This week I wanted to explore another wine term that gets thrown around a lot but that I think not many people actually know the meaning of. I don’t know about you, but I’ve been subject to many the wine conversation where someone decides to say something suitably wanky sounding like ‘ah yes, I can really detect the terroir in this wine’.

Now I am going to be a bit wanky, and say it wasn’t until we went to France in the middle of last year that I realised this word has quite a beautiful meaning and one which is misunderstood. It is quite a beautiful element of wine, but because it’s French it comes with a bit of a reputation for being a snobby term. It also means that people who want to sound fancy when talking about wine may use it without knowing what on earth they are talking about. So it’s time to delve into this French word so you can be a well-informed wine snob if you so choose to be.  Or, you can bask in the glory of knowing you know what the term means when someone else uses it in the wrong context.

What on Earth is terroir? (Yep, there’s dad joke number one)

In French, terroir means ‘a sense of place’. See why I think it’s beautiful? Especially when said with a French accent! You pronounce it “tare WAHr” in case, like me, your French is appaling. It has been overused for many years, including some years where it was said to be a bad thing to be a terroir-driven wine due to cork taint and yeast rot (yep, not so French and sexy now).

Terroir is the idea that where the grape is grown, therefore the land and climate, give the wine unique characteristics that are specific to that region of the world. In other words, it is that wine from one region will taste different to wine from another region.

Terroir has been used particularly successfully in marketing some regions wines, where the place that the wine is from becomes almost more important than the producer. In particular, French wine regions do this particularly well. Think Burgundy with its different classifications all around the plot of land (case and point terroir) to Bordeaux and Champagne. Many of the regions are protected in Europe, such as Champagne, which denotes their geographical area. This is definitely the most successful use of terroir for marketing, and something that hasn’t been really brought into new age wine regions.

However, this can be used when speaking about any wine. Think about the difference between a Shiraz from the Hunter Valley versus the Barossa. There is a noticeable difference, and this comes down to the terroir.

The four elements of terroir

However, only one component of terroir is the location. There are actually four elements that go into the terroir of the wine, and whilst most of them cannot be controlled by the winemaker, some can, causing contention around the term. You be the judge though!

Climate

The climate of the wine region includes the humidity, temperature and precipitation. This affects the sugar content in the wine produced in that area. Generally, there are cool climates and warm climates. Warm climate produces grapes with higher sugar levels and therefore higher alcohol wines. Cooler climate wines have more acidity and lower sugar levels. This is also impacted not only by the region but where the grapes are grown in that region. It even boils down to how much shade the individual vine receives.

This is the difference between wine from the Hunter Valley (one of the hottest wine regions in Australia) and wines from a cool climate like Tasmania.

Topography

There are many features of the location of a vineyard that impact the wine terroir. This includes the elevation of the wine region, geological features (mountains, valleys, inland location versus by the ocean), other plants and trees and nearby bodies of water. Large topography features mean the flavour won’t change much by individual vineyard.

However, altitude and how hilly the region is makes a big difference to the taste of the wine. The incline of the hill impacts how the water drains from rain, the slope will impact when the grapes receive sun and the wind will circulate differently. These factors all affect how the grapes grow and the wine tastes.

We found this particularly prevalent in Burgundy, where each plot was given a classification. This is based largely on where the plot is located in relation to the hills.

Soil

As with any plant, grape vines find the water and nutrients to grow from the soil. This impacts the shape, health and taste of their fruit. There are hundreds of different types of soil, rock and mineral deposits, and these can be sorted into around 5-6 types that impact flavour.

Each vineyard will have slightly different soil to all the others because its mineral composition will be unique. This is impacted by decomposition of rocks and presence of sand, gravel and limestone. However, this can also be impacted by how the soil is cultivated and use of fertilisers.

Surrounding plants

You wouldn’t think that what else is planted in the vineyard would impact the grapes, but it definitely can. For example, the presence of a lot of trees around a vineyard can shelter from strong winds. It’s also been proven that aromatic plants can impart their flavours into the grapes. Vegetation can also impact pest control in the vines.

The final word

So you see, there are a number of elements that go into terroir. Anything can impact the wine. Whilst most of these are location specific, some of them are able to be impacted by the winemaker. As a result, there is a bit of contention around whether terroir is more important than the winemaking in producing flavours. Once it used to be more important as there were many region-specific winemaking techniques and grapes. But now these have spread globally.

I myself like the idea of terroir and think there is something to it. I’ve definitely tasted the difference between wines of different regions, even in Australia. I think France was on to something with their winemaking. Although it may be a clever marketing ploy, it’s definitely one that works!

So next time you hear someone talking about terroir, you’ll be able to terroir-ise them!