In July 2017 I visited, together with other colleagues, some wine-growing areas in Portugal.
Like Spain, the territory is decidedly suited to the production of red wines (85% of wine production); little rainfall and concentrated in autumn-winter and a decidedly warm climate favor the complete ripening of the red berry. The reference vines are Touriga national, Tinta Roriz and others. Albarinho, Loureiro, etc. are the white ones. For the latter, the climatic requirements impose the production of fresh wines, harvested early with good acidity, tending to be light but suitable for the current market needs. Their production is however limited to 15% of the total production, so it is perfectly clear that the main effort is concentrated on red grape varieties. My visit, which also included a stop to visit the cork processing plants and a decortica in the forest, was concentrated in the Douro Valley, famous for the production of Port wine, which lives on a centuries-old history, perhaps a bit touristy. Here this “strengthened” wine is proposed in various forms ranging from white Port, Tawny, Pink, Ruby, Colheita, LBV and Vintage, depending on the grapes, ageing or harvest.

Recently I visited two areas of Spain: Ribera del Duero and Ruedo; the first one for the great Tempranillo-based reds and the second one for some whites, including Verdejo and Sauvignon.
There is no doubt that Spain is recovering very well from the economic crisis that has involved us all, and of course the wine sector has not escaped this rebirth either. The viticulture practiced in these areas is similar to the Italian one with a great prevalence of guyot and spurred cordon. There are, however, several cases of alberello mainly in Ribera and therefore with red varieties. The oenology is particularly developed with technologically very advanced wineries, where quality is pursued from the smallest detail, with selections of grapes already in the crushing phase and subsequent vinification with automatic systems of the latest generation. Tasting the red wines of Ribera, I found a lot of fullness and alcohol content tending to be high. However talking with local technicians, there is the desire to reduce the sugar concentration as much as possible with techniques that involve increasing the phenolic maturity before the technological one.

I was recently in Cina to visit the local wine-producing areas considered among the most suitable for quality, in particular the Ningxia area. Well, I must say that I was surprised by the technology used and the investments underway. I also noticed a great influence of French thought that, as often happens, has preceded all the others. The climate is decidedly continental with very hot summers and very harsh winters, where, moreover, the plants are covered with earth and uncovered at the beginning of spring.
The soil is sandy and loamy, therefore it must be irrigated during the summer, otherwise the scarcity of rain would compromise production. Cabernet Sauvignon is mainly cultivated and reaches good maturity in a relatively short time, shortening the production cycle. However, this could be a limit for phenolic maturity. There are also Merlot, Shyrah and among the whites, Chardonnay. As I was saying, there is no limit to technological investments, which are mostly of Italian origin with economic resources that seem decidedly high. At the tastings, the wines were interesting, with high gradations, but maybe with some limits in the general balance, due, as I said, to the shortening of the vegetative cycle for climatic reasons.