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Terr-What: attempting to Understand what terroir means

A recent blogger trip to Tawse got me thinking if I had to define terroir what would that definition be? Here goes…

Terrior is a prickly concept that is either just a factor or of absolute precedence in the flavours of a wine depending on who you ask. For proponents of terroir it is all about capturing the essence of a particular place. So above all else it really comes down to the vineyard. And by vineyard I mean everything that makes the site. Grape vines just like all other plants need sunlight, heat, water and nutrients to grow. Provide all of the above and you should get grapes. Provide all of the above in the right amounts and combination and you should get great grapes. Since grapes aren't grown in a lab but on a piece of land it's the elusive combination of the above that gets proponents of terroir so passionate about a particular site.

From Terroir

Despite being derived from the French word for land the dirt itself is merely an aspect of terroir. According to James Halliday & Hugh Johnson's The Art and the Science of Wine, there isn't a single identified soil make-up that produces the same good quality wine world round. In other words even if you're on the same latitude with a similar climate and plant the same variety on the same soil type and use the same vineyard practices there's no guarantee that your wine will resemble the wine of a world renown vineyard in another country. Furthermore Halliday and Johnson explain that thus far scientific experiments have been unable to to show that minerals or substances from the soil have a direct impact on the flavour of the grape. Jamie Goode's research in The Science of Wine more or less concurs. Although mineral ions and water are what's taken-up by the roots, there's no science that confirms that minerals in the soil end-up directly as flavors in the glass. So I guess that means that mineral-rich soil isn't directly responsible for that minerality in my glass of Riesling. But this doesn't mean that what's in the dirt isn't important. Assistant Professor of Geology at Bryn Mawr College Chris Oze and students studied two Syrah vineyards in the Walla Walla AVA with similar climates but different soil compositions. When they took apart the roots, stems and grapes looking for trace metals and chemical compounds they found that the two were “very different.” Early research yes, but perhaps this is the beginning of proving that there's something to what's in the dirt after-all. If there's one aspect of soil that science seems have made a definitive link regarding grape quality it is how well the dirt can hold or release water. Being of dessert origin Vitis vinifera doesn't like sitting in wet ground. In particular it's the root structure that doesn't like too much moisture.

From Terroir

Although dirt seems to be what people like to talk about the other major aspect of terroir: the climate is much more well documented. You'll find grape growing in regions throughout the world between 30-50˚latitude in the North and South Hemispheres. The reason? They are warm enough with a growing season that is long enough to ripen grapes but cold enough for a dormant season which allows the vines to sleep and recover. Amongst those latitudes there's a wide range of climates but what all premium regions seem to have in common is the influence of a body of water. For Niagara that body of water is Lake Ontario which absorbs heat over summer and gently releases it over winter. This is key to keeping vines alive and relatively damage-free over the winter in a region which is colder during the dormant season than most other wine growing regions. It also explains why vineyards aren't all over southern Ontario and that in Niagara itself the number of vineyards is generally less concentrated as you get towards the top of the escarpment where the lake's influence diminishes.

Now at 43˚ latitude north Niagara is firmly in the cooler climate grape growing zone. There are various ways to calculate growing degree days (a measure that helps predict when a crop will mature) but the figures put Ontario more or less on edge of viticulture with the ability to ripen cooler climate varieties like Chardonnay, Gamay, Gewürztraminer, Pinot Gris, Pinot Noir and Riesling consistently and without issue. Techniques like cluster thinning, leaf stripping, etc. can help stretch-out things to allow the growing of grapes which need more heat like the Bordeaux varieties: Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. A vineyard with a special characteristic like a south facing slope to maximise sun exposure in a sub-appellation like Niagara River or St. David's Bench which have more growing degree days than other areas of Niagara also helps. But those are a bit of a rarity in Niagara where many vineyards slope north. The other side of the climate equation: water isn't an issue.

Ontario gets much more than enough rain to grow grapes and it actually comes fairly evenly throughout the season which believe it or not isn't ideal. For most viniferia you would want rain early in the season to get the canopy of leaves well developed which will provide the surface area for ripening. After that sunny and clear days with cooler nights and a light sprinkling of rain now and then is ideal. Having a bone dry harvest season is a luxury. So in a particularly wet year if you have a vineyard with well draining soil or one that doesn't absorb much it can be an advantage.

From Terroir

But the land and climate alone doesn't grow the grapes. Although it seems at odds with the whole concept of terroir ruling out the human element of wine—the viticulture and winemaking—seems short sighted. Vitis vinifera vines of Eurasian heritage are not native to North America. Thanks to curiosity in the mid 19th century the vine destroying phylloxera hitched a ride to Europe on the resistant North American Lubrusca vines decimating the vineyards there in the process. The result is that with a few exceptions in very isolated places in South America, effectively no vinifera vines grow on their own rootstock. How many plants can you think of that don't grow on their own roots? It's hard to imagine a non-native plant achieving natural balance and producing ripe fruit. If you ever get the chance to talk to a vineyard manager out amongst the vines about what he/she does you might be surprised at the intricacies of what's involved to get the best grapes. Even on two adjoining properties you can get vastly different approaches from viticulturist who have different philosophies on how to coax the best grapes from their vines.

But even the best grapes don't make wine on their own. Without human intervention there is no wine. My old nemesis Pinot Gris is a good example of the role vineyard practices and winemaking play in shaping a wine. In general thinned less and picked earlier the Northern Italians have developed a style from the Pinot Gris grape that is dry, light, with high acidity that tastes largely of citrus—they call Pinot Grigio. The Alsatians on the other hand tend to pick later, thin more and produce a fuller bodied, spicier aromatic wine that leans towards stone fruit flavours. They call it Pinot Gris. Now the climate and soils of both Friuli and Alsace differ. So that likely has an impact on the style that can be consistently produced from the grape in each region. But the philosophical winemaking decisions has an equally direct impact on producing these two vastly different styles from the same grape.

From Terroir

Sean Thackrey who makes Orion from the Rossi vineyard in St. Helena California is not a proponent of terroir. As he explains in this video it's not that he doesn't believe the site has an impact on the quality of the wine that can be made. But the focus and obsession on sub-soils in terroir overemphasises the importance of a vineyard site at the expense of everything else in the winemaking process. He believes the motivation behind this is largely to improve the value of the vineyard for inheritance purposes. That being said he doesn't disagree that certain vineyards bring unique characteristics to a wine. Underlying his position is the argument that the vineyard in and of itself is not responsible for producing the wine. Watching the video and hearing him talk about minimal intervention in the cellar and the intimate relationship he has with the vines that make Orion seems very disconnected from someone who criticises terroir. In fact the grape varieties on the Rossi vineyard, planted in 1905, have yet to be definitively identified by DNA tests. So promoting the concept of terroir could certainly be in his best interests. But for him at the end of the day the winemaking decisions are just as important if not more important than vineyard site selection is to the winemaking process. As he explains the Rossi vineyard used to supply Gallo before he sourced the grapes for Orion. Before that Orion was made from Schmidt vineyard Syrah which was sold in the early 1990s to Clarke Swanson of frozen dinners fame. Even amongst the transition the wine is still very well regarded and although different they are said to have common characteristics.

From Terroir

So where does this leave us in trying to define terroir. If you're too inclusive you risk making a definition that is all but meaningless. If too limited you risk leaving something critical out. For me terroir is the coming together of everything that allows the site's special sense of place to come through in the glass. That includes the microclimate, soil, special site attributes (like slope, a breeze, a cooling fog) which impact the the quality of the fruit. But all of this doesn't matter without the right stewardship. If you plant too far apart, carry too heavy a crop, grow the wrong varieties, etc. than the character of the terroir won't translate into the finished wine. So does that mean that the vineyard practices should be included in the definition of terroir? I'm not convinced so because that begins to encroach upon an all encompassing definition. But any vineyard practices or lack there of just like any steps in the winemaking process must be talked about when we speak of terroir. The process that takes grapes on a vine to a finished bottle of wine is so interconnected that taking one aspect and isolating it above all others is an injustice. Each aspect feeds-off of the other to express the site's special sense of place or lack there of. So just like how engine design, transmission choice and body aerodynamics aren't mentioned in the basic definition of an automobile when you really want to talk about what separates one car from another you need to talk about how all those factors and more come together and make one distinct from the other.

The debate on the importance of terroir to the finished wine and even what it includes will likely be debated even long past when science is able to unravel some of the mysteries and secrets behind great wine. But if there's one thing we can agree on it is that you can't make great distinctive wine without the best quality fruit. But even the best quality fruit alone doesn't equate to the best wines. It's up to the winemaker to take that quality fruit and figure out the best way to translate its essence into the bottle.

From Terroir