Terroir

Terroir is an elegant notion, a single word that symbolizes a complex system of particulars no matter how narrowly or broadly you define it. On the narrow end, some would have it refer only to the aspects of physical place--geology, topography, soil, and climate--that influence the quality and character of wine. On the broad end, the term includes the effects of viticulture and winemaking, the people involved, and cultural aspects as well. If the word was English or Italian, few would pay much attention, but the notion is French, from the land that we all look to as the historic seat of fine wine.

Terroir is surely an elegant term, but its contribution to understanding and enjoying wine is a bit unclear. We can discuss terroir and wine from a philosophic or academic standpoint forever, but put a bottle of wine on the table and ask even the most devout terroirist how it reflects the place from which it came and the answer is often a halting account of soil and climate, some observations perhaps about viticulture and winemaking, but little reference to the wine itself. It seems difficult at best to express how any particular bottle reflects terroir, or even what aspects of wines from a particular region reflect its terroir.

If the purpose of the notion of terroir is to link wine with place--to provide information about wine provenance--we can find perhaps a more direct path, framing the discussion in a comfortably familiar way by focusing on place, people, and culture. In this way we can provide a clear context within which to think about, and taste, wine.

Place includes the physical aspects of terroir--geology, topography, soil, and climate. All of these are known to influence vines, grapes, and wine, either directly or indirectly. Climate--temperature, rainfall, solar input--is the easiest to measure and understand. Topography controls sun aspect and solar influx. Geology and soil affect vine growth and grape character at least through their influence on drainage and the availability of water, perhaps through supplying trace minerals, and also through their effects on microbiology.

People provide the link between place and wine through the processes of viticulture and winemaking. Warren Winiarski, maker of the wine that won the fabled 1976 Paris wine tasting, has long maintained "Without people there is no terroir." If wine is, as they say, "made in the vineyard" then every one of the myriad of decisions made by viticulturists--rootstock, clone, vine spacing, trellis design, pruning styles, picking dates--affects the character of grapes and wine. And even the least interfering of winemakers makes hundreds of decisions in the winery--ferment with whole cluster or destemmed fruit, cold soak, natural or cultured yeast, and so on--that affect the character of wine in the bottle.

Culture is easy to perceive as the most distant influence on wine character, but just think of three cultural elements--tradition, habit, and regulation--and their influence on wine. In Burgundy, for example, grape variety, planting density, pruning regimens, harvesting dates, sugar content, maximum yields, vine age, are all set by law. In the United States, all of these are open to choice. The specific effect of these differences might be difficult to measure but it's clear that greater choice gives winegrower and winemaker more influence on the final product, creating a greater variety of styles within any given region.