Terroir (pronounced “tear-wah”)…

I see that word a lot these days. In fact, I think it is used so much it has lost its original meaning.

I think a lot of wineries either deliberately lie about terroir or don’t understand what terroir is.

Marketing people love the word “terroir” which almost guarantees it will be abused!

So what is “terroir” supposed to be?

“Terroir” is a French word that has no English equivalent. It is a “sense of place” – those things such as dirt, climate and aspect in the local environment that bestow unique characters upon grapes and the resultant wine. It can include local grape growing “practices” as well.

Terroir is what makes one wine unique from the rest. Wine grown from the same variety just next door can taste quite different because even neighbouring vineyards are subtly different (slope & drainage for example), and this is reflected in the finished wine.

The fact that wine is a product of a specific “place” (i.e. has “terroir”) is one of the main reasons I love wine, and what drew us to plant our vineyard at Matakana.

I think terroir is a big deal. When you drink a bottle of wine grown at our Matakana vineyard it is like we have squeezed the vineyard and a year’s worth of weather into your glass. It will never be the same again, because every year is different.

That is awesomely special. How many beverages around the world can lay claim to that? Not many!

And therein lays the problem.

Our vineyard site and those around the world that rely on Mother Nature TRULY reflect terroir. We cannot change the sun, the wind or the rain which all have a significant effect on the finished wine.

It is the same in the greatest vineyards of the world – in Bordeaux, Burgundy, Champagne, Tuscany and so on. Those are all places where it is actually ILLEGAL to irrigate – artificially add water to the vines. If you irrigate and get caught, you can go to jail!

I question any irrigated vineyard’s claim to terroir. Irrigation is the botox and plastic surgery of wine.

If you can turn the tap on and off at will to dry vines out or pump them up, that wine is as reflective of terroir as Dolly Parton’s bust is of natural breasts.

Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy some great tasting wines grown in irrigated vineyards. But those wines from those vineyards don’t connect with me on the same emotional level because what is in the glass is not so “real” to me – it’s been “fiddled” with.

There is also a “sameness” to those wines year in and year out because the vineyard manager makes sure they get the same amount of water EVERY YEAR!

These irrigated regions are having a dramatic negative effect on the environment as well, sucking rivers and aquifers dry. Plainly, these vineyards are planted in places where Nature never intended for them to be.

These vineyards are often planted on land that was very cheap because it was so dry it could barely support an income producing crop without artificially introduced water.

When we toured South Australia in May with our customers, the results were there for all to see (check out the photo). If you want to see what happens to an overtaxed river system, have a look at the Murray River where it exits into the gulf of St Vincent, it is unbelievable!

It is tough growing vines on a non-irrigated site like ours, for a multitude of reasons, but making great wine was never supposed to be easy.

Did Sir Ed climb Everest because it was easy? He could have been dropped on the top by a helicopter and still been first, but would the achievement and satisfaction have been the same?

As a winemaker, I look forward to the challenge of crafting wine each year that reflects terroir – to accept what nature delivers, to climb that vinous mountain and to bring it to fruition in your glass so you can taste the dirt, the rain, the sun, the wine – Ascension’s terroir.

And that is why you won’t find botox, silicone implants or irrigation at Ascension!

Believe it or not, this is the mighty Murray River in South Australia!

  

This entry was posted on Wednesday 9th July 2008 and is filed under Wine. Both comments and pings are currently closed.