Use our region glossary to trace terroir, climate, and quintessential styles across the wine world.
Sierra Foothills, in California’s interior foothills east of the Central Valley, is a region defined by its Gold Rush legacy and old-vine vineyards planted in the mid-19th century. Vineyards sit on rugged, elevated ridges across counties such as Amador, El Dorado and Calaveras. Producers favor robus… Read more
Sitia sits on the far eastern tip of Crete, where vineyards fan out from the coastal town into sun-drenched hills and sheltered inland valleys. The region combines long, continuous winemaking traditions with a small-scale, artisanal modern revival: producers favour indigenous grapes and restrained w… Read more
Slovenia is a compact but deeply diverse wine country at the crossroads of Alpine, Pannonian and Mediterranean influences. Its three main wine regions — Primorska (Littoral), Podravje (Drava/Styria) and Posavje — produce everything from crisp, aromatic whites to dense, minerally reds and innovative… Read more
Soave, in the Veneto region east of Verona, is Italy's most widely known expression of Garganega. The DOC stretches from the volcanic, hilly Classico heart around Monteforte d'Alpone and Soave town into the flatter plains. Wines range from lively, floral and mineral-driven dry whites to fuller, oak-… Read more
Somló is a tiny, historic wine hill in northwestern Hungary, long prized for its distinctive, ageworthy white wines. Perched as an isolated volcanic cone in Vas County, the appellation has ancient vines and a reputation for intensely mineral, high-acidity wines that can develop complex tertiary arom… Read more
Sonoma County, north of San Francisco in California's North Coast, is a large and diverse wine region that ranges from cool coastal fog belts to warm inland valleys. Vine-growing dates to the Spanish mission period and expanded through the 19th-century Gold Rush; modern commercial momentum accelerat… Read more
Sopron is a compact, historic wine region in northwestern Hungary along the Austrian border, where viticulture stretches back to Roman times and matured under Habsburg influence. The area is best known for lively, peppery Blaufränkisch (Kékfrankos) reds that combine brisk acidity with ripe dark-frui… Read more
South Africa (ZA) is centred on the Western Cape, with viticulture dating to the 17th century under Dutch settlement and a modern renaissance since the 1990s. Vineyards span cool coastal sites and warmer inland valleys, producing a wide stylistic range from crisp, varietal whites to powerful, agewor… Read more
South Australia is the state at the heart of Australia’s wine identity, encompassing diverse and internationally renowned regions such as Barossa Valley, McLaren Vale, Clare Valley, Coonawarra, Eden Valley and Adelaide Hills. It combines long viticultural history with both large-scale production and… Read more
South Eastern Australia is a vast, pragmatic wine zone that spans much of the country’s southeastern seaboard and hinterland, used primarily as a large GI for blending and commercial bottling. It embraces a wide variety of climates and subregions—from cool coastal and island sites in Tasmania and Vi… Read more
South Styria (Südsteiermark) in southern Austria is a compact, high-quality wine district of rolling, south-facing vineyards that borders Slovenia. Renowned for its focus on fresh, food-friendly dry whites, the region has evolved since the late 20th century from mixed agriculture into a specialist w… Read more
South Tyrol (Südtirol/Alto Adige) sits in Italy’s far north, tucked into the eastern Alps where steep alpine valleys meet Mediterranean influences. Historically shaped by Tyrolean culture and Italian winemaking after 1919, the region is celebrated for pristine, high-altitude wines that emphasize fre… Read more
