Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Food and drink/Wines task force/Template wine region article

Wine by Country - how to structure such articles

I have been playing around with the article on Cyprus wine, trying not only to expand it, but to do so in a standard worthy for future GA consideration. I am, however, struggling to decide under what headers to slot in the info I come up with. As such, I would welcome a discussion on the structure of such articles. A quick scan indicates that the major articles on this subject (eg French wine, Italian wine, South African wine etc) have all followed their own structure. There are at least 15-20 articles on wine at country level (most of which need much work) so this sort of discussion would surely be useful not only to help improve current articles but also to be used as a guide for future ones. Apologies if there is an existing template which I have missed! (if so would someone please direct me there?) Georgeg 14:33, 11 November 2007 (UTC)

Yeah, unfortunately (like our grape articles), they seem to be all over the place. To some extent that is a negative but to another extent it maybe unavoidable due to the differences of the subject matter. For instance, in working with the American wine, I found that that most of the reliable sources play heavy emphasis on our appellation system and labeling laws so I included it with similar emphasis. With German wines there is more focus on their classification system since that is featured prominently in reliable sources. One area that I think could be minimized in some country articles (like German wines and Italian wines) is the long list of grape varieties. Obviously in some cases there are a lot of indigenous varieties which are unique and merit mention. But I think it would be more helpful to have a link splinter article like List of Italian grape varieties and a summary paragraph of the important grape varieties of various regions rather then a full breakdown. Overall, I'd think any country article would need
(in the order I would personally put them)

• History. If this section gets too long then there should be a History of Cyprus wine type article created.
• Wine regions. For smaller countries like Cyprus you could probably include some more geography/climate/soil details in the article but for larger and more diverse areas like the US & Italy, it is not helpful to go into that much detail.
• Classification or Appellation system Any unique laws or regulations of the wine that the reader might find of interest. In the future we may want to include a pic of a standard wine label for a visual aid. (Kinda like what is in German wine label.
• Grape varieties/wine styles Again I think countries with excessive large lists or tables should probably be moved to a splinter article. This section should be more of an overview of the grapes and wines that a region is most commonly known for. Ideally more of the detail stuff should be found in the smaller wine region or grape articles themselves.
  

Then for the rest there should be some flexibility because every country will have some unique aspect that may need to be included. Agne^Cheese/^Wine 15:08, 11 November 2007 (UTC)

In reply to the above:

• I agree that long sections should be moved into a separate article of their own but I think a summary should remain on the country page (with of course a relevant link).
• I don’t disagree with the content you have suggested. The content of all these articles tends to follow similar lines, in broad terms at least. As you say some articles have a bit more info on certain subjects but that should iron out in time.
• I agree that different regions have their own particularities.
• However, I think there should be a guidance template. I don’t think it should be rock rigid, it should be flexible to allow for country variations and probably to offer “optional headings”. What I am ultimately suggesting is the creation of a page similar to say grape article template, or even this book template.

Am I just trying to be too tidy?! Georgeg 17:01, 11 November 2007 (UTC)

Nah, you're not being too tidy and there is nothing wrong with coming up with a suggested template for editors to follow. If someone feels industrious, we can get started on Wikipedia:WikiProject_Wine/Template wine region article and move the discussion to that page's talk area. Agne^Cheese/^Wine 17:10, 11 November 2007 (UTC)