Why Europe is still the best place for wine-touring

(CNN) - New and Old World wines have been slugging it out with increasing ferocity ever since the popping of corks from Australian, South African and South American wines became audible in Europe a few decades ago.

But while super-serious "Sideways"–style debates about bouquet and “mouthfeel” are all very well, Europe still wins when it comes to variety and what, at risk of pretension, we should call “terroir."

Visit the vineyards of Europe, from Bulgaria to Bordeaux, via Bologna and Bilbao, and you’ll taste amazingly different wines in more rustic settings and situated far closer together than in the typically vast plantations of the southern hemisphere.

“The biggest difference I see is in how commercialized wine touring is in the New World regions,” says Denise Medrano, aka The Wine Sleuth blogger.

“That's not to say Old World Wine wineries don't want to sell you their wine, but they are likely to do so from the cellar door -- literally.

“There isn’t the same flash and glitz as in the New World. There may be a few wine shops scattered around the main street, but you won't find a ‘wine train’ or a ‘wine experience’ on offer.”

An often more venerable winemaking history also enriches the experience of visiting vineyards in France, Spain, Italy and other tannin-scented parts of Europe.

“The traditions and family history that go into the wine are all part of what enhances the drinking experience,” Medrano says.

An earthy quality -- literally

What much of the Old World appeal comes down to is an elusive quality known as “terroir.”

In "Mondovino," his Palme d’Or-nominated film from 2004, director Jonathan Nossiter explored this wine quality that combines soil, climate, grape variety and husbandry.

Loosely, Nossiter concluded that Old World vineyards had terroir -- which literally means "earth" -- in spades, while the increasingly corporate New World wine fields lacked it, but were damn good at marketing.