Wine Wisdoms #28: Terroir Preservation
by Erika S., Wine Enthusiast Companies
Terroir is a wine term that gets tossed around a lot, but it happens to be an important one. The notion of Terroir means that a wine tastes like it comes from a specific place where the grapes were grown. The climate of every wine region in the world has its own weather, soil, and topography which affects the grapes and ultimately, the style of the wine. A Pinot Noir from Oregon tastes different than Burgundy, for example.
As wine becomes more globalized and advancements are made in winemaking technology, terroir sometimes becomes a fuzzy idea of the past. Because wine can be manipulated in so many ways to please the consumer, producers are less reliant on the natural terroir to produce a certain wine style. For many people, this is an unfortunate development. One of the most special things about tasting wine from different places is that each wine is unique. As such, terroir preservation is important for the future of wine.
Does terroir matter to you?
Find more information on terroir at WineEnthusiast.com/magazine
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Filed under: Wine Wisdoms
3 Comments
3 Responses to “Wine Wisdoms #28: Terroir Preservation”
Please Wait
March 29th, 2009 at 3:13:54 PM
Terrroir is indeed a very important element to be preserved. For my part, i define Terroir as the combination of soil, subsoil and local climate environment and its effects on wines characteristics. This leads to the Typicity of the wine. Then the winemaker may impose or superimpose his/her Stylistic approach of winemaking. The combination gives the Brand we enjoy.
Thanks for bringing teh attention back to Terroirs.
Bernard Portet
March 30th, 2009 at 11:19:05 AM
Absolutely. Terroir contains the wheres & whats of wine, and even influences the whens & hows, with which the wine maker deals. As a living thing, wine depends on its terroir.
October 12th, 2009 at 10:30:59 PM
Can terroir be identified in a line-up of masked wines?
How?
If not, why not?