I wish we had Which Winegrape Varieties are Grown Where? on hand when Jancis Robinson MW, Julia Harding MW, and I published the reference book Wine Grapes (Robinson, Harding, and Vouillamoz, 2012). It would have saved us from cross-checking multiple sources and from contacting each and every country in order to obtain updated information on the bearing areas for each of the 1,368 grape varieties in our book. One year after our publication, Kym Anderson and Nanda R. Aryal opportunely provided comprehensive statistics on the wine grape varieties of the world in the first edition of Which Winegrape Varieties are Grown Where? We subsequently exchanged a lot of information among authors, and Kym most affectuously “acronymized” our book RHV, based on our initials.

For the revised edition of Which Winegrape Varieties are Grown Where?, Kym Anderson and Signe Nelgen have done a tremendous amount of additional research to put together statistical data for 1,705 varieties from 53 countries. In a constantly changing wine world, it is fascinating to compare data from 2000, 2010, and 2016, illustrating the evolution of what is called “encépagement” in French, which can be somehow translated into “vine populations.”

As a strong advocate for “vinodiversity,” I am fascinated to delve into the Varietal Intensity Indexes that indicate the importance of a variety in a region compared with the rest of the world. I am pleased to see that these indexes have the advantage of highlighting obscure indigenous or limited new PIWI grape varieties. On the oppo- site, the revised edition offers new features like indexes of internationalization of varieties, showing how many non-native varieties are cultivated in each region.

Climate change has become a hot topic—I am thrilled to see in the revised edition the addition of key climate indicators for each region, thus making it quite useful to know which grape varieties can be grown in a cool, temperate, warm, or hot climate.

The revised edition of Which Winegrape Varieties are Grown Where? is an almost infinite source of fascinating data on the past, present, and future of the wine world from a statistical point of view. And, the icing on the cake, believe it or not, it is free!

Congratulations to Kym and Signe for this groundbreaking compendium!

José F. Vouillamoz
josevouillamoz.com
jose.vouillamoz@gmail.com

doi:10.1017/jwe.2021.3