While the New World continues to take the fight to the traditional, some might say, awkward and one- dimensional, Old World producers, it is perhaps the New World who should also be watching their backs, as two of our close neighbours, England and Wales (pictured), are preparing to shake the industry worldwide.

It’s fair to say, nothing is going to happen overnight, but whatever the cause is, our climate is changing and what might define a world class grape growing region today in terms of the optimum climate, we may see an area closer to home benefiting from grape friendly weather in years to come.

We’re expecting great things of our greenhouse ‘grapevine’ experiment. More on that at a later date, but can you seriously imagine a Riesling from Wexford, or a Pinot Noir from Cork?

Already, parts of southern England are being compared with Champagne, and from what I hear, English sparkling wine is not one to be mixing with 7UP these days. More on England here.

Harpers Wine & Spirit recently reported that the Welsh government is attempting to gear their industry toward future success in the business by learning a few tricks from New Zealand. New Zealand’s North Island has been compared to Wales for climate and soil make-up, and the Kiwi nation has seen tremendous growth by small producers over a relatively short period of time. The cider and beer sectors have also been cited as underdeveloped industries in Wales.

Among other up and coming wine nations, Romania, Croatia, Greece - technically Old World countries, but very much unable to fulfil their undoubted potential just yet. It’s not only about the quality of the wines, it’s got a lot to do with the marketing of them.

Poland is another one showing promise. Although the recession has slowed sales growth, Poland’s wine industry is expected to recover quickly and bounce back stronger than before. A growth of 3% is expected in their wine market this year, much better than many others.

So who will rise to the top and who will fall? Will it take a decade, or will it be less before we see real changes? With emerging consumer markets such as China and India, and the French still refusing to market themselves properly, there’s plenty to play for, and as a consumer, plenty to be curious about.