I wonder whether curious wine lovers realise how lucky they are if they live outside the world’s three major wine-producing countries: France, Italy and Spain. Here in London, and in major cities in the US, northern Europe, Asia, even South America and definitely in Australia, we can choose from a dizzying array of wines from different countries and regions.
In France, Italy and Spain it may be delightfully easy to order wine direct from the nation’s wineries, at admittedly much lower prices than we have to pay in export markets, but the choice is pretty much limited to local producers. Benefiting from the miraculously expanded range of wines available today is difficult.
The most serious wine shops in Spain and enoteche in Italy’s larger cities may have a limited selection of Europe’s most famous wines (especially champagne) but forget trying to keep up with the staggering winegrowing progress in countries such as Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Argentina, Chile and the US.