is an integral part of Jewish tradition, and wine was produced in Palestine from Biblical times to the Muslim conquest in AD 636. –Although Jews continued to use wine in their religious observances, it was not until their return to the Holy Land in the late nineteenth century that they were again able to produce wines in their own state. –At the new Zionist settlements, winemaking slowly matured, and eventually they began exporting Kosher wine to Jewish communities around the world.

38. © 2007 Thomson Delmar Learning. All Rights Reserved. Israel (continued) To be “kosher,” a wine must be produced under rabbinical supervision and cannot be touched by a Gentile or even a nonobservant Jew once the grapes have been brought to the winery and crushed. –The kosher wines made were in a sweet, dense, alcoholic style and were intended primarily for religious ceremonies. –Since the 1980s, the trend has been toward making dry, multidimensional wines that, although still kosher, can be enjoyed as part of a meal.

39. © 2007 Thomson Delmar Learning. All Rights Reserved. Israel (continued) Rhône varietals, such as Carignan, Grenache, and Chenin Blanc, thrive in Israel’s dry, sunny climate. Recently the Bordelaise varietals—Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Sauvignon Blanc— have been widely planted. Irrigation is necessary because there is minimal rain from April through October.

40. © 2007 Thomson Delmar Learning. All Rights Reserved. Israel (continued) Israel is divided into five regions: –Galilee in northern Israel is the most prized wine region, especially its comparatively cool Golan Heights. –Haifa, including Mt. Carmel, is in upper central Israel. –Samaria (Shomron) is the country’s largest wine region. –The Judean Hills includes the vineyards planted on hills outside Jerusalem and in the Right Bank. –In the southern, desert-like section of Israel, is the relatively new region of Negrev.

41. © 2007 Thomson Delmar Learning. All Rights Reserved. Lebanon The Bekaa Valley in northern Lebanon has the ideal conditions for viticulture: altitude, volcanic soil, adequate rainfall, and cool nights. –The Jesuits founded Lebanon’s first winery, Ksara, here in 1857. –The Bekaa Valley also holds the vineyards of one of the Eastern Mediterranean’s best-known wineries. Chateau Mugar was founded in 1935 by Gaston Hochar, who planted French varietals. Chateau Mugar exports 95 percent of its production.

42. © 2007 Thomson Delmar Learning. All Rights Reserved. Summary The wines of the Eastern Mediterranean area do not yet have an important presence in North American markets, Greece seems to be undergoing a renaissance in the past 5 years, and may well become more evident. In Israel, as the trend away from sweet, highly alcoholic wines toward dry attractive wines continues, there is no doubt that these fine kosher wines will be consumed not just for religious observance, but as part of daily cuisine.

43. © 2007 Thomson Delmar Learning. All Rights Reserved. Summary (continued) As for the wines from other countries in the region—Lebanon, Egypt, Turkey, Cyprus—it is unlikely that any of them (other than Chateau Mugar) will find a following anytime soon.