What are ‘Old World’ and ‘New World’ Wines?
And how can you taste the difference?
Here’s the answer to one of my most frequently asked wine questions: What do ‘old world’ and ‘new world’ actually mean for wine?
The expressions ‘old world’ and ‘new world’ stem from the historic exploration of the world. They’re colonial and honestly, pretty archaic in today’s language but they seem to have stuck, so it’s helpful to know what they mean when it comes to the wine in your glass and buying bottles you know you’re going to like.
With wine, the old world refers to traditional winemaking countries and regions in Europe like France, Spain and Italy, where winemaking has ancient roots, stretching back thousands of years.
The new world on the other hand, encompasses regions colonised by Europeans after the 15th century such as the Americas, Australia and South Africa. But there’s more…
What does it taste like?
In wine, old world and new world have also come to mean certain winemaking styles, with the old world style being synonymous with less shouty, more restrained, more savoury, higher acid wines that show a good expression of their soils and climate. There’s also often (but not always) more of a focus on tradition in winemaking here and less on innovation.
The new world wine style however tends to be bolder and more fruity, showcasing more modern techniques. Sunshine and heat in these climates often exacerbate this fruitiness too. If you’ve started the HelenaSips Wine Course, you’ll have seen that generally speaking, the same grape grown somewhere warmer will be fuller-bodied, more fruity and more alcoholic than the very same grape grown somewhere cooler!
Of course, there are certainly some very warm old world wine regions too, such as La Mancha and Jumilla in Spain and even the Rhône valley in France these days. However, while these will be bold in flavour and punchy on the booze front, they’ll still usually be less about overt, pure fruitiness and more about savoury complexity than their new world counterparts.
As with everything in wine, this is very much a generalisation - but you have to start with the rules before you understand the rule breakers!
Want to know more about wine? Check out my bite-sized video wine course here and if you’ve enjoyed this, please subscribe for free to my newsletters - and tell your friends!