The concept of terroir originated in France, and principally means that wines from a certain region are truly unique and cannot be duplicated, even if the same grape varietals and winemaking techniques are used. Put another way, “the grapevine is a translator of site and interpreter of place”, to French winemakers
Terroir or the microclimate also acknowledges that climate and soil are not uniform, embracing everything that affects a grapevine in a certain site, including sunlight intensity, hours of sun, wind, air circulation, proximity to water, water drainage, rainfall, humidity, irrigation, type and depth of soil, diurnal temperature, slope, elevation, growing degree days, layout of the vineyard, trellising and training systems, choice of rootstock, type of clone, and cropping level that ultimately affect the speed at which the grapes will ripen.
This in turn affects the wine’s style and structure because there is a direct relationship between the sugar level in the harvested grapes and the ultimate alcohol level in the final wine. That is, the higher the sugar, the greater the alcohol because wine is a soup of fermented sugars among other things. There is also an inverse relationship between the grape’s sugar level and the wine’s acidity, which is important to its balance. Too much ripeness will cause a wine to burn your palate from an alcohol content that is too high, while too little acidity will result in a flabby boneless wine.
Terroir is also embraced in other Old World wine producing areas such as Spain, Portugal, Italy, and Germany. Like France, these countries view value certain sites differently based on their special characteristics. In fact, Old World wine classification systems are based on the notion that place trumps all else, which is why traditional Old World producers label their wines by a place and not a grape varietal.
New World wine producers such as those in California and Oregon have also begun to embrace a sense of place, beginning to see the world as French per se. What’s the result? That depends on you and your wine preferences. In my view, I consider it a positive development for New World wine producers. After all, it’s natural for a place to leave an impression. Isn’t this what we want for our wine life.
