Soil and climate and other natural environmental factors (terroir, if you prefer) have no respect for political boundaries, and vice versa. This is why, for example, in the new edition of the World Atlas of Wine (Hugh Johnson and Jancis Robinson, due out this October), the western Slovenian region of Goriska Brda appears on the same map as Friuli in the far north east of Italy.
The Austrian region of Südsteierland – Southern Styria – known particularly for its intensely mineral Sauvignon Blanc on which I have just published tasting notes, although it also produces some excellent wines from...