Over the past decade Argentina has evolved from a country not well known on the global wine scene to the New World’s fastest growing exporter of wines. The leading grape in Argentina in terms of reputation and quantity is Malbec, a Bordeaux variety imported to Argentina from France in the mid 19th century. Other red varieties produced in Argentina include Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Bonarda (known as Charbono in its native Italy), Syrah, Tempranillo and Pinot Noir.

Australia is proving that its wines have quality and diversity in abundance. The best wine-producing regions are located on the southern side of the country. The climate of individual regions has the greatest influence on wine style, and so the key to unlocking the potential of Australia’s wines is understanding the geographical distinction of its vineyards. The five most important wine states in Australia are: Western Australia, South Australia, Victoria, New South Wales, and Tasmania.

California wine is wine made in the U.S. state of California, it supplies a vast majority of the American wine production, along with New Mexico wine these American wine regions are longtime examples of viticulture within New World wine. Almost three quarters the size of France, California accounts for nearly 90 percent of production, the production of wine in California is one third larger than that of Australia. If California were a separate country, it would be the world’s fourth largest wine producer.

France is one of the largest wine producers in the world, along with Italian, Spanish, and American wine-producing regions. French wine traces its history to the 6th century BC, with many of France’s regions dating their wine-making history to Roman times. France is the source of many grape varieties (such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Sauvignon Blanc, Syrah) that are now planted throughout the world, as well as wine-making practices and styles of wine that have been adopted in other producing countries.

Italian wine is produced in every region of Italy, home to some of the oldest wine-producing regions in the world. Italy is the world’s largest producer of wine, with an area of 702,000 hectares (1,730,000 acres) under vineyard cultivation, and contributing a annual average of 48.3 million hl of wine. In 2018 Italy accounted for 19 percent of global production, ahead of France (17 percent) and Spain (15 percent).

Sake, (also referred to as Japanese rice wine), is an alcoholic beverage made by fermenting rice that has been polished to remove the bran. Despite the name, unlike wine, in which alcohol is produced by fermenting sugar that is naturally present in fruit (typically grapes), sake is produced by a brewing process more akin to that of beer, where starch is converted into sugars, which ferment into alcohol. The brewing process for sake differs from the process for beer, where the conversion from starch to sugar and then from sugar to alcohol occurs in two distinct steps. Like other rice wines, when sake is brewed, these conversions occur simultaneously.

New Zealand wine is produced in several wine growing regions of New Zealand. The country’s elongated island geography in the South Pacific Ocean results in maritime climates with considerable regional variation from north to south. Like many other New World wines, it is usually produced and labelled as single varietal wines, or if blended the varietal components are listed on the label. New Zealand is best known for its Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc, and more recently its dense, concentrated Pinot Noir from Marlborough, Martinborough and Central Otago.

The Oregon wine region has been exciting wine professionals and ahead-of-the-curve consumers for a while. In particular, its cool-climate, high quality Pinot Noir has inevitably been compared with Burgundy, although more in terms of outright quality than stylistic similarities. Approximately 60% of Oregon’s grape production is Pinot Noir, while Cabernet, Riesling and Chardonnay combined only make up 10%.

Spanish wines are wines produced in Spain on the Iberian Peninsula. Spain has over 1.2 million hectares (2.9 million acres) planted, making it the most widely planted wine-producing nation but it is the third largest producer of wine in the world, the largest being Italy and France, followed by the United States. This is due, in part, to the very low yields and wide spacing of the old vines planted on the dry, infertile soil found in some of the Spanish wine regions.

Washington wine is wine produced from grape varieties grown in the U.S. state of Washington. Washington ranks second in the United States (behind California) in the production of wine. By 2017, the state had over 55,000 acres of vineyards, a harvest of 229,000 short tons of grapes, and exports going to over 40 countries around the world from the 940+ wineries located in the state.