Why Should I Care About the Location of Vineyards?

Wine grape vines are quite particular about their environment, and if they are not happy, the wine made from their grapes will be less than stellar.

How does knowing vineyard location help me find a good wine?

Like most products, the quality of wine is a factor of its raw materials (or ingredients) and how it is produced.  Since the raw materials for wine are wine grapes, and more basically, wine grape vines, where vines are planted affects the quality and taste of wine produced from the vines' grapes. 

The best vineyards are:

• in regions not prone to adverse weather conditions and/or pest and disease
• in areas with long, warm growing seasons
• on slopes
• on land with infertile soil (perhaps surprisingly!)

The grape vine has natural enemies

Enemies of the vine include weather (rain, hail, tornados, heat, drought and frost), pests and fungal and viral diseases.  Regions prone to adverse weather conditions and/or pests and disease are not well-suited to wine grape agriculture.

Regions with long, warm growing seasons are best

Vines like a long, warm growing season with adequate rain.  Too much heat and the fruit will over ripen.  Too much rain and the vine will rot or the wine produced from its fruit will be diluted. 

As a result, wine grapes are only grown in regions lying north of the Tropic of Cancer and south of the Tropic of Capricorn (regions lying between these lines of latitude are the world’s coffee growing regions).

Slopes are preferred

Grape vines do not like wet feet.  Well-drained soils are required, making a vineyard planted on a slope better than one on flat ground.

Also, vineyards planted on a slope tend to receive more wind breezes, which aerate the vines and remove unwanted moisture that can lead to rot.

Junk food results in flabby wine

Perhaps surprisingly, grape vines thrive best in infertile soil, where they are forced to push their roots deep into the ground to obtain nutrients.  Planting a grape vine in a nutrient-rich valley floor is akin to feeding the vine junk food…and the wine produced from that vine will not impress.

Quality is linked to vineyard location

Vineyard location DOES matter, and if a wine is produced from the grapes of a single vineyard (as will be indicated on the bottle), the producer usually is trying to tell you the wine is of a higher quality.  Therefore, you should both expect to pay more for that wine and, upon tasting, to discern its higher quality.

"...grape vines thrive best in infertile soil, where they are forced to push their roots deep into the ground to obtain nutrients."

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