Photo by Subhash Nusetti on Unsplash
It really is true that southern hemisphere wines are older than northern hemisphere wines!
This is simply because of the opposite seasons between the northern hemisphere and the southern hemisphere.
So, if you compare wines labeled as "2020" from a southern hemisphere country versus a northern hemisphere country, the wine from the southern hemisphere would have been harvested earlier in the year 2020 (typically between February and April), while the wine from the northern hemisphere would have been harvested later in the year 2020 (typically between August and October).
Thus, even though they're both labeled as being produced as part of the 2020 vintage, the wine from the southern hemisphere is actually older in terms of the time elapsed since harvest.
This variance allows winemakers to produce wine year-round and can influence the characteristics of the grapes and resulting wines due to differences in climate, weather patterns, and growing conditions.
So next time you are looking for an ‘older’ bottle of wine, you’ll also need to consider where the wine was produced!
Notable Northern Hemisphere Wine Producing Countries: France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Portugal, United States, Canada, China, Japan, Austria, Greece, Hungary, Croatia and Mexico.
Notable Southern Hemisphere Wine Producing Countries: Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, Chile, South Africa, Brazil, Uruguay and Peru