New World Wine vs Old World Wine

New world wine and old world wine are common terms in the wine industry. The definition for each is also different in the wine industry compared to the breakout of new world and old world in historical documents.

Old world wines are wines from the older wine producing regions. The majority of these are located in both eastern and western Europe, part of Asia and northern Africa. This is where the heart of the wine industry started thousands of years ago.

France, Italy and Spain are the three largest wine producing countries in the world. All three are in the old world wine category.

New world wine is wine from newer wine regions. These include North, Central and South America, Southern Africa, Australia and New Zealand.  This category includes the popular wines from Napa Valley and Sonoma County in California.

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Wine Making Technique and Regulation Differences

Location is not the only difference between the two categories. The old world wine regions use wine making methods that are more traditional and proven to create a specific quality of wine. New world wine techniques vary slightly and there is freedom to try new techniques.

Old world wine producers believe that environment is the key to making great wines. Sunlight, temperature, soil, amount of rain and other environmental factors drive the quality of their wines. The name for this in France is terrior and terreno in Spain.

Although new world wine makers agree that environmental factors are important, they do not swear by terrior as much as the old world wine producers. They do believe that great grapes make great wine and bad grapes make bad wine, but they do not consider location and its environmental factors as seriously as old world wine makers do.

The reason for the difference of opinion is that each category has unique regulations. Old world wine regions have very strict rules around what they can do. The rules for new world wine producers are not as strict.

Each old world country has its own quality ranking system that the government approves. Here are examples of the rules the old world wine producers must follow:

• Where Grapes Are Grown: They can only grow grapes within well-defined areas of production.


• Types of Wines: Each area has a list of approved wines the wine makers can grow. The rules strictly prohibit them from adding other varieties into their wines. Some regions can only grow Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. Others do not grow any red wines, but can only grow white varieties.


• Grapes Harvested Per Hectare: Producers only produce a certain amount of wine per hectare. By trimming their vines, they reduce the number of grapes on each one. In turn, those grapes left on the vines get all the nutrients and are higher quality.

Old world wine makers follow these rules in order to receive a quality ranking. It is the AOC system in France, DO system in Spain and DOC in Italy. These are the three best-known examples of high quality wine rating systems for the old world wine producers.

As I mentioned above, new world wine regions also have regulations, but they are not as strict. Each country's government has certain rules. None of them regulate varieties or specify the growing boundaries in quite the same way as the old world countries.

Since new world wine producers have the freedom to plant any variety, they can experiment to see what works best in their environment instead of only growing what is allowed by law. This is also why you will see a number of different types of red wine from new world wine producers in one region. Napa Valley, for example, grows hundreds of varieties and produces high quality wines from several different types of grapes.

Old world wine producers usually only release one wine a year. Since they are limited on what they can do, they put all of their efforts into creating just the one wine. They use all of the grapes from their chateau or Vineyard to create that one wine each year.

Outside the Quality System: Super Tuscans in Italy

Old world wine producers that do not follow the rules are outside the main quality system. This makes it harder for them to market and sell their wines globally to grow their business. Many of them choose to just distribute and sell their wines locally.

However, there is a classic example of a group of people that became successful selling their wines outside the system. These are the wines known as ‘Super Tuscans’ in Italy.

A few decades ago, several producers were interested in experimenting with new varietals. As I mentioned above, this disqualifies them from the quality systems.

They blended Cabernet Sauvignon with the Italian native Sangiovese wine. At the time, regulations did not permit this blend.

However, this group had great marketing abilities and called their wines Super Tuscans. They produced high quality wines, promoted them quite a bit and eventually the consumers caught on. They are now some of the most popular wines from Italy.

Wine Labels for Old World vs New World Wine

Another difference is the two categories label their wines different. This is a little confusing to the end consumer.

Old world wines have strict regulations on what they can add to their labels. Most are not able to include the types of red wine in their blend. Instead, they label by region, village or other area designation. On their labels, you will also see the Chateaux, the vintage and the alcohol content by volume. That is about it.

New world wine includes more information. They include the type of red wine in the bottle. If it is a blend, they include the list of wines and the percent of each in the blend. They also include the winery name, the vintage, the name of the vineyard and the alcohol by volume.

Is New World Wine or Old World Wine Better?

That is a heated question and is a constant debate in the wine industry. For me, I love both in different ways. At times, I am in the mood for a more traditional French Bordeaux. Other times, I am in the mood to try a Zinfandel new world wine from Dry Creek.

Here is a list of what I think are the pros and cons for each one:

• Old World Wine
• Pros
• Wine buyer knows by the label what quality of wine they are getting
• Fewer questions on the quality of wine or technique used within the region  
• Wine producer knows that their higher quality wine is worth more
• Cons
• Producers have very little freedom to experiment if they want to stay in the quality system
• Difficult for the wine buyer to understand the type of wine if they are used to buying new world wine in this manner
• Industry cannot move as quickly to changes in demand or other market conditions


• New World Wine
• Pros
• More freedom for the wine makers to try different things and experiment
• Easy for the consumer to purchase based on varietal since it is right on the label
• Able to move faster to meet changing market demands
• Cons
• Harder for the buyer to tell quality of wine by price
• More differences in quality levels within one region

Now that you know the pros and cons. I will let you decide!

Taste & Compare For Yourself

I would not leave you without a way to test it out for yourself. However, given the differences in the wines from each category, it is sometimes a difficult taste comparison.

The best and classic way to taste the two categories together is to taste a Bordeaux wine against a Napa Valley wine. Find a left bank Bordeaux, where the blend is primarily Cabernet Sauvignon wine. These are wines from Graves, Margaux, Pauillac and Medoc. Then find a similar Napa Valley Cabernet. Vintage doesn't really matter since the weather patterns for the same year in each location could be completely different.

If you shop in a wine store, make sure you get help from someone that in knowledgeable in both regions. They can help you pair the two wines for your tasting.

If you want to buy online, here is a pairing I recommend:

Margaux Wine: Margaux is one of the most important AOCs, or quality designated wine regions in the world. They are famous for their red Bordeaux blends of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and small amounts of Petit Verdot. Find out more about this important red wine growing region and how you can get your hands on some of their amazing wines.

Best Cabernet Sauvignon Wine: Almost every wine region in the world produces at least a few acres of Cabernet Sauvignon wine every year. However, there are four areas that rise above the rest. Read on to discover the four wine regions with some of the best Cabernet Sauvignon in the world.

Napa Valley Red Wines: Napa Valley is another well known red wine producing region. Here you will find a variety of reds from Cabernet Sauvignon to Pinot Noir. Uncover recommendations for many of the different types of red wine produced in Napa Valley.