USA

The fourth biggest wine producing country in the world after France, Italy and Spain. It's sometimes easy to forget about the wines of America when you're all the way down here in NZ, where we see relatively few of them. California is unarguably the powerhouse region, accounting for 90% of the country's production. But interestingly wine is produced in all but a couple of America's 50 states. With vastly varied topography, climate, and production styles (from boutique to factory) it's impossible to speak in general stylistic terms about American wine. But certainly there are qualitative generalities that are now well accepted. Think; Napa Cabernet, Sonoma Zinfandel and Oregon Pinot Noir. Stratospherically priced cult Napa reds tend to occupy a disproportionate amount of press coverage and at the other end of the spectrum, people love to cite the evils of cheap and nasty American 'jug wine'. But of course, somewhere in between is actually where all the fun lies for us normal folk - a real treasure trove of delicious, well-made wine just waiting to be discovered.