Emerging Regions: Promises, Potential, and Prophecy

Over the past 15 years, a number of tectonic movements have multiplied our wine choices tenfold. From the southern extremes of Patagonia to the bold experiments underway in sub-Saharan Africa, investors are busy redrawing the global viticultural map. Their individual motivations may vary; however, they share a willingness to push boundaries and take bold risks – gleefully throwing tradition out of the window.

Yet established wineries who channel the spirit of Arctic explorer Shackleton often do so for reasons of expediency. As global warming accelerates, many growers are looking nervously at ever-increasing alcohol degrees. The race is on to beat an increasingly mercurial climate and make lighter wines despite what nature now throws at them. And one solution is to use elevation and/or latitude, developing regions that would have been considered wholly unsuitable for viticulture in the 20th century.

In Chile, Viña Montes has been at the forefront of regional exploration. In 2018, Aurelio Montes Jr chose the secluded island of Añihue as the location for his latest project, situated in the heart of the Patagonian Maritime Fiords in southern Chile. The nature reserve, located right in the mouth of the River Palena with 10,000ha of forests, mountains and fauna, now has a thriving vineyard planted to mainly classic French varieties - Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc – that are used to produce traditional method sparkling.

"Our vineyard is located in the heart of Patagonia, one of the most remote and rugged places in the world. To reach it, you first fly from Santiago to Chiloé Island," said Montes Jr.



He continued: "The landscape is like something out of Alaska – cold, rainy and wildly beautiful. It's been an incredibly challenging project, not only because of the difficulty of growing grapes in such an extreme environment, but also because we had to train local people who had never even seen a vine before." From South Africa to Rioja, the search for new, cooler terroirs is becoming an obsession for winemakers who prize acidity above all else.

Polski Sklep

At the other end of the world, entrepreneurs in Poland have created a thriving niche industry in a country more famously renowned for its potent, hangover-inducing vodka. Once the domain of a handful of hobby vineyards, Polish viticulture has expanded rapidly: since the early 2010s, the number of registered vineyards has soared across the country, although this is of course off a small base.

"Poland is starting to be recognised as a source of quality wine – it's definitely happening," said Maciej Sondij, co-owner of Dom Bliskowice, in 2018.

"Dom Bliskowice is already listed in Michelin-starred restaurants in the UK. If other producers follow and listen to their terroir, with time the quality should rise and rise."

Situated near the town of Kazimierz in central Poland, Dom Bliskowice's vineyards are planted on a gentle limestone slope over the Vistula river. According to research unveiled in 2024, recent climate data shows milder winters, earlier springs, longer growing seasons and fewer frost-days – all of which increase the feasibility of viticultural expansion across Poland over the next decade.

 

Nevertheless, producers are planting hybrid and cold-tolerant grapes as a sensible precaution, albeit Dom Bliskowice's biggest commercial success is the "Keskese" Pinot Noir – an ethereal, aromatic, and low alcohol style that is very much on-trend. For generations, Burgundy made its reputation on dainty expressions of this mercurial grape. Today, that mantle is being taken up elsewhere.

The regions of tomorrow

Meanwhile, parallel to cool-climate investment, the trend toward building domestic premium industries in countries (often with extreme climates) hitherto associated with cheap wine, table grapes, and spirits continues apace. China is the most obvious example – LVMH has spent considerable capital in Ningxia in the northwest – but the movement also encompasses India, Brazil, Mexico and even Thailand.

The motivation is clear: as GDP expands and the concomitant appetite for quality wine rises, premiumisation of domestic production offers control, responsiveness to local tastes, and insulation from foreign-exchange risk and tariff volatility. Moreover, as local palates develop, producers on the ground can quickly shape styles to regional preferences.

But perhaps the boldest of all experiments is taking place in Africa. In recent years, French multinational Castel has invested heavily in vineyards in the Ethiopian Rift Valley – a region whose climate was once considered antithetical to quality wine production.

Yet there are now more than 160 hectares planted in the region, producing red and white wines from vines that can normally deliver two harvests a year. Further south, table grape exporter Namibia has seen a modest (but promising) increase in premium brands, as small-scale wineries cautiously develop the Otavi Mountains and Neuras where viticulture takes place alongside wildlife tourism.

Of course, such gambles are not without considerable risk. While Africa's economy is going through an impressive transformation, it remains both fragile and capricious, as the Angolan economic disaster reminds us. Disease pressures, infrastructure challenges, political instability and the task of building a consumer culture for wine in nations where beer and spirits are king demand much time and patience.

"Instability is a fact of life in Africa and many of the nations we do business with are still politically volatile," once observed Lise Chapelier, formerly of Meridian Wine Merchants in Cape Town.

Yet the impetus for further expansion is strong. Global warming, shifting consumer markets and the potent allure of controlling production from within will likely ensure that in our lifetime, the unthinkable will become reality. Indeed, what links Patagonia, Poland, China and Ethiopia is not a soil type or grape variety, but a deeply human quality: a desire to redefine what is possible, invent new terroirs, and rewrite old wine geographies.

From the cool-climate terroirs of Poland to the subtropical heat of the Horn of Africa, ambitious stakeholders are blurring the lines of a once-familiar wine map. Ethiopian Cabernet Sauvignon an International Wine Challenge trophy winner? It's surely only a matter of time.