2019 looks very similar to 2018, with a few exceptions. Regarding origin, Europe is still the main topic. With mainly France, Italy and Spain in the limelight. Burgundy, Jura, Loire and Piemonte are still taking up a lot of the sommeliers focus when making the wine lists. Terroir has been very important for a while, and still is. Island wines from volcanic soils from let´s say Etna, Tenerife and Santorini have in recent years gone from a curiosa, to a common detail on the lists. With rising prices on wines from the classic appellations, we have seen a larger acceptance of wines from origins, other than the usual suspects.
If you are searching for wines from Burgundy, it´s not sure you will be looking for Puligny Montrachet or Vosne Romanée. You might be looking for wines from Côte Chalonaise or Côte maconnais instead. More bang for the buck.
It´s is getting more and more accepted to look for terroir and origin by having vinho regional Lisboa, dry Tokaj´s and Xinomavros from Naoussa on the lists. Of course, it is not dominant on the lists, but it shows that sommeliers are widening their horizons slowly, slowly.
New world wines are still struggling, but with a lot of producers changing their philosophy in viticulture and vinification, we are seing a small increase of new world listings on the lists. USA is one of the countries that has the strongest position at the moment. However, with the same trend growing all over the world, Australia, South Africa, Argentina and Chile are starting to move, there are some pretty amazing wines emerging on the market. Not sure though that we will see this change during the early part of 2019, might grow to larger proportions by 2020.
