Discovery / Wine Regions
Follow the place · A world of connections
Wine Regions
Choose a part of the world, then a country and a region. Follow the map into grapes, local places and the people behind the wines.
Our collection is growing. Country groupings keep neighbouring discoveries together, while every regional introduction offers maps and connections to explore.
Point your Cork Compass
A place you know, or somewhere that sparks your curiosity? These invitations are shared with The Wandering Cork. Choose one, then follow a country, state or province into its regions.
Follow a grape · Explore a wine or blend · Help shape a future journey ↗
A shared invitation · Discovery & The Wandering Cork
Below the Equator
Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Argentina and Chile: choose a place to discover its wines, people and vineyard landscapes.
Australia · McLaren Vale
Explore the regional introduction, map and connections.
Begin the discovery →New Zealand · choose an island
South Africa · Cape Winelands
Explore the regional introduction, map and connections.
Begin the discovery →Argentina · Mendoza
Explore the regional introduction, map and connections.
Begin the discovery →Chile · choose a valley
Cabernet, Carménère and the people behind the blends.
Would you like to take that curiosity further? Tell The Wandering Cork where you would go first →
A Chilean cellar story: VIK · Alexander, Carrie & Cristián Vallejo → Begin in Millahue, Cachapoal; follow the grapes and the vessels used to make the wine.
Follow the place
Oceania
Australia
McLaren Vale
South of Adelaide, a coastal landscape gives Shiraz, Grenache and a growing cast of Mediterranean grapes room to speak.
Explore the region →New Zealand
Auckland
A city name opens several vineyard journeys. Follow Auckland west toward Kumeū, north toward Matakana or across the water to Waiheke, with Chardonnay, Syrah and red blends along the way.
Explore the region →Look closer: Kumeū · Chardonnay & named vineyards
Central Otago
Pinot Noir is the invitation, but it is only the beginning. Follow Central Otago’s mountains, basins and vineyard slopes into different places within New Zealand’s southern wine landscape.
Explore the region →Gisborne
Turn east on the North Island and let Chardonnay lead the way. Gisborne’s growers, aromatic whites and smaller vineyard districts offer a different beginning for a New Zealand wine adventure.
Explore the region →Hawke’s Bay
New Zealand offers more than Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir. Hawke’s Bay opens a North Island conversation through Chardonnay, Syrah, Cabernet–Merlot blends and the river-shaped places behind them.
Explore the region →Marlborough
Marlborough, at the northeastern tip of New Zealand’s South Island, is the home of vividly aromatic Sauvignon Blanc and a landscape of distinctly different valleys.
Explore the region →Nelson
At the top of the South Island, Nelson offers a quieter turn in the wine journey: Moutere hills, Waimea plains, aromatic whites, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir invite a closer acquaintance.
Explore the region →North Canterbury
North of Christchurch, familiar grapes meet a changing landscape of plains, valleys and limestone country. Follow Riesling, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay into Waipara and the places beyond it.
Explore the region →Look closer: Waipara Valley · Riesling, Pinot Noir & Pegasus Bay
Northland
Begin near the northern end of New Zealand’s wine map. Northland brings a warmer maritime setting, early vineyard history and a broad grape conversation into the discovery.
Explore the region →Wairarapa
Follow Pinot Noir beyond the familiar southern destinations. Wairarapa brings river terraces, small winegrowing communities and the Martinborough name into a wider North Island story.
Explore the region →Look closer within Wairarapa:
Waitaki Valley
Follow a river toward the South Island’s eastern coast. Waitaki Valley brings limestone slopes, river gravels and a cool-climate wine journey into view, with Pinot Noir and aromatic whites to lead the way.
Explore the region →North America
Choose a state or province, then follow its regional discoveries. Walla Walla Valley crosses the Washington–Oregon border and appears under both states.
United States
California
Coastal valleys, inland foothills and many different wine landscapes.
Napa Valley
Napa Valley lies north of San Francisco, where a small California valley and its surrounding hills produce Cabernet Sauvignon in many different accents.
Explore the region →Sonoma County
Sonoma County stretches from the Pacific coast to inland California valleys, giving Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Zinfandel and Cabernet Sauvignon very different places to grow.
Explore the region →Mendocino County
Coastal and inland California vineyards, the Graziano family and Husch.
Anderson Valley → Redwood Valley →
Explore the county →Paso Robles
Explore Paso Robles on California’s Central Coast, its varied districts and grapes, Gary Eberle’s Estrella River and Eberle Winery story, and Tablas Creek.
Explore the region →Sierra Foothills
California’s western Sierra Nevada foothills: Gold Rush vineyards, Amador and a wide grape conversation.
Explore the region →Pacific Northwest · Oregon & Washington
Oregon
Follow Pinot Noir country and a valley shared with Washington.
Rogue Valley
Southern Oregon’s varied valleys, a wide grape conversation and the Applegate connection.
Explore the region →Willamette Valley
Oregon’s Willamette Valley follows a river south from Portland, where a cool growing season has made Pinot Noir the natural place to begin.
Explore the region →Walla Walla Valley
Walla Walla Valley crosses the Washington–Oregon border, where a dry inland landscape gives Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah and Merlot a distinctive Pacific Northwest home.
Explore the region →Washington
Begin with a valley that crosses the Washington–Oregon border.
Walla Walla Valley
Walla Walla Valley crosses the Washington–Oregon border, where a dry inland landscape gives Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah and Merlot a distinctive Pacific Northwest home.
Explore the region →Yakima Valley
Washington’s first AVA: white and red grapes, varied sites and smaller origins within the valley.
Explore the valley →Arizona
High-country vineyards and pioneering people, with Oak Creek and the Verde River threading the northern story. Begin the Arizona adventure →
Verde Valley · Oak Creek & the Verde River
Cottonwood cellar doors, Page Springs vineyards, Clarkdale learning and a living watershed.
Follow the water & the wine →Willcox
Southeastern vineyard country: growers, Sam Pillsbury and the origins behind wines tasted elsewhere.
Follow the fruit →Sonoita & Elgin
Southern grasslands, Gordon Dutt’s legacy, family vineyards and unexpected white grapes.
Meet the pioneering landscape →Canada
British Columbia
Follow the Okanagan’s lakes and vineyard landscapes.
Okanagan Valley
British Columbia’s Okanagan Valley follows a chain of lakes through Canada’s dry interior, moving from cooler northern sites to warmer southern red-wine country.
Explore the region →Ontario
Explore Niagara’s vineyards and lake influences.
Niagara Peninsula
Ontario’s Niagara Peninsula lies between Lake Ontario and Lake Erie, where lake influence and the Niagara Escarpment help shape fresh whites, Pinot Noir, Cabernet Franc and Icewine.
Explore the region →Follow the place
Europe
Europe
Croatia
Explore the country’s regional introductions, maps and local connections.
Browse Croatia →Europe
England
Explore the country’s regional introductions, maps and local connections.
Browse England →Europe
France
Explore the country’s regional introductions, maps and local connections.
Browse France →Europe
Germany
Explore the country’s regional introductions, maps and local connections.
Browse Germany →Europe
Greece
Explore the country’s regional introductions, maps and local connections.
Browse Greece →Europe
Hungary
Explore the country’s regional introductions, maps and local connections.
Browse Hungary →Europe
Italy
Explore the country’s regional introductions, maps and local connections.
Browse Italy →Europe
Portugal
Explore the country’s regional introductions, maps and local connections.
Browse Portugal →Europe
Spain
Explore the country’s regional introductions, maps and local connections.
Browse Spain →Follow the place
Africa
South Africa
Cape Winelands
South Africa’s Cape Winelands bring mountain-framed vineyards near Cape Town into view, with Chenin Blanc, Cabernet Sauvignon and a wide range of other wines to explore.
Explore the region →Follow the place
South America
Argentina
Mendoza
At the foot of the Andes, Malbec opens a conversation about altitude, water and the many places inside one famous name.
Explore the region →Chile
Colchagua Valley
Carménère and Cabernet lead inland; a journey toward the Pacific reveals another side of this Chilean valley.
Explore the region →Maipo Valley
Cabernet Sauvignon is the familiar invitation. Follow it from Santiago’s Andean edge into a wider valley of historic estates, varied sites and blends with individual identities.
Explore the region →Cachapoal Valley
Follow Carménère into central Chile, then look beyond a single grape: Andean foothills, warmer western sites and the Millahue landscape behind VIK open different wine conversations.
Explore the region →Aconcagua Valley
Follow a river from the Andes toward the Pacific. Aconcagua brings inland red-wine traditions, cooler coastal vineyards and the California–Chile partnership behind Seña into the same regional journey.
Explore the region →Chile · beyond Colchagua
VIK · Alexander, Carrie & Cristián Vallejo → Millahue is in Cachapoal. Explore this winery story alongside, rather than within, the Colchagua introduction.
Follow Chile’s places into its cellars.
Follow the place
Caucasus
Georgia
Kakheti
Eastern Georgia brings local grapes and qvevri winemaking into view, while reminding us that one ancient method does not describe every wine made here.
Explore the region →A small Cork Dork discovery
Same grape. Another place.
Follow Riesling to Mosel, Malbec to Mendoza, or Tempranillo to Rioja. Then find the same variety somewhere else. Read the producer’s information and separate what you know about the vineyard from what you expect to taste. Climate, vintage and winemaking can all change the expression.
If you taste, small pours in your usual glass are plenty. A universal glass is welcome; no special equipment is needed to start.
Explore the grape collection →Read a map with curiosity.
Our wine-coloured dots locate a general area. They do not draw legal appellation boundaries, and maps use a different scale for each place. A cellar’s address and the vineyard origin of a wine can be different. Follow the smaller names on the label when you want to look closer.
Follow the next connection.
Wineries →People in Wine →Explore Travel interest destinations ↗Travel interest destinations are possibilities for exploration, not announced trips.
Behind the collection
Each regional entry links to its editorial sources. Maps use public-domain Natural Earth data and approximate regional markers. Introductions describe tendencies rather than a promise about every wine.