Science began to influence wine, with research programmes into vine breeding, fermentation and cellar care proliferating. With knowledge came control, and yields became more predictable, and larger. At the same time the worldwide fashion for wine-drinking took off. Countries, which had not drunk wine on a large scale for centuries - England, the USA, Canada, the Scandinavian nations - gained the wine habit. The classic vineyards were able to respond with copious, and excellent, vintages - the 1980s was a decade of superlatives. And the top wines from the New World began to match the European classics' quality, and to enlarge the frontiers of taste. For winemakers, the late 20th century has been a time of prosperity. For wine drinkers, it has been a golden age, with more good wine, at relatively cheaper prices, than ever before. The sufferers have been the mass-market producers, hit by the rapid decline in the quantity - but not the quality - of wine drunk in Italy, Portugal, Spain and France.
The future promises to bring yet more wine-producing countries into already crowded markets. Modern techniques can rapidly improve the wines of backward areas: witness the results of Australian and American investment in the Midi, Hungary and Italy. For the wine drinker, more and better wine at lower prices is the prospect. For the winemaker, the demands will be great.
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