Wine Pages

The Oxford Companion to

WineTHIRD EDITION

Edited by Jancis Robinson

Viticulture editor: Richard E. Smart

Oenology editors: A. Dinsmoor Webb, Patrick J. Williams

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Maps of the Wine Regions

Algeria 12Argentina 33Australia 46Austria 51Bordeaux 87Bulgaria 111Burgundy: Cte d'Or 114California 125Chile 165Czech Republic and Slovakia 222France 284Western Germany and Alsace c.1500 309Germany and Alsace 313Greece 335Hungary 355Italy 370Japan 378Appellations of Languedoc-Roussillon 396Loire 414New York and Canada 484New Zealand 487Portugal 544Rhne 575Romania 591Roman Italy 593South Africa 649Spain 657Switzerland 679France: Vin de Pays 745World Distribution of Vineyards 782(Former) Yugoslavia 789

Preface to the Second Edition

TH E success of the first, 1994 edition of this book, both in terms ofsales and acclaim, came as the most delightful surprise to all of usassociated with it, not least to its editor. It seemed as though it wasnot just wine professionals who welcomed a single, detailed work of referencewith what is nowadays called attitude, but a wide range of readers around theworld, thirsty not just for the most delicious drink of all, but for facts andopinions about all aspects of it.

The second great surprise to the editor has been the extent of revision need-ed for this second edition. About half of the original 3,000 entries have beenrevised in some way, from a simple correction to a fullblown rewrite. Themost obvious candidates for revision have been entries on wine producingcountries or regions where the pace of change has been most marked in thelast five years such as argentina, australia, south africa, and spain. But winescientists have been working every bit as hard as wine producers, enablingexciting new insights into and complex revisions to entries on subjects as var-ied as cabernet sauvignon and wine ageing. Thanks to recent DNA analysiswe now know the fascinating secret of the formers parentage, while ourunderstanding of the latter, the mystery of how simple young fruit juice istransformed into a complex and ethereal liquid message from the past, isenlightened by such new entries as flavonoids, flavour precursors, glycosides, pigmented tannins, and, a thoroughly contemporary concept (and newentry), mouthfeel.

Wine in all its glory has been evolving at such a rate, almost invariably(although not exclusively) in a positive direction, that a total of over 500 newentries have been added. Study of the list of them on page xv provides arevealing snapshot of recent change in the world of wine, which has expand-ed to include eight new (or recently identified) wine producing countries:bhutan, cape verde islands, ethiopia, indonesia, korea, nepal, thailand, andvietnam. It is no wonder that the oiv, on which we all depend for internation-al wine statistics, is finding it ever more time-consuming to collate and veri-fy them, which is why this book has to depend on many figures which datefrom 1996. And if many of these new countries seem to have a theme, thattheme is ref lected in at least two other new entries, one on asia and winesincreasing role there, and the extraordinary recent influence of Asianinvestors on the fine wine market which is outlined in a new appendix on

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CLOUDY BAY, seminal winery in the Marl-borough region of new zealand the brian-child of David Hohnen of Cape Mentelle inwe ste rn aust ra l i a. Its debut release ofmoodily labled Sauvignon Blanc in 1986 onex p o rt markets created a re p u tation fo rMarlbourgh Sauvignon and a cult for cloudyb ay almost ove rnight even although th egraped were brought in and the wine madeunder contract at another winery

CLUSTER, alternative, viticultural term for abunch of grapes

CM/CV, abbreviates Classic Methods/ClassicVarietes, the name of a california voluntaryproducer association for many of that statesmost champagne-like sparkling wine

COAL RIVER, wine region in tasmania

COA ST E R S, To th o s e i n t e re sted in wineantiques, wine coasters are small circular,high sided trays for decanters which preventdamage or spillaghe. They also help protectthe decanter from damage. The earliest ofthem date from 1750s and within 20 years theyhad become very popular. Mant are made ofsilver with wooden bases, the best quality oneshaving silver bases as too. Treen (turned wood)examples were a cheap alternative, as those inpapier mache. Of the latter many were deco-rated in gilt againt a black or red backgroundwhile others were embellished with horizontalribs annd Sheffield plated mounts

Coasters for magnums and half bottles arehughly outnumbered by those bottle sizeddecanters. The 19th century saw a a generalelaboration of design and decanter changedshape, so coasters followed with progressivelyeverted sides often accompanied by cast bord-ders. Sheffield and electro plated coastertsbecame very popular from 1820. Like wine fun-nels, coasters were little made after the mid.19th century until the modern era when theybecame very popular probably because of thediminishing use of the table cloth

Double coasters, in the form of boats orwagons in silver and papier mache, enjoyed apopular run at the turn of the 18th and 19thcenturies. Some Irish examples were for 3decanters In that country, too there was avogue for incorporating coaters into dumbwaiters. In 1847 Richard Redgrave patented apapier mache tray of shaped outline th a tincorporated a pair of coasters. at the end ofthe century appeared very high sided coatersin electroplated copper which was designed tohide the bottle had a long production run

Butler R. and Walking, G. The Book of WineAntiques (Woodbridge 1986).Clayton, M. Collectors Dictionary of theSilver and Gold of Great Britain andNorth America (new edn, Woodbridge 1985)

COCKBURN, port house which in the secondhalf of the 20th century made the transitionfrom bulk shipper to brand leader in thei mp o rtant British market. The house wa sfounded in 1815 by Ro b e rt Cock b u rn andGeorge Wauchope who a year later were joinedby Captain William Creig. A year laterRobertC o ck b u rns sons Archibald and Alexa n d e rjoined the companyand openned up a officein London. In 1845, the brothers Henry andJohn Smithes joined the comany whichbecame Cock b u rn Smithes and Co. JohnSmithes intiated a system for blending. Hemarried Eleanor Cobb annd both Smithes andCobb families remainedin the firm for manygenerations. Peter Cobb joined Cockburns in1960 and became a director of the company inOporto in 1980. In 1962 Cockburns became anassociate company of harvers of Bristol andsubsequently part of the Allied Domecq con-gl o m e rate. A year prev i o u s ly Harveys hadbrought Martinez Gassiot, transforming thetwo houses from fierce competitors to part-ners. S.A. & R.J.M

COFFEE HOUSES. The tradition drink of thea rabs, coffee was introduced to we st e rnEurope in ther mid 17th century. Like tea andchocolate it was soon to pose a seroius threatto the popularity of wine

The first English cooffee house was repute-ly opened in a room in the Angle Inn inOxfords High Street in 1650 and within a cou-ple of years the trend had taken hold inLondon.

By 1660s coffee houses wre challenging thet raditional English tave rn and not onlybecause they served this novel beverage whichwas very cheap and had the added advantageof not makinf you dru n k, samuel Pe py s ,among others visited these penny universitiesin order to catch up on the citys gossip or joina political debate.

The kings government reacted ubeasily tothe coffee houses popularity, fearing them ahotbed of poloitical dissent and the greatressort of idle and disaffected personsbut a proclammation to ban them (1675) cameto nothing. Each Coffee house had its ownregular clientelebe in it Litera ry. cleri c a l ,aristocratic or commercial. Some of the morepopular survive as Gentlemans clubs whilstcoffee houses in Europe evolved into thatubiquitous instition the cafe H.B.

Au b e ri n - Pot t e r, N. and Bennett, A., Oxfo rdCoffee Houses 16511800 (Oxford 1987)Ellis, A., The Penny Universities; A History ofthe Coffee Houses (London 1956)

CLOUDY BAY, seminal winery in the Marl-borough region of new zealand the brian-child of David Hohnen of Cape Mentelle inwe ste rn aust ra l i a. Its debut release ofmoodily labled Sauvignon Blanc in 1986 onexport markets created a reputation for

c

CLOUDY BAY, seminal winery in the Marl-borough region of new zealand the brian-child of David Hohnen of Cape Mentelle inwe ste rn aust ra l i a. Its debut release ofmoodily labled Sauvignon Blanc in 1986 onex p o rt markets created a re p u tation fo rMarlbourgh Sauvignon and a cult for cloudyb ay almost ove rnight even although th egraped were brought in and the wine madeunder contract at another winery

CLUSTER, alternative, viticultural term for abunch of grapes

CM/CV, abbreviates Classic Methods/ClassicVarietes, the name of a california voluntaryproducer association for many of that statesmost champagne-like sparkling wine

COAL RIVER, wine region in tasmania

COA ST E R S, To th o s e i n t e re sted in wineantiques, wine coasters are small circular,high sided trays for decanters which preventdamage or spillaghe. They also help protectthe decanter from damage. The earliest ofthem date from 1750s and within 20 years theyhad become very popular. Mant are made ofsilver with wooden bases, the best quality oneshaving silver bases as too. Treen (turned wood)examples were a cheap alternative, as those inpapier mache. Of the latter many were deco-rated in gilt againt a black or red backgroundwhile others were embellished with horizontalribs annd Sheffield plated mounts

Coasters for magnums and half bottles arehughly outnumbered by those bottle sizeddecanters. The 19th century saw a a generalelaboration of design and decanter changedshape, so coasters followed with progressivelyeverted sides often accompanied by cast bord-

ders. Sheffield and electro plated coastertsbecame very popular from 1820. Like wine fun-nels, coasters were little made after the mid.19th century until the modern era when theybecame very popular probably because of thediminishing use of the table cloth

Double coasters, in the form of boats orwagons in silver and papier mache, enjoyed apopular run at the turn of the 18th and 19thcenturies. Some Irish examples were for 3decanters In that country, too there was avogue for incorporating coaters into dumbwaiters. In 1847 Richard Redgrave patented apapier mache tray of shaped outline th a tincorporated a pair of coasters. at the end ofthe century appeared very high sided coatersin electroplated copper which was designed tohide the bottle had a long production run.

R.N.H.B.Butler R. and Walking, G. The Book of Wine

Climate andWine Quality

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Climate andWine Quality

24 Climate andWine Quality

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CLOUDY BAY, seminal winery in the Marl-borough region of new zealand the brian-child of David Hohnen of Cape Mentelle inwe ste rn aust ra l i a. Its debut release ofmoodily labled Sauvignon Blanc in 1986 onex p o rt markets created a re p u tation fo rMarlbourgh Sauvignon and a cult for cloudyb ay almost ove rnight even although th egraped were brought in and the wine madeunder contract at another winery

CLUSTER, alternative, viticultural term for abunch of grapes

CM/CV, abbreviates Classic Methods/ClassicVarietes, the name of a california voluntaryproducer association for many of that statesmost champagne-like sparkling wine

COAL RIVER, wine region in tasmania

COA ST E R S, To th o s e i n t e re sted in wineantiques, wine coasters are small circular,high sided trays for decanters which preventdamage or spillaghe. They also help protectthe decanter from damage. The earliest ofthem date from 1750s and within 20 years theyhad become very popular. Mant are made ofsilver with wooden bases, the best quality oneshaving silver bases as too. Treen (turned wood)examples were a cheap alternative, as those inpapier mache. Of the latter many were deco-rated in gilt againt a black or red backgroundwhile others were embellished with horizontalribs and Sheffield plated mounts

Coasters for magnums and half bottles arehughly outnumbered by those bottle sizeddecanters. The 19th century saw a a generalelaboration of design and decanter changedshape, so coasters followed with progressivelyeverted sides often accompanied by cast bord-

ders. Sheffield and electro plated coastertsbecame very popular from 1820. Like wine fun-nels, coasters were little made after the mid.19th century until the modern era when theybecame very popular probably because of thediminishing use of the table cloth

Double coasters, in the form of boats orwagons in silver and papier mache, enjoyed apopular run at the turn of the 18th and 19thcenturies. Some Irish examples were for 3decanters In that country, too there was avogue for incorporating coaters into dumbwaiters. In 1847 Richard Redgrave patented apapier mache tray of shaped outline th a tincorporated a pair of coasters. at the end ofthe century appeared very high sided coatersin electroplated copper which was designed tohide the bottle had a long production run.

R.N.H.B.Butler R. and Walking, G. The Book of WineAntiques (Woodbridge 1986).Clayton, M. Collectors Dictionary of theSilver and Gold of Great Britain andNorth America (new edn, Woodbridge 1985)

COCKBURN, port house which in the secondhalf of the 20th century made the transitionfrom bulk shipper to brand leader in thei mp o rtant British market. The house wa sfounded in 1815 by Ro b e rt Cock b u rn andGeorge Wauchope who a year later were joinedby Captain William Creig. A year laterRobertC o ck b u rns sons Archibald and Alexa n d e rjoined the companyand openned up a officein London. In 1845, the brothers Henr y andJohn Smithes joined the comany whichbecame Cock b u rn Smithes and Co. JohnSmithes intiated a system for blending. Hemarried Eleanor Cobb annd both Smithes andCobb families remainedin the firm for manygenerations. Peter Cobb joined Cockburns in1960 and became a director of the company inOporto in 1980. In 1962 Cockburns became anassociate company of harvers of Bristol andsubsequently part of the Allied Domecq con-gl o m e rate. A year prev i o u s ly Harveys hadbrought Martinez Gassiot, transforming thetwo houses from fierce competitors to part-ners. S.A. & R.J.M

COFFEE HOUSES. The tradition drink of thea rabs, coffee was introduced to we st e rnEurope in ther mid 17th century. Like tea andchocolate it was soon to pose a seroius threatto the popularity of wine

The first English cooffee house was repute-ly opened in a room in the Angle Inn inOxfords High Street in 1650 and within a cou-ple of years the trend had taken hold inLondon.

By 1660s coffee houses wre challenging thet raditional English tave rn and not onlybecause they served this novel beverage whichwas very cheap and had the added advantageof not makinf you dru n k, samuel Pe py s ,among others visited these penny universities

CLOUDY BAY, seminal winery in the Marl-borough region of new zealand the brian-child of David Hohnen of Cape Mentelle inwe ste rn aust ra l i a. Its debut release ofmoodily labled Sauvignon Blanc in 1986 onex p o rt markets created a re p u tation fo rMarlbourgh Sauvignon and a cult for cloudyb ay almost ove rnight even although th egraped were brought in and the wine madeunder contract at another winery

CLUSTER, alternative, viticultural term for abunch of grapes

CM/CV, abbreviates Classic Methods/ClassicVarietes, the name of a california voluntaryproducer association for many of that statesmost champagne-like sparkling wine

COAL RIVER, wine region in tasmania

COA ST E R S, To th o s e i n t e re sted in wineantiques, wine coasters are small circular,high sided trays for decanters which preventdamage or spillaghe. They also help protectthe decanter from damage. The earliest ofthem date from 1750s and within 20 years theyhad become very popular. Mant are made ofsilver with wooden bases, the best quality oneshaving silver bases as too. Treen (turned wood)examples were a cheap alternative, as those inpapier mache. Of the latter many were deco-rated in gilt againt a black or red backgroundwhile others were embellished with horizontalribs annd Sheffield plated mounts

Coasters for magnums and half bottles arehughly outnumbered by those bottle sizeddecanters. The 19th century saw a a generalelaboration of design and decanter changedshape, so coasters followed with progressivelyeverted sides often accompanied by cast bord-ders. Sheffield and electro plated coastertsbecame very popular from 1820. Like wine fun-nels, coasters were little made after the mid.19th century until the modern era when theybecame very popular probably because of thediminishing use of the table cloth

Double coasters, in the form of boats orwagons in silver and papier mache, enjoyed apopular run at the turn of the 18th and 19thcenturies. Some Irish examples were for 3decanters In that country, too there was avogue for incorporating coaters into dumbwaiters. In 1847 Richard Redgrave patented apapier mache tray of shaped outline th a tincorporated a pair of coasters. at the end ofthe century appeared very high sided coatersin electroplated copper which was designed tohide the bottle had a long production run.

R.N.H.B.Butler R. and Walking, G. The Book of WineAntiques (Woodbridge 1986).Clayton, M. Collectors Dictionary of theSilver and Gold of Great Britain andNorth America (new edn, Woodbridge 1985)

COCKBURN, port house which in the secondhalf of the 20th century made the transitionfrom bulk shipper to brand leader in thei mp o rtant British market. The house wa sfounded in 1815 by Ro b e rt Cock b u rn andGeorge Wauchope who a year later were joinedby Captain William Creig. A year laterRobertC o ck b u rns sons Archibald and Alexa n d e rjoined the companyand openned up a officein London. In 1845, the brothers Henry andJohn Smithes joined the comany whichbecame Cock b u rn Smithes and Co. JohnSmithes intiated a system for blending. Hemarried Eleanor Cobb annd both Smithes andCobb families remainedin the firm for manygenerations. Peter Cobb joined Cockburns in1960 and became a director of the company inOporto in 1980. In 1962 Cockburns became anassociate company of harvers of Bristol andsubsequently part of the Allied Domecq con-gl o m e rate. A year prev i o u s ly Harveys hadbrought Martinez Gassiot, transforming thetwo houses from fierce competitors to part-ners. S.A. & R.J.M

COFFEE HOUSES. The tradition drink of thea rabs, coffee was introduced to we st e rnEurope in ther mid 17th century. Like tea andchocolate it was soon to pose a seroius threatto the popularity of wine

The first English cooffee house was repute-ly opened in a room in the Angle Inn inOxfords High Street in 1650 and within a cou-ple of years the trend had taken hold inLondon.

By 1660s coffee houses wre challenging thet raditional English tave rn and not onlybecause they served this novel beverage whichwas very cheap and had the added advantageof not makinf you dru n k, samuel Pe py s ,among others visited these penny universitiesin order to catch up on the citys gossip or joina political debate.

The kings government reacted ubeasily tothe coffee houses popularity, fearing them ahotbed of poloitical dissent and the greatressort of idle and disaffected personsbut a proclammation to ban them (1675) cameto nothing. Each Coffee house had its ownregular clientelebe in it Litera ry. cleri c a l ,aristocratic or commercial. Some of the morepopular survive as Gentlemans clubs whilstcoffee houses in Europe evolved into thatubiquitous instition the cafe H.B.

Au b e ri n - Pot te r, N. and Bennett, A., Oxfo rdCoffee Houses 16511800 (Oxford 1987)Ellis, A., The Penny Universities; A History of theCoffee Houses (London 1956)

CLOUDY BAY, seminal winery in the Marl-borough region of new zealand the brian-child of David Hohnen of Cape Mentelle inwe ste rn aust ra l i a. Its debut release ofmoodily labled Sauvignon Blanc in 1986 onex p o rt markets created a re p u tation fo r

Marlbourgh Sauvignon and a cult for cloudyb ay almost ove rnight even although th egraped were brought in and the wine madeunder contract at another winery

CLUSTER, alternative, viticultural term for abunch of grapes

CM/CV, abbreviates Classic Methods/ClassicVarietes, the name of a california voluntaryproducer association for many of that statesmost champagne-like sparkling wine

COAL RIVER, wine region in tasmania

COA ST E R S, To th o s e i n t e re sted in wineantiques, wine coasters are small circular,high sided trays for decanters which preventdamage or spillaghe. They also help protectthe decanter from damage. The earliest ofthem date from 1750s and within 20 years theyhad become very popular. Mant are made ofsilver with wooden bases, the best quality oneshaving silver bases as too. Treen (turned wood)examples were a cheap alternative, as those inpapier mache. Of the latter many were deco-rated in gilt againt a black or red backgroundwhile others were embellished with horizontalribs annd Sheffield plated mounts

Coasters for magnums and half bottles arehughly outnumbered by those bottle sizeddecanters. The 19th century saw a a generalelaboration of design and decanter changedshape, so coasters followed with progressivelyeverted sides often accompanied by cast bord-ders. Sheffield and electro plated coastertsbecame very popular from 1820. Like wine fun-nels, coasters were little made after the mid.19th century until the modern era when theybecame very popular probably because of thediminishing use of the table cloth

Double coasters, in the form of boats orwagons in silver and papier mache, enjoyed apopular run at the turn of the 18th and 19thcenturies. Some Irish examples were for 3decanters In that country, too there was avogue for incorporating coaters into dumbwaiters. In 1847 Richard Redgrave patented apapier mache tray of shaped outline th a tincorporated a pair of coasters. at the end ofthe century appeared very high sided coatersin electroplated copper which was designed tohide the bottle had a long production run.

R.N.H.B.Butler R. and Walking, G. The Book of WineAntiques (Woodbridge 1986).Clayton, M. Collectors Dictionary of theSilver and Gold of Great Britain andNorth America (new edn, Woodbridge 1985)

COCKBURN, port house which in the secondhalf of the 20th century made the transitionfrom bulk shipper to brand leader in thei mp o rtant British market. The house wa sfounded in 1815 by Ro b e rt Cock b u rn andGeorge Wauchope who a year later were joined

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