Tunisia and Wine

Viticulture in Tunisia

A long tradition that began in antiquity as in many other countries of the Mediterranean basin , with the Phoenicians and , in this specific case , thanks to the Carthaginians.

The agronomist Magon , who lives in the Phoenician Carthage, wrote in his treatise on agronomy wine , practices that are still in force today. Despite the arrival of Muslim power in the seventh siècleet independence of Tunisia in 1956 , viticulture has never disappeared.

history of viticulture in Tunisia coincides with that of many other countries in North Africa . During the Roman period , this type of culture is highly developed until the arrival of the first pouvoirmusulman almost do away with the culture of wine in the country.

The Italo - Tunisian , very present in the eighteenth century and whose immigration is encouraged by the treaty of September 8, 1868 signed by the Bey of Tunis and the Italian Government , develop a strong wine industry in the Cap Bon region . The first vineyard in the modern era is Lavigerie which makes planting a vineyard in the seat of the Archbishop in November 1879.

With the establishment of the French protectorate of Tunisia from 1881 , wine production is actually restarted. At that time, the country has only about 1,000 hectares of vineyards , 95 % are for the cultivation of grapes. The remaining fifty acres, which are intended to viticulture , quickly move the hands of the French .

In the 1950s , they suffer the consequences of the struggle for independence and are forced to migrate en masse. Tunisia became a supplier of wines and cutting coverage and the rest even when the countries emancipated from French domination. It was not until the mid-1960s , when the Italo - Tunisian leave when the French were expropriated and when the planned economy was introduced , the production of wine falls into a deep crisis.

Tunisia adopts a law copied the French model designations of origin wine. Marketing of wine , as in Algeria, is almost completely under the control of the Tunisian government , through the Office of Tunisian wine until 1999 . Thereafter , the sector is liberalized and a quality strategy is encouraged with the establishment of seven AOC and partnerships with foreign professionals ( including France , Germany and Italy). The sector generates 30,000 direct and indirect jobs in 2010.

The 38 000 hectares of vineyards tunisiennes , of which two thirds are in the governorate of Nabeul, are located on hillsides where the average annual temperature never rises above 20 ° C with ideal rainfall between 250 and 500 mm year. Tunisian wines , mainly rougeset roses are rich in alcohol (11 to 12 degrees for red wine and rose wine and a little less for white wine ) without excessive acidity, which is due to the nature of the new wines .

In this context, the arable land for the production of wine is strongly back and the production of table grapes growing in importance . Most cultivated varieties are found in the south of France :