Enrichment: Geography

Enrichment is the norm in climates which cannot be relied upon to bring grapes to full ripeness every season: throughout northern Europe, for example, in the north-eastern wine regions of the united states, throughout canada, brazil, in japan, and in much of new zealand, especially for red wines.

At the coolest limits of vine cultivation it is a prerequisite of wine production. The poorest summers in england, for example, yield grape sugar levels in some varieties that have difficulty reaching the legal minimum natural alcohol level of 5%. In regions as cool as England and Luxembourg, the so-called Zone A of the EU, musts may be enriched to a maximum increase in alcoholic strength of 3% (3.5% in particularly unripe years).