The north and the south never seem to meet, and not just physically. There seems to have existed an odd tension between the two geographic oppositions in every region since time immemorial.

You don’t venture into Marseille wearing a ‘I love Paris’ t-shirt. You don’t step into a bar in Sicily and root for Milan FC. You definitely don’t walk into an Udupi and make fun of how people eat (no matter how funny it appears). Given such an inexplicable yet indelible divide, it is no surprise that even in the world of wines, such contrasts and biases blatantly exist. But at least, in this case, the division is a tad more understandable.

Wines were made first in modern-day Europe and spread to other areas with the immigrant populations. In the northern hemisphere, the US was perhaps the most obvious and celebrated of conquests. But a much larger chunk was invaded and settled in the southern hemisphere. From South American countries such as Chile and Argentina, (even Uruguay), to Australia and New Zealand, and also, South Africa.