Top 5 Chronically Under-Reported Wine Regions

These are the regions that deserve FAR more coverage by the travel and wine media.

One of the things I get to observe up close is which regions around the world and in the U.S. get the most attention from the media, be it travel or wine coverage. Publishing a daily, curated newsletter featuring consumer wine content has me focusing on travel and educational content about regions.

You won’t be surprised that the regions and wines that get the overwhelming amount of coverage are those of Napa Valley, Burgundy, Bordeaux, Tuscany, and Rioja. My scanning of the media for THE SPILL Newsletter tells me that there is a broadening of regional wine coverage. However, most coverage focuses on these iconic regions.

Among U.S wine regions, Napa Valley serves as a magnet. It is watched, covered, and profiled due to its most important status, and Napa is even covered as a bellwether for the wine industry in general. But there are so many other regions that consumers would benefit from knowing more thoroughly. That will only happen with increased media coverage.

Below are my Top 5 Chronically Under-Reported Wine Regions. To get on this list, a region needs to be successfully producing beautiful wines, they need to have an infrastructure for visitors, and they are rarely the focus of coverage in the American wine and travel media.

SONOMA VALLEY
Having lived there for many years, I’m pretty familiar with the attraction of Sonoma Valley’s wine culture. It’s shocking to me that this Valley, with its diversity of wines, its history, and its attractions, gets so little attention in the media either for its value as a destination or as a wine-producing region.

ANDERSON VALLEY
I think one of the reasons this remarkable wine country region doesn’t get nearly the love it should from the wine media is its remote status. Whether you fly to Oakland or Sacramento airports, you are looking at a three-hour drive to Anderson Valley’s primary town, Boonville. Yet once you get there, you find yourself in what is likely California’s most bucolic, interesting and quirky wine country—plus, some of the best Pinot Noir made in America.