© Feudo Montoni | Sicilian producers like Feudo Montoni are capturing consumers’ hearts and minds with their earth-friendly approach to winemaking.
What wine regions should wine collectors and enthusiasts invest in now, and 10 years down the line? Over the years, the answer to this perennial question has changed a few times – and it appears to be changing again.
What collectors, sommeliers and gatekeepers deemed to be classic benchmark wine regions changed following radical revolutions in winemaking in Tuscany and Rioja in the 1960s and ’70s. Following the Judgment of Paris in 1976, Napa joined the holy trinity of Bordeaux, Burgundy and Champagne, and all have been propped up as exemplars of excellence ever since, against which every other region is compared or assessed.
Other regions have emerged, with slightly less pomp and circumstance, and were crowned, often justly, as a next great region to watch: i.e. the Willamette Valley, Marlborough, Mendoza. The good times, for wine, it seemed, would just keep getting better.
We know what happened next: the great times got less good, and now, amid tariffs and inflation, there are reasons to think the so-so era we’re currently in may actually get worse, at least for a time.
Plus, there’s a grim backbeat the industry can’t ignore: a shift in consumption patterns, a reluctance among younger people to embrace high-end wine collection on a broad scale and continual climate change “challenges” that threaten the future of the regions in which grapes are believed to reach their apotheosis.
But while the rapid socio-economic shifts and environmental catastrophes that globalization and industrialization have precipitated do in fact threaten many aspects of wine culture, there have also been benefits. Technological advancements have ensured that wine can be made and consumed across the world, and awareness of and appreciation of fine wine has never been more widespread.
Amid these broad intellectual and economic changes, many in the industry are quietly rethinking and expanding the idea of what a benchmark even means.
“There seems to me a fallacy that people will always follow those who precede them,” says Rob McMillan, executive vice president and founder of Silicon Valley Bank’s Wine Division in St. Helena. “That has driven the myth that all we have to do is wait for younger people to grow older. But while we do model after others, I don’t know of a teenager that wants to drive their parents’ car to school. Given enough money, they will pick something different.”
The next big things
The question is … how different? There are several regions that have managed the incredible trick of emerging as both fogey collector candy and young gun elixir.
Sicily, for example, is starting to see outside investments, which if Tuscany, Napa and the Willamette Valley are any indication, is the prelude for a serious increase in bottle value.
“You’re seeing outside investments in Sicily, coming from northern Italy,” says Rocco Lombardo, president of New York’s Wilson Daniels, a fine wine marketing and sales company. “Thankfully, there are winegrowing families like the Gaja family who have identified the potential in Sicily and made the investment. The marriage of the Graci and the Gaja families with their IDDA project lends legitimacy to the wines of Sicily.”
Warmer temperatures in otherwise auspicious terroirs are also helping add weight and nuance to wines emerging from Mount Etna, Lombardo says.
“The wines of Mount Etna today have more flesh to them,” Lombardo says. “There’s real expression and purity due to the altitude and the volcanic soils. I’m also very bullish on the potential of the inland where Feudo Montoni is located, and how insulated it is.”
Fabio Sireci, proprietor and winemaker of Feudo Montoni, which was founded in 1469 and is one of Sicily’s oldest wineries, notes that the wines are gaining more attention from young and established enthusiasts, due to their devotion to organic agriculture, traditional cultivation methods and the longevity of their wines.
“There’s a saying in Sicilian dialect: ‘Curri quanto voi che cà ti aspetto’, which translates to: ‘run as fast as you like, I’ll be waiting for you here’,” Sireci says, of his earth-friendly approach to winegrowing and careful observance of a sometimes fickle wine market. “Due to the high altitude of our vineyards, which creates major thermic excursions between night and day, producing wines of high acidity and low ph, collectors are increasingly interested in current and historical vintages of ours, both reds and whites.”
In certain portions of the Loire region of France, particularly Chinon, Anjou and Samur, Savienerrieres, a combination of economic and climatic factors are also boosting a region that was already on its way to star status, argues Arthur Hon, a sommelier and wine educator who has helmed the drinks programs at The Modern, Sepia and others.
“Certain regions of the Loire are at the forefront of the biodynamic, organic and natural wine movement because of a generational changing of the guard there,” says Hon. “Some of the most exciting and food friendly Cabernet Francs and Chenin Blancs are emerging from the Loire, especially as regions like Burgundy price themselves out of the market.”
Speaking of Burgundy, Allison Slute, a wine educator and consultant who has devoted much of her career to the study and exploration of Cabernet Franc, predicts that “in 50 years, we will be speaking about Cabernet Franc and the patchwork of soils and geology in Loire in the same way we discuss Burgundy now. From a climate and diversity perspective, the future of France is in the Loire. And because some of the region’s best wines remain remarkably affordable, I advise folks all the time to invest in producers like Olga Raffault, Bernard Baudry, Antoine Sanzay and Domaine des Roches Neuves.”
Great vintages used to happen twice in a decade, but these days, thanks to warmer temperatures and improved technology, greatness is more an annual expectation in the Loire.
Meanwhile, across the world, Tasmania shares little in common with the Loire or Sicily, except for its climate-change friendly terroir, and penchant for attracting both established and nouveau wine enthusiasts.
It’s southerly, cool, island climate insulates it from “the biggest impacts of climate change”, says David LeMire, Master of Wine, head of sales and marketing and joint CEO of Shaw + Smith and Tolpuddle Vineyard. “And Tasmania has a feeling of remoteness and something unique, a sense of discovery and difference that makes it fun to explore.”
That discovery process is par for the course for a new region, even for producers. When Tolpuddle was founded in 1988, it was as a sparkling house. But the team now produces acclaimed still Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays, which frequently appear – along with their sparkling wines – on lists of the most collected wines in Australia, and in other markets as well.
“We have to thank a lot of sommeliers who have shared their excitement about the wines, and we will always try to keep wine available to be in restaurants where it can be shared so it is not all collected,” LeMire says. “But it is exciting to be seen as collectible.”
And as regions around the world pull out vineyards, Tasmania keeps planting them, Sheralee Davies, CEO of Wine Tasmania says.
“There are a few reasons the interest in Tasmanian wine continues to grow,” Davies speculates. “Our climate, varietal and stylistic attributes match with changing consumer preferences, particularly as people are choosing to drink less but better wine. For those who value scarcity and appreciate the value of seeking out the hard to get, that’s us.”
© Bodega Colomé | Argentina’s high-altitude Salta region is turning heads with a combination of altitude-driven acidity and sun-warmed ripeness.
The next next big thing
For many of the regions that are on their way to becoming benchmark material, remoteness in geography, tempered by a relaxed approach to hospitality (read: the opposite approach of typical wine regions) is also a factor. Perhaps counterintuitively, amid an era of declining visitorship to major wine regions, being difficult to get to can make a place seem more destination worthy. These regions also showcase a more diverse range of grapes and styles – and a more accessible price point.
Salta, perched in northwestern Argentina, offers up one of the planet’s most extreme winegrowing regions, with vineyards planted anywhere between 1600 to more than 3000 meters (5250-9850 feet) above sea level. There are just 60 producers, but many of the projects are sizable, with about 7400 acres under vine.
The high elevations, with intense solar exposure and stark diurnal temperature variation allow grapes “to develop phenolic ripeness while preserving vibrant acidity and freshness, even as temperatures rise”, says Thibaut Delmotte, winemaker at Salta’s Bodega Colomé.
The dry and windy climate also makes it easier to farm without chemicals, making it especially promising for changing climates and tastes. Ultimately of course, the high elevation region has also been rising in estimation due the quality of its grapes.
“Salta is capturing the attention of wine lovers for the same reason that great terroirs always do,” Delmotte says. “Its wines are distinct, expressive and rooted in place. While it’s long been known for its signature white grape, Torrontés, and intensely concentrated Malbec, the region is now showing remarkable versatility, with Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon and Tannat thriving here and delivering sun-drenched concentration and mountain freshness.”
Tourists are flocking for the wines, but also the distinct culture and landscape. Wineries, including Colomé are leaning into cowboy hospitality.
“We offer experiences that go far beyond the traditional tasting room,” Delmotte says. “Visitors can connect with nature through guided horseback rides and hikes across vast, unspoiled terrain – ecotourism experiences that celebrate the biodiversity of the region and its deep connection to the land. We also have the James Turrell Museum on our estate.”
The museum serves up a half-century summary of his career: light rooms and an open-roof observatory, drawing art, light and space geeks who want to immerse themselves in the only museum dedicated to an artist beloved by everyone by contemporary art collectors and culture-shaping superstars like Beyoncé and (sigh) Kanye West.
Going far to get very remote is essential for lovers of Swartland too.
In South Africa’s Swartland, where many of the region’s 172 grapegrowers farm organically and biodynamically (but don’t have certification due to the cost) from old vine mountain sites, the mineral-driven Chenin Blanc, spicy Syrahs and smattering of lesser-known Mediterranean and French varieties like Cinsault, Claudette Blanc and Tinta Barocca are attracting collectors who connect with the rugged beauty of the region and the authenticity of the grower-producers’ visions, Jim Clarke, marketing manager for Wines of South Africa, explains.
“Wines like Eben Sadie’s Columella and Palladius have always been [sought by collectors],” Clarke says. “Nowadays we can also point to wines like the single-soil Chenin Blancs and Syrahs of the Mullineuxs, Adi Badenhorst’s single-vineyard wines and the Porseleinberg Syrah.”
Chris Mullineaux notes that the dry, sunny climate, ancient soils and old vines create “healthy fruit with lots of natural intensity and complexity. Our winemakers here are also real and down to earth, so it’s easy for consumers to connect with what we’re trying to do. People seem to be looking for experiences here in Swartland that are more natural, relaxed and authentic, and at the same time, we’re appearing in more fine merchants, fine dining restaurants and in collectors’ cellars.”
The Finger Lakes, a region that has been “up-and-coming” for 200 years, and gets the bragging rights of harboring the US’s oldest bonded winery, but also didn’t even see Vitis vinifera under vine until Dr. Frank Konstantin rolled the dice on the slopes of Keuka Lake in 1957, is also, perhaps, finally set to earn its due. And we may have a global pandemic to thank for that.
“We’ve been making great wine in the Finger Lakes for decades, but we struggled to get traction in New York City until Covid quite frankly,” says Jason Ferris, the resident sommelier at Dr. Konstantin Frank. Ferris grew up in the Finger Lakes, and worked for years as a sommelier in the fine-dining space, where he says other sommeliers “laughed” at him when he tried to get them to try wines from the region.
“But that changed during Covid, when people who would normally fly to Europe were suddenly coming up here,” he says. “People felt more comfortable in their own state, and it’s really when New York City discovered us.”
At Ravines Wine Cellars, co-founder Lisa Hallgren says that while there has been an influx of visitors and serious collectors in the past few years, there was a slow build of quiet admiration that she noticed around 2010.
“When we first started trying to share our wines at trade shows in 2007, I had to chase sommeliers down to get them to try our wines,” Hallgren says. “As soon as they saw Finger Lakes on the label, they’d walk away. But once we were named in Wine Spectator’s Top 100 wines of 2010, sommeliers from across the country began calling us.”
Ravines now appears on the top wine lists of the city – including those run by Daniel Boulud, Danny Meyer and Jean-Georges Vongrichten – and sells out their still and traditional method sparkling wine releases. And as many other wine regions struggle to fill seats in tasting rooms, Hallgren and her cohorts around the Finger Lakes are consistently busy.
Part of is the newfound fame of the region. But the relatively low cost of entry can’t hurt either: tastings in the Finger Lakes are generally by the glass, bottles (even the traditional method sparklers on the lees for six years, and the single-vineyard, ultra-premium, cellar-worthy Rieslings and Cabernet Francs) top out at $50-$75, the atmosphere is aggressively relaxed. Plus, there is the infectious sense of fun that pervades many of the events.
“We just like to make wine and throw events that we ourselves like,” Hallgren says. “We’re animal lovers, so on World Donkey Day – mark your calendars, please, it’s May 8, every year – we offer tastings of four of our wines, Parmesan pastry, and the opportunity to hand-feed carrots to our miniature donkeys. People love it! They come every year. And it draws attention to the plight of donkeys.”
Can’t argue with that kind of logic.
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