New World

Australia has come to represent the most 'successful' New World producer to date, the benchmark by which competitor winemaking nations have come to judge themselves. However it’s been achieved not without significant cost to an industry that has been forced to consolidate in ever-decreasing circles to keep the wheels from falling off the Brand Australia juggernaut: in 2003-2004, 20 businesses accounted for 86 percent of all production.

The world’s fifth-largest wine-producing nation, Argentina produces ‘full-blooded’, excellent-value varietal wines (largely red but also, increasingly, white) across all price points. Since the 1990s it has benefited greatly from the influx of international investment and expertise, and while thus far it has emulated nearby Chile’s success, it has not yet surpassed it by a long chalk. The next Australia? Only time will tell.

A viticultural paradise with hot, sunny days, chilly nights, little rain and cooling breezes, Chile is famous for being the only wine-producing country free of the devastating phylloxera bug. Despite the rise of neighbouring Argentina, Chile remains South America's (and arguably the world's) finest source of well-priced, excellent-quality varietal wines with sleek, fruity Cabernet Sauvignons and Carmenères and ripe, clean Chardonnays.

New Zealand's wine industry may only be 23 percent of the size of Australia’s but it makes up for this in quality. Its viticultural heritage dates back to Englishman James Busby making wine on North Island circa 1840, yet it wasn't until 1973 that domestic producers planted Sauvignon Blanc in Marlborough's Wairau Valley; in the 1980s, this success was replicated with Pinot Noir in Central Otago – both are home to world-class examples.

It has taken nearly 20 years for the South African wine trade to become the exciting place it is today. The once widespread production of inexpensive, inferior wines have made way for smaller volumes and higher-quality wines, partly via the rise of maverick winemakers such as Eben Sadie, who has not only helped to establish the Swartland as a new, cult Cape wine region but firmly planted South Africa on the global fine wine map.

If the United States is the world's fourth largest wine-producing nation, California is far and away the country's most important winemaking region, accounting for 90 percent of production, and crafting some of the world's greatest Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Zinfandel, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Wine is actually produced in every one of America's 50 states, even if Utah, Wyoming and North Dakota have only 35ha of vines between them.