If you could only drink wine from one country for the rest of your life and it CANNOT be France, Italy, Spain, Germany [added in late edit], or the USA… which country would you choose and why???
Sort of a fun hypothetical, but I honestly think others’ answers would be highly informative for me.
Australia, South Africa or Chile. I think Margaret River is producing some fantastic Chardonnay and I love Shiraz. South Africa / Chile for the Cab lover in me.
Off top of my head Australia or South Africa would be my pick, probably Australia…world class Syrah, Cab, Chard, Semilon, Rielsing, and could even drink some sparkling from down in Victoria.
Portugal. Has some old world dry reds, colares, port, and then best of all, madiera. Given my bent toward old world reds, I cannot think of another that would scratch my itch once you exclude those on the OP list. France is easily over 90% of my cellar.
For me it would be Australian. Have had some amazing Tasmanian sparkling wines (champagne caliber) and they offer such breadth of selection among both red and white varietals. And I have almost no experience with South American / South African / Portuguese wine.
This, but as a native I am biased. I became a wine lover purely on domestic wines and I find that they are objectively diverse enough for anyone, of any palate, to be stimulated for a whole life. It’s approximately 250 native varietals (plus a few imported ones) and a really outstanding variety of terroirs for a country for this size. I still discover domestic producers pretty much all the time. That being said, curiosity to look beyond these borders has brought me to this board and I don’t regret it for one second.