Knowledge

This is a list of non-subscription sources of information that I think are worth sharing.

Commentary

• The Drinks Business

Generic wine

Australia

• Barossa Grape and Wine Association
• New South Wales Wine Industry Association
• Great Southern Wine

Austria

• Austrian Wine
• Vinea Wachau Nobilis Districtus

Canada

• Wines of Canada
• VQA (Vintner’s Quality Alliance system) Ontario

Chile

• Wines of Chile

Eastern Europe

• Bulgarian Wines
• Georgian Wine Society (Caucasus).

England

• English Wine Producers, includes vineyard statistics, varieties …

France

• A catalogue of vines grown in France, by the Pl@ntgrape Project.
• Alsace, with individual grand cru sheets eg Rangen.
• Alsace wine guide
• Burgundy Wine Board (BIVB)
• Chateauneuf-du-Pape, the grapes of.
• Corsica, by Neel Burton
• Costieres de Nimes (AOC), Gard, along with Lirac and Tavel.
• Cotes de Gascogne still wines, the production area is coterminous with that of AOC Armagnac.
• Cru Bourgeois – tells the history, with the 1932 and 2003 classification lists, and up to date news.
• De Long’s Metro Style Wine Map of France.
• INAO, short for Institut National de l’Origine et de la Qualité, on 01/01/2007 it replaced 2 bodies – the Commission Nationale des Labels et Certifications, and the Institut National des Appellations d Origine (INAO); with the acronym INAO being retained.  Drill down to specific appellations, some entries are short … AND an alternative more user-friendly guide by Vin et Vigne.
• Irouleguy, a 9-strong co-operative.
• Jurancon
• Languedoc (AOC), official site, with lists of appellations eg AOC La Clape, denominations eg AOC Languedoc-Sommieres, and other info.
• Le Figaro Vin
• Loire Valley [0]
• Loire Valley [1]
• My French categories/appellations.
• Renaissance des Appellations organic and biodynamic group of producers.
• Rhone Valley wines.
• South-west France, A-Z denominations, info on AOC/AOPs – Bearn, Brulhois, Cahors, Coteaux du Quercy, Cotes de Millau, Entraygues et le Fel, Estaing, Fronton, Gaillac, Irouleguy, Jurancon, Madiran, Marcillac, Pacherenc du Vic-Bilh, Saint-Mont, Saint Sardos, Tursan; Regional IGPs – Comte De Tolosan; Other, less well-known IGPs – Agenais, Ariege, Aveyron, Coteaux de Glanes, Cotes de Gascogne, Cotes du Lot, Cotes du Tarn, Gers, Landes, Lavilledieu, Thezac-Perricard.

Germany

• German Wine.de
• Riesling, by Dr Loosen

Global

• Society of Wine Educators, news, maps and links.

Greece

• Greece and Grapes.

Italy

• Barolo, Barbaraesco, Alba, Langhe and Dogliano Consorzio.
• Barolo ageing and drinking advice.
• Bolgheri DOC
• Chianti Classico Consorzio
• Italian Wine Central – includes denominations and up to date stats.
• Langhe region Consorzio – covering wines of Alba, Barbaresco, Barolo, Dogliani and Langhe.
• My Italian categories/denominations.
• Quality levels
• Valpolicella Consorzio

New Zealand

• Central Otago Pinot Noir, the independent promotional organisation of the Central Otago Winegrowers.
• NZ Wine

Portugal

• Wines of Portugal

Spain

• Consejo Regulado of Rioja
• Rioja wine guide – courtesy of the Wine Society.
• Traditional vs modern styles of Rioja, Decanter (2015) [online] accessed 04/01/18.
• Wines from Spain

Switzerland

• Map of the Swiss wine regions – Romandie (French speaking cantons of Geneva, Neuchatel and the Three Lakes, Vaud and Valais), German (cantons of Graubunden, Thurgau et al) and Ticino (Italian speaking canton of Ticino).
• Swiss wine regulations – an official centrally set regulatory framework, within which the individual cantons are free to operate (in French). This is administered by the Federal Office for Agriculture (OFAG), which sets eg maximum yield in kg/sq.m., which is about 12 tonnes/hectare (GC Chablis is about 8 tonnes/hectare), but pretty much otherwise each canton sets its own regulations for varieties, yields (<=12t/ha) and so on.
• Vitiswiss – Swiss Federation for the Development of Sustainable Viti-viniculture.
• The Swiss Wine Industry. Mermier, P. 2002. Journal of the American Society for Enology and Viticulture, Vol.13, No.3, pp.145-149, 2002. [online]. Accessed 21/11/16.
• Geneva – regulation of vines and wines.
• Geneva – varieties, climate, soils.
• Grison (Fr) or Graubünden (De) – basic information.
• Neuchatel vins et terroir.
• Neuchatel and the Three Lakes (Neuchatel, Morat/Murten, Biel/Bienne)
• Tessin (De) or Ticino (It) – varieties, climate, soils
• Valais – l’Interprofession de la Vigne et du Vin du Valais.
• Vaud – Office des Vins Vaudois

Turkey

• Wines of Turkey

USA

• Oregon wine
• The Wine Institute, the voice for California Wine – statistics, AVAs.

Still wine

• Bottle fill levels.
• Breakdown of the cost of a bottle of wine, Spring 2020.
• CO₂ in still and other wine.
• Tannin in white wine.

Sparkling wine

• Champagne bottle codes decoded, but sadly not for Canard-Duchene.
• Champagne – CIVC
• Champagne – from terroir to wine – includes a great CIVC publication, in English, on this page, select Champagne, then the brochure From Vine to Wine.
• Crémant d’Alsace, website of the Conseil Interprofessionnel des Vins d’Alsace (CIVA) regional wine body.
• Crémant de Die, example producer, includes tasting notes.
• Clairette de Die (Maison de la), everything one needs to know.
• Cremant de Loire – official regional site, with tasting notes (in English)
• Kiwi sparkling, including carbonated, by Sally Easton MW.
• Limoux, the 3 sparkling AOC wines of Limoux; factual, with tasting notes (in French).
• Reserve wines, from a plain talking Australian site.
• Saumur brut (Loire) – official regional site, with tasting notes (in English).
• Sparkling worldwide, including France outside Champagne, my Unit 5 posts
• Vouvray (Loire) – official regional site, with tasting notes (in English).
• Yarra Valley, Victoria, Australian sparkling, by Jamie Goode.

Fortified wine

• Port – useful, covers IVDP, superficial compared to the Sherry site.
• Rutherglen Muscats
• Sherry – everything you need, to understand Sherry, including definitive tasting notes, and explanation of the Consejo Regulador and legal structure.

Spirits

• Absinthe, knowledgable UK site.
• Absinthe, the Wormwood Society
• Alcohol distillation, how and why distillation works, and continuous still operation, by Purdue University.
• Armagnac, Bureau National Interprofessionnel de l’Armagnac (BNIA), refer to INAO for production regulations.
• Bourbon, Kentucky Distillers Association.
• Brandy Classics, info on armagnac, calvados and cognac.
• Cidricole, official site covering Calvados, amongst other products of the region.
• Cognac, Bureau National Interprofessionnel du Cognac (BNIC), refer to INAO for production regulations.
• Cognac Expert
  
• Cognac knowledge, with producer tasting notes.
• Diffords Guide, lots of information covering eg armagnac, grappa, pisco,
• EU spirits regulations
• Genever/Jenever
• Grappa, Italian information site.
• Grappa tasting notes
• Spirits worldwide, my Unit 4 notes.
• Whisky Fun, more advanced tasting notes, worldwide coverage.
• Whisky.com
• Whisky science weblog

Updated 22/01/21