 This
library is a small sampling of the roughly 1,000 vine varieties used to produce fine wines around the world. Departing
from the grape, many of which are widely disseminated under various aliases, it outlines the most important areas of
cultivation for each grape and how the wine produced from it in that place is known.
There are two classic approaches to naming wines. The traditional “old world” (European) approach is
to name the wine for its place of origin, a reflection of the importance “terroir,” or the soil/climate
micro-environment, plays in the personality of the wine.
The more recent “new world” (Americas and the Southern Hemisphere) approach is to name the wine for the
grape from which it is produced, which suggests an emphasis on vine variety and winemaking technique.
The latter is much easier to understand, especially for non-polyglots,
yet lines can be drawn between the two which open doors to a more universal understanding of "wine through the vine."
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