Algeria

In 1830, Algeria became the first North African country colonized by France, giving it an early advantage in viticulture compared to other North African nations. For much of its history, Algeria has been the dominant player in North African wine production, primarily in terms of quantity rather than quality. During the second half of the 19th century, the French began planting vines in Algeria to compensate for the loss of their own vineyards due to the phylloxera epidemic. Algeria was intended to be France’s "second France" in terms of viticulture, and for a time, it was not only the second-largest wine producer globally but also the largest wine exporter. Most of this wine was sent to France, where it was often blended into some of the world’s most famous red wines. The decline of Algeria’s wine industry after gaining independence in 1962 revealed that its wine had often been used to enhance lower-quality French wines, particularly in Burgundy. The irony was that this blending benefited both the Algerian and the Burgundy wines. It was not the best Burgundies that were improved by the dark Algerian reds, but rather the poorest, thinnest, and least appealing ones. After blending, these wines were superior to their original versions, although they did not retain the typical Burgundian character. By 1938, Algeria's wine industry had reached its peak, with 400,000 hectares (988,000 acres) of vineyards and 22 million hectolitres (244 million cases) of wine produced. Since independence, however, the number of vineyards has significantly decreased, and the number of wineries has dropped from over 3,000 to around 70 today.