What A Wine Map Can Tell You

By Brad On August 1, 2009 Under Low Fat Cooking Recipes

There are more big wine fans and follows around now than there ever has been before. You cannot blame them for being hooked by some of the wonderful wines out there, and lots of people find they develop it as a hobby without really realizing it. They’ve invested in a vintage collection of wine wines, they’ve converted their spare room into a storage cellar, bought a selection of different wine glasses so that they can get the maximum enjoyment of each wine variety, and have all the necessary tableware gadgets for opening and pouring their wine.

What most people do not have however are wine maps, showing exactly which regions produce which wine and at what time of the year. Gone are the days when wine maps were rough guides on various wine areas, and instead we now have quality maps that have been researched and updated regularly. The California wine map for example is updated every year due to the complicated layout of the area, especially after Napa Valley was officially recognized as an American Viticultural Area in 1981. This means that there are 108 AVAs in the area, all providing different grape varieties and wine qualities.

Lots of people tend to rely on the information they can cleave from the label on the wine bottle, but if you really want to understand the wines you drink and why they each have their own unique tastes a wine map is a must. Wine regions can be quite confusing to say the least, so if you are actually going to see one for yourself, a wine map is as important to take as a wine glass. There are so many different factors that go into defining a wine’s taste and lots of them overlap between various vineyards and production areas. A wine map will allow you to not only understand the wines better but also identify where the tastes and aromas coming from your wine glasses originated