Central Otago wine region

The Central Otago wine region is the world's southern-most commercial wine growing region. Central Otago's best-known wines are its Pinot noirs, but many white wine varieties are also popular. The Central Otago Wine Region is the formal geographic indication for wines grown in Central Otago.

History of the wine region

Significant European occupation in this region started with the Central Otago Gold Rush in the 1860s, but a French immigrant gold miner, Jean Desire Feraud, soon started planting vines and embarking upon small-scale commercial wine production — even winning medals in Australian wine competitions. Late in the nineteenth century, the New Zealand government hired a winemaker to survey the country. While this early experimentation showed the wine-growing potential of the region, the wine industry did not survive for long on a commercial basis.

Starting in the 1950s, and up through the end of the 1970s, small scale trial plantings of vines began again both by private individuals and under the auspices of the New Zealand Department of Agriculture. By 1980 sufficient experience and confidence had been gained for small scale commercial plantings to be made.

List of wine-producing regions

This list of wine-producing regions catalogues significant growing regions where vineyards are planted. Wine grapes mostly grow between the 30th and the 50th degree of latitude, in both the Northern and Southern hemispheres. Grapes will sometimes grow beyond this range and minor amounts of wine are made in some very unexpected places.

In 2009, the five largest producers of wine in the world were, in order, Italy, France, Spain, the United States and China (see list of wine-producing countries for a complete rank).

Africa

Algeria

Cape Verde

Morocco

South Africa

Tunisia

Americas

Argentina