| A Vinibrasil winery in Petrolina , Brazil , a subsidiary of Dão Sul, has managed through technology to grow grapes and produce wine in a climate that is so hot it is home to palm trees.
When the Portuguese winemaker João Santos bought the new vineyard of this winery four years ago, he was doubtful if wine could be produced in this area of palm trees. "One is completely different from the other. Palm trees you find by beaches. Wine comes from France , Italy and Spain , where they don't have palm trees. Making wine here didn't seem to make sense." He felt.
Today, four years after Dão Sul purchased land with some grape vines in Brazil 's semi-arid desert just south of the Equator, it makes perfect sense. Thanks to hard work, better technology and hundreds of miles of irrigation pipes snaking in from the nearby São Francisco River , Dão Sul has overcome the coconut conundrum and produced one of the most successful tropical wines yet.
In doing so it has given a new push to the growing cluster of "new latitude" wines, those produced outside the traditional geographical heartlands of the wine country.
"For years we have drawn two bands around the globe, roughly between latitudes 30 and 50, to denote those parts of it deemed suitable for viticulture," Jancis Robinson, the well-known British wine expert, wrote of the new phenomenon on her Web site.
"But all this is changing fast. Advances in refrigeration and irrigation techniques, not to mention much greater control over how and when vines grow, have opened up to the grapevine vast tracts of the world previously thought unsuitable for viticulture."
Good grapes thrive in heat and sunlight, which are abundant in Brazil 's northeast. Normally such tropical climes are also wet, but the water for Dão Sul's vines comes from the river, not from potentially devastating downpours.
The land is also flat and arid - classic terrain for palm trees. And it is a stark contrast to the rolling hills of established wine country in places like south-western France or Napa Valley in Northern California , which are far enough above or below the Equator to be in areas that winemakers have traditionally considered optimal.
But now, adventurous winemakers are taking on nature in nations like Brazil .
A Dão Sul subsidiary, Vinibrasil, has hundreds of rows of vines.
In Thailand , the Siam Winery has floating vineyards on the Chao Phraya Delta, at 13° north. And even in England , longer and hotter summers have given vintners the confidence to produce a growing range of whites and sparklers.
Our own Nashik in India is at latitude of 20°. Sula, Sankalp, Flamingo, ND Wines are some of the wineries that have established good credentials for themselves.
Producers in all three countries are betting those markets will grow, and there are figures to back that up. The London research company estimates that by 2011, wine consumption will rise by 12 percent in Brazil , 39 percent in China and 82 percent in India . ( Projections for India appear to be too conservative-editor )
Investors have taken notice. In addition to Dão Sul's decision to buy into Brazil, Pernod Ricard owns brands in Brazil, Georgia and India; LVMH has invested heavily in Chandon, Brazil's award-winning sparkling wine; and the French Champagne maker Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin is 11 years into a partnership with Grover Vineyards, one of India's biggest producers.
The two established worlds dominate production, with 62 percent of the world's wine coming from the big five European producers and 26 percent coming from the New World nations, according to the Paris-based International Organization of Vine and Wine.
But while the two dominant players vie for a share of a market now worth $91.6 billion, according to the organization's figures, Vinibrasil is quietly working away in this sweltering desert south of the Equator. The company's decision to invest in South America was a gamble based on Brazil 's long experience in grape production and winemaking.
The decision to invest in Brazil was based on several factors, including cheap land and labour and advanced refrigeration techniques. One important advantage it shares with many new latitude producing nations is year-round sun. The region gets sunlight 12 hours a day, and in contrast to Bordeaux , which gets sunlight 12 hours a day only during the summer, there are cloudless skies here 300 days a year. Winemakers can harvest all year round and thus sharply cut production costs. ( Brazil also harvests twice a year-editor )
What about the quality of these new latitude wines? Jancis Robinson says the new latitude wines are not a threat to the best that Bordeaux or Northern California can offer. But she acknowledges that most of the upstart nations are at the same stage of development the French wine regions were at centuries ago.
"I still find it hard to believe that new latitude wines will ever be seriously good," Ms. Robinson wrote on her Web site. "But then that's what was said about New World wines not that long ago."
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