Terroir

[Rebel Rose]

Oops, so 'tis. I was in too much of a hurry to start reading, I guess! Thanks for pointing that out. They did a fine job . . . frankly one of the best dissertations on terroir I have ever read.

[JohnL]

Easy mistake--oddly the pieces in the special section of the Times do not carry by lines. You need access to the table of contents page.

I agree. very well done.

I also loved the piece (I believe you linked it upthread) by Asimov.

Terroir is more about how the grapes ripen as a result of the position of the vineyard to the sun etc. The soil is about drainage (more than flavors). Fermentation is an incredibly complex chemical process.

Interestingly, if one looks at specific vineyards in Burgundy certain parcels within the same vineyard are considered better than other parcels nearby that have the same soil composition. The key difference being the elevation and or angle of the vines to the sun.

For all those folks who swear they "taste" the actual limestone (that minerality) in wines--- I simply want to know where those bell pepper notes are coming from????????

Or the strawberries or blueberries and why with so many mustard plants growing among the vines in california vineyards are we not getting more spicy brown (or mild yellow) mustard notes in our wines??? where are those Burgundies getting the wet leaves and mushroom notes--I didn't notice any wet leaves or mushrooms near the vines!

How can california not have terroir?

That sure looks like dirt to me out there! And isn't there volcanic soil and limestone and.... in California or is that just a French thing--geologically speaking you know.

I saw lots of rocks there.

How come people talk about Old World and New World wines? Seems to me Spain and Southern Italy wines are more akin style wise to California wines than they are like Bordeaux and Burgundy.

So are there New World wines being made in the old world?

Isn't Amarone often a high alcohol wine? So how come people aren't complaining about the alcohol levels in Amarone? (or Primitivo or....).

If truly great wine is made with man not interfering with nature how come its ok to add sugar but not okay to acidify?

If terroir is all that is important then why did so much "Burgundy" often contain wine from places like Algeria or Italy?

I could go on but the dead horse is really dead.

Let's try to put terroir into perspective.

Let's also try to appreciate wines for what they are rather than some vague notion of what they "should" be.

There's too much fun to be had!

Edited May 7, 2007 by JohnL (log)

[wkl]

"So are there New World wines being made in the old world?"

sure. why not?

new world is just a catchall phrase for a certain style of wine. that's all.