Wine may not be the first agricultural product that comes to mind when Brazil is mentioned, nor is ti as well known for wine production as its neighbours Argentina and Chile, but South America's largest country has a thriving and distinctive win industry. Since the end of the twentieth century Brazil has become serious about wine, forming producer associations, developing wine laws and formalizing wine regions so that there are now 11 IPs and two DOs. Notably, the country's wine growers practise three different styles of viticulture, allowing them to grow wine grapes across a great variety of conditions. Grape vines are not native to Brazil but have been grown here since the sixteenth century when Portuguese settlers arrived with the first Brazilian wine recorded in 1551. Although some of these early plantings were successful, Vitis vinifera proved challenging to grow and by the nineteenth century vineyards had fallen into disrepair. vinifera was supplanted by the more hardy labrusca cross Isabel, which remains the most planted variety. However, there are now more than 500 producers of vinifera varieties, which are used to make vinhos finos for a growing market at home and abroad. Most of these wines are made in the temperate south, where traditional viticultural methods are used.

However, winter viticulture (as practised close to the Tropic of Capricorn) and tropical viticulture in the north-east, with two harvests per year, have allowed Brazil to expand its potential growing area. In The wines of Brazil, wine educator Tufi Neder Meyer begins by leading readers through the history of wine in Brazil and explains its geography, climate, viticulture and wine laws. He then explores the regions, introducing key producers. More than 160 of these are profiled, ranging from large, well-established firms to boutigue innovators, allowing readers to gain a full picture of wine production in Brazil. For the adventurous wine lover. The wines of Brazil offers the opportunity to discover a genuinely different wine world.