The English wine writer Hugh Johnson first coined the phrases of ‘Old World’ and ‘New World’ in a wine context. Broadly speaking, wine’s Old World equates to traditional Europe, while the New World encompasses those countries that measure their winemaking heritage in hundreds, not thousands of years. These New World countries, whose wine industry was largely established by people from wine’s Old World, include the United States, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, Chile, China and Argentina.The other week I listened with interest and then increasing horror as Randall Grahm of California’s Bonny Doon romanced the notion of opening an Old World wine, then to experience several days of pleasure as it ultimately unfolded and revealed new and different flavours and textures over a period of three days. While that is perfectly possible, and considerably more likely with high-end Old World wine, implicit in Grahm’s delivery was the notion that comparable New World wines are incapable of providing the same experience. Which of course they do, time and again.These days it’s almost ridiculous to give much meaning to the terms ‘Old World’ and ‘New World’ to wine styles the way we now do almost out of habit. The Old World-New World clichÌ© works a little like this: Old World wine is naturally grown in small individual vineyards by ancient, crusty growers who faithfully follow the edicts of generations prior to protect the traditions of their property and to reflect the terroir and typicite of their sites, before being handcrafted in small cellars entirely bereft of modern machinery in which they are cosseted and nurtured, before being bottled under a seal whose invention dates back more than 250 years, the cork.On the other hand, New World wine is an industrialised fruit bomb that emerges at the end of a yield-orientated process that begins in large-scale irrigated vineyards, whose fruit is randomly blended together across different varieties and wine regions and which is processed and bottled in mega-factories whose tank farms present all the rustic charm of a Kuwaiti oil well, before in many cases being sealed with a screwcap.Furthermore, Old World wine is a reflection of heritage and culture, while New World wine is simply a beverage, nothing more.If you actually believe any of that, my advice is not to read any more of this article on the grounds that it will certainly upset you.Let’s start with some facts. Winemakers all over the New World owe to traditional Europe most of the established winemaking traditions and fundamental techniques used to get the best from their most commonly used grape varieties. On the other hand, much of the technical innovation responsible for the improvement of the vast majority of Old World wine over the last three decades was initiated in the New World. In other words, it is now commonplace for wines to be made in France, Spain and Italy using techniques and equipment that have been developed in the New World, creating Old World wines of more freshness, fruit and vitality, with something of New World character.Similarly, many New World makers have adopted 100% Old World attitudes towards the growing and making of their wines. They follow virtually identical procedures, and frequently spend time refining Old World techniques in wineries and vineyards. While they are not trying to replicate Old World styles, they are motivated by their belief that these time-honed techniques will best reflect the terroir and character of their own vineyards, wherever they may be.The outcome is frequently wine of more restraint, integration, subtlety, savoury quality and rustic complexity. Some of these wines can closely resemble their Old World counterparts; others are nowhere near. The differences between site, climate, soil and topography ultimately show through. But the differences between the taste of Old and New World wines is indeed blurring.When pinot noir was first introduced to Australia most winemakers began making it the same way they habitually made cabernet sauvignon and shiraz, and the results were awful. Since pinot needs to be fermented in a totally different fashion Ð aimed at extracting as much colour and structure as possible from its skins Ðmost early Australian examples tasted at best of light raspberry cordial, and looked even thinner. It was really only when Australian winemakers began to adopt Burgundian techniques of fermenting pinot that the Australian examples even began to resemble a wine that international drinkers might identify as pinot noir.This kind of learning fast-tracks the development of genuinely varietal wines in new regions, and can be seen across Australia and the rest of the New World as growers and makers import techniques to deal specifically with grapes like nebbiolo and sangiovese. It entirely avoids reinventing the wheel, and most of the time ultimately results in wines most able to reflect the individuality of the site. Only rarely will these wines ever really create a facsimile of the international benchmark, since the most important factor Ð site Ð is empirically different. Then, as winemaking technology is further deployed to enable winemakers and grape growers to best reflect their unique sites and terroirs, logic suggests that the chances of an Australian wine closely resembling one from Burgundy or Bordeaux will become even more remote, unless the sites and terroirs in question have much in common.It comes down to this: attitude. Winemakers today have a clear choice concerning how pristine and spotless (New World-like) or how rustic, savoury and complex (Old World-like) they want their wines to be, regardless of where they are growing their grapes, be it in Montpellier, Monterey or Mornington.More importantly, growers and makers are today better equipped than ever before with knowledge of technique, style and tradition. They have a clear understanding of processes and their likely outcomes. Provided then, that they have as clear a knowledge of who their market is, they’re more able to design, fashion and fine-tune their wines to satisfy their customers than ever before, wherever they’re making their wines, and wherever their customers may live. This, of course, applies to wine producers in Worlds both Old and New, and they know it.While remaining true to its very own site and place, quality wine is likely to become more divergent in style. What could be more interesting than that? We have seen the Napa Valley has create its own distinctive interpretation of cabernet sauvignon, Australia its own expression of shiraz, and New Zealand its own identity for sauvignon blanc. Each, I might add, with considerable knowledge gleaned from the Old World. The world’s oldest continent, with the world’s oldest soils for grape growing, Australia has in abundance the same set of factors that distinguish many of the most famous vineyards in wine’s Old World, with the additional bonus of having older vines to express the uniqueness of its many great vineyard sites. The quality of the best Australian and other New World wines is due to precisely the same set of factors that makes the finest Old World wines great. There is no difference at all. It’s high time we understood and appreciated that.
