by Rick Riozza
When you get down to it, wine is simply fermented grape juice. Of course the amazing thing about this juice is the almost-countless number of flavors a glass of wine can contain. From berries, cherries, cream tangerine and pineapple tart to tar, tobacco and chocolate, an incredible array of flavors keep us vino lovers playing the game of wine.
It is well considered that there are three primary factors that determine the wine’s flavors. A lot of wine experts like to boil it down to “the three G’s”: 1) the Grapes—the variety and quality; 2) the Guy or Gal, the winemaker’s hand in the entire process; and, 3) God or the Ground (depending on your theology!)—it’s the goodness of the Creator of the earth that those grapevines are planted in or on: the soil, the slope, mountains or meadows, and, the surrounding climate that includes the sun, rain, and wind. The French bundle up this entire third panoply of elements and simply call it: terroir [tair-WAHr].
These days—with so much “winespeak” going on, “terroir” is one of the most commonly used and least understood words in the vocabulary of wine. It’s a French word—derived from “terre” meaning “land” and really has no precise translation in English. But it’s an interesting conceptual term expressing the total environment of the grapevine in a specific area. You’ve heard it before: Earth, Wind, and Fire.
European wine lovers talk more about “place”, where we new world winos talk about grapes. But everything is important to wine and how it is made, remembering that the grapes are the product of terroir.
It’s the idea that almost every vineyard in the world has its own particular and unique characteristics. Topology, sub-soils, fog—you name it! And some vineyards can produce great wine with certain grapes, where others don’t. There are a variety of grapes that work best here, and, some that work best over there. It gets you thinking which variety of grapes work best in a certain terroir—or rather, so this is what’s been going on in the history of viniculture over the last 4000 years!
Different varieties of grapes do in fact prefer different soil types. For instance, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay work well and excel in chalky limestone soils, Cabernet Sauvignon thrives greatly in volcanic and gravelly soils and merlot melds magnificently in clay.
Obviously soil types and sun exposures are the more constant of the variables year in and year out. But the weather (oh!—the weather) is the major factor in vintage variation. And that’s why a 2000 Bordeaux is different from a 2001 or 2012. And the gravelly left bank Bordeaux is different from the clay-predominant right bank Bordeaux. And the left bank Pauillac region is different from the left bank Haut Medoc because Pauillac is closer to the Gironde River etc., etc.
You know—I’m certain that there are some notable terroirs that you may be partial to: Napa Valley is always on our radar because it’s not only a California but a world famous appellation consistently producing a variety of world class wines. Napa Valley has more than 100 different soil types spanning the mountains, surrounding hillsides, and valley floor. Think of the Mayacamas range in the west, the Vaca range in the east, the cliffs of Stag Leaps, the Rutherford “Bench” along Hwy 29, Mt. Veeder and Howell Mountain. And how many site-specific terroirs do you think are contained even in each of those locations!
For example, even though Cabernet Sauvignon is such a powerhouse grape that accepts strong oak flavors so well, we are still amazed at the variations in the big, well structured, tannic wine from the cool nights in Howell Mountain; the polished and elegant fruit from the forests and meadows on Spring Mountain; and, the complex and elegant dusty earth and berry notes from the valley’s floor in Oakville and the Rutherford “Bench”.
And that’s the mark of a good winemaker: to allow the vineyard’s natural expression of its own unique characteristics to dictate the wine’s flavor profile.
Terroir is a fun but complex subject that we’ll always touch upon. Un Garde!
May God continue to bless our vineyards! CHEERS!
Rick continues to host private wine tastings & events. Contact him at winespectrum@aol.com
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