Lately I got some request to talk about this subject a bit more deeply to clear things up. So now here is my point of view of that often talked topic of the Wine World, the terroir.
Have you already heard this word during a wine tasting? If yes but it is still confusing, don’t worry you are not alone. This is a subject even among advanced wine connoisseurs that they discussing all over.
The word, as you can imagine, comes from France and it has been indeed the French who started to recognise the importance of terroir. It means how the enviromental factors of a region such as the climate, soil and the aspect affect the wine and the taste of the wine.
When we talk about different wine regions, usually we think of different grape varieties but the other aspects are just as important. Climate for example is a very important factor which can vary between cold and warm but even continental to mediterranean. It will all give different characteristic to the wine and we haven’t talked about micro-climate yet which you can find in particular vineyards and slopes. Just to give an example of the importance of the climate: in a cool climate wines tend to be lower alcohol because the grapes are not as ripe like on a warm climate region and the same goes for the acidity, cold climate wines have higher acidity then warm climate because of the longeur and intensity of ripening and sunshine hours in each climate. This is something that you can taste easier in a wine, means usually an advanced taster can tell on a blind tasting if the wine comes from a cool or a warm climate region.
Soil is a more difficult thing to detect in the wine during tasting, it is not as straight forward than a climate. There are hundreds of different types of soils but just a few of them that we sort as the main types for winemaking. These soil types has different compositions which will affect the fertility, the drainage and the ability to retain the heat. I would put here the geograpy as a factor because if the vineyard or region is next to a big body of water like a river or lake or on a vulcan (vulcanic soil) or in a valley it will all affect the structure of the wine. Sometimes you can taste this differences in the glass, usually when you call the wine mineral most of the times you refer of this small nuances of different soil types, like in Chablis for example the chalky minerality comes from the limestone soil.
An other important thing worth to mention is the altitude of the regions and vineyards which makes an increasing importance specially in the New World. As we know, higher the altitude, lower the temperature in a particular region which now makes possible to plant a vineyard closer to the equator without the fear of burning the vines. Instead the cool breezes will enhance the acidity in the grape but because the higher amount of sunshine it will ripen fully and give amazingly balanced wines.
There is one more element of this equasion which is the winemaking and viticultural traditions of the region. Here we are talking about the density of the planted vines, the chosen grape variety itself and the vineyard management (organic or biodynamic) and even the yeast used for fermentation and the maturation in oak or other vessels. That aspect maybe a bit less confusing but just as important!
As you can see this is a subject that can easily fill up a whole book but now I just wanted to give a brief introduction to clear up the meaning of this expression. I hope you find it useful and not more confusing!
Have you tasted this differences in your glass before?
The Author
A good explanation in a way that is not too techie and that can be understood whatever one’s level of knowledge or enthusiasm about wine
Thank you Jiles, that was my aim, I am happy that it had worked!
A brilliant read, Eniko 🤗
Thank you Daniel, I am glad you liked it!