It's about time we started producing online wine maps

I think visually. I say this because it is clear to me that many people do not do so. Mathematicians are the worst — if I can't get a picture of what an equation is saying, then it is gibberish to me, although apparently not to a mathematician. Mind you, if I can get a picture, then I can usually explain it to all of the other people who also think that it is gibberish. That is why this blog is full of graphs — they are pictures of numbers and equations, and this makes much more sense to me, personally.

A picture of geography is a map; and so maps are also of interest to me. This means that one possible picture for "wine" is a map — that is, a picture of where the wine comes from. Georgia (the country) does not mean much to me personally, because I have never been there, even though it is credited as being the cradle of wine-making (8,000 years ago).  However, I do have a picture of it, because I have seen a map (as shown above).

Other people have also had this same idea, of course; and there have therefore been a number of books produced with map-pictures of the wine world. Indeed, I have several of them, including:

• The World Atlas of Wine, by Hugh Johnson (1st edition 1971; I have the 3rd edition 1985)
• Oz Clarke's World Atlas of Wine (1995; I even have the Swedish translation, as well)
• Journey Through Wine: an Atlas, by Adrien Grant Smith Bianchi and Jules Gaubert-Turpin (2017; this adds the time dimension to the two spatial ones).

In the modern world, however, a book is actually pretty limited in this regard. Computers, on the other hand, are perfect for maps, because you can interactively zoom in to all sorts of scales of detail, which you cannot realistically do in a book. You can also keep the data up-to-date, and add as much new data as you like. These are all valuable features.

So, why are there so few computer maps of the wine world? Obviously, the data do exist; and where there is a will there is a way. The people at the Austrian Wine Marketing Board (aka Austrian Wine) have taken this on board, and have produced the first online map of the wines of an entire country.

They started this project back in 2018, with "the goal to digitally record and present all origins of wine in Austria in a uniform manner". They have just (June 2021) released their first public version of the map, at: Austrian Vineyards.

The wine-location map is from official data, "based on statutory decrees and decisions issued by the National Wine Board", with vineyard boundaries defined by the Federal Office for Metrology and Surveying. The finest map details refer to each individual vineyard site (called a Ried).

I love it, particularly because of its pioneering spirit. So, let's look at the good news and the bad news.

The obvious good news is that the map exists; and hopefully it will act as an inspiration and role model for all of the wine groups in other places.

The maps are commendably clear. The upper levels of the map are part of a labeled terrain image, showing all of the hills and valleys (see above). The topography gets obscured by the label details as you zoom in, of course. The final few layers after zooming are (unlabeled) satellite photos; and at the most detailed level you can see individual rows of vines.

Each map is a set of tiles. Map zooming is in discrete steps; and unfortunately it is currently slow to re-draw each new set of tiles. However, the satellite images are re-drawn much more quickly.

The maps have two colors, but without a legend. These are, however, explained under the FAQ menu item: "The dark pink areas show the vineyards currently under vine in Austria; light pink represents parts of a Ried not under vine."

The Information menu (at the top of the page) does appear to work properly. However, choosing things from the Wine-growing Regions menu does not appear to do anything on my computer; so all access to map descriptions is via clicking on the map — labels can be clicked to open a descriptive panel.

This panel contains the following information about each site:

• Winegrowing cadastral municipality
• Winegrowing municipality
• Large collective vineyard site
• Specific winegrowing region / DAC
• Generic winegrowing region
• Winegrowing area
• Winegrowing country

We are also told about temperature, precipitation, and sunshine hours for each vineyard — the difference between high and low-altitude vineyards may be significant, for example. More importantly, they could be used to track the increasing drought patterns of recent years (see Terroir trocken).

We are all familiar with the German-language way of presenting information — you get all of the details all of the time. So, German-language wine labels suffer from a surfeit of detail, in which the information we want lies buried, somewhere. That is, in a hierarchy of classificatory information about a wine, the whole lot needs to be given, every time, which makes classifications and wine labels unreadable by most of us.

So, this new map actually helps us understand how all of the information fits together. Hallelujah! Finally! In this case, there is even a picture (a pyramid) of the 9-level hierarchical classification of Austrian wines and growing sites.

Equally fortunately, we are told that: "in many wine-growing regions in Austria, we see a growing trend towards clear profiling in just three categories" — regional wine, village wine, and single-vineyard wine. This is, indeed, good news for those of us who wish to understand Austrian wines (three levels is much better than nine). The Germans have just introduced a new four-level classification of their own wines, based on place of origin not sugar level; but not everyone is convinced.

The main information missing missing from the map is about how to pronounce all of these Austrian wine-related names without sounding too ignorant, or being reduced to putting on a fake Germanic accent.

For the future, the map notes: "Supplementing www.austrianvineyards.com with information on the grape varieties or on the winegrowers from each region of origin is something that is planned for the next update (expected to happen in 2022)." These will be valuable additions to the map; and will set the standard for those wine regions that follow in the wake of the Austrians.

If nothing else, this map might encourage you to check out for yourself what Megan Krigbaum calls: "The gracious, arms-wide-open and passionate hospitality of the Austrian winemakers, coupled with the serene beauty of the countryside".