| The Sad State of Terroir |
If you drink and learn about wine for any length of time, you are
bound to hear a term introduced to us by the French called “Terroir”.
Loosely translated, it means the soil (earth), the weather (climate)
and the wine grape’s natural affinity to its surrounding conditions.
The French claim they have this and that the rest of the world does
not. Well, the rest of the New World does not anyway. That is why
they plant specific grape varieties in their particular or ideal if you
will, regions. Chardonnay and Pinot Noir in Burgundy, Cabernet
Sauvignon and Merlot in Bordeaux, or Syrah in Northern Rhone.
You get the picture. For centuries their claim has been that these are
the specific places on earth that these particular grapes want or need
to be grown, where their ideal expression will come through in the
wine. For the longest time, I felt that this was nothing more than your
typical French arrogance. After all, America and other New World
countries make outstanding wines, right?
And the answer to that question is yes, in fact, maybe too good! You
see California and Australia have changed the face of the wine-
drinking world as we know it today. No longer does a wine drinker
need to wait years or even decades to enjoy a wonderful bottle of
wine, as they have had to do in France, Italy and Spain for centuries.
You can just uncork your new big and fruity, lush California or
Australian wine and pour it right into your glass. Now enjoyment is
merely a sip away. Let’s face it, we Americans are not the most
patient people in the world and we want our satisfaction or
gratification right away. We do not want to wait around for years to
receive it. The United States drives the wine importing economy and
dictates to the rest of the world, albeit indirectly, what wine styles will
be successful in the import market. The Aussies sure know this and
they are all over it. They are quick to take advantage of this and
make the wines that appeal to masses, masses of Americans that is.
Most Australian wines are a blend of grapes from all over a wine
region or regions in Australia. Even the most famous and prestigious
Australian wine of them all, the Grange from Penfolds, is a blend of
Shiraz grapes from several different vineyards throughout Southern
Australia. The Australian winemakers would argue that this allows
them to select only the very best of the best grapes each year to
make it into their wines. I wouldn’t argue with them because as you
can see, or should I say, taste, the results are quite convincing. They
make pretty darn good wines. When one drinks an Australian Shiraz,
there is no mistaking its country of origin, you know that the wine
comes from Australia. Ah, but can you tell from what coast, what
region or even which vineyard the wine comes from? No!!! You just
know that it is a wine that is enjoyable to drink now.
California was heading down the same path as the Australians have
taken until the past decade or so. There is now more of a focus from
your better and more skilled California wineries to let certain
vineyard sites come through in their wines. They are not totally there
yet, but at least there are some vineyard a.v.a.’s that put their distinct
stamp on the grapes, like Stags Leap District in Napa does on
Cabernet Sauvignon, or the Russian River Valley does on Pinot Noir
and Chardonnay for example. However, we still have a ways to go
though.
Why is all of this important you ask? After all, if we are enjoying
these wines, why do we need to find our “Terroir” so to speak? Well,
just like milk, more and more, every day, wine is becoming
homogenized. It is becoming harder and harder to tell one wine from
the next. Does this one come from Napa or Sonoma? Australia or
America? It would be a sad day indeed if all wines tasted the same
and they lost their individuality. Why bother trying new things, if they
are all good, find the cheapest and stick with it!
If you pick up a Burgundy from France, or a Chianti from Italy,
maybe even a Rioja from Spain, there is no doubt whatsoever where
these wines came from. You see, the region, nay the soil and the
climate, has left their indelible mark on these wines, for better or for
worse. If I pick up another Burgundy, from a different Appellation
(wine districts within the Burgundy region), the wine is dramatically
different, even if the grapevines used to make this other Burgundy
are a stone’s throw from the Burgundy I just drank before. Why is
this? Perhaps it’s because for just ten minutes more a day, the sun
shines on these grapes or there is just a little more limestone or flint
in the soil over here than that plot of grapes over there. Maybe even
the natural yeasts floating in the air that kicks off the fermentation
process are of different strands than the ones found a few miles down
the road. All of these factors can attribute to a wines personality.
Individuality! Aren’t choices great?
Sadly though, the individuality of even France appears to be coming
to an end as more and more winemakers, desperate to sell their wines
on the international market, are giving up their traditions that have
lasted for centuries and replacing all their winemaking equipment and
methods with the latest and most modern machines and technology.
The end result will be a wine that is fashionable to the international
community, but says little about the place that it comes from. If you
think the big names in the old world are safe from this transformation,
you are dead wrong! Not even the great Chateau from Bordeaux can
escape from this tragedy. Wine critics like Robert Parker, who’s
palate seems to prefer those big, robust wines with powerful fruit and
tannins over the charm and elegance of softer wines, have
successfully championed these great wine producing estates into a
more modern and unfortunately, similar style of wine to the rest of the
world.
I witness this preference for the big fruity and approachable wines all
the time amongst my wine-drinking friends. We are ready to dive into
the bottle immediately after the cork has been popped. We are not
patient enough to let those old world wines breathe for an hour or two
in a decanter before we consume them. That just is not convenient
for us. And when we taste these old world wines next to the big and
brash new world wines, we are unable to appreciate their charm and
subtlety. To us, the earth and dusty leather aromas are best kept on
the bottom of the grape growers work boots, not in their wines.
Where’s the fruit in this one? we ask. Well its there, if only we gave
it a little more time to reveal itself, we would taste it.
What we need to realize is that the difference in Old World wines and
New World wines is that of a cultural difference. In Europe, time
moves more slowly and everyday life is, quite thankfully, less hectic.
Patience is quite often rewarded. Wines are made with food in mind
and not how loud it speaks to the drinker. Meals are more of a social
event taking much longer to get through and the wines are enjoyed
when they are ready. This tradition is very special and it should not
be forgotten.
I did not write this article to slam wines from Australia or California.
That would make me a hypocrite, because truth be told, I have far
more California wines in my wine cellar than any other place or
country. I just hope that you will become a patient wine drinker and
enjoy all those subtleties of these Old World treasures. Let them
breathe, then they will speak to you and share with you their secrets.
They will say things like, ‘My vineyard was once an olive grove’ and
‘My soil is poor and my vines had to struggle to get water’, or even,
‘My winemaker took a huge risk by waiting an extra two weeks
before picking my grapes and just narrowly escaped the rains that
soaked many of my neighboring vineyards at harvest time, but you
can now taste the benefit of his patience’. Listen to them, they will
tell you something about where they came from, it just takes some
time for them to get all the words out. Individuality should be praised,
not stamped out! Take the time to enjoy a wines terroir!
Cheers!
Shane Johnson
bound to hear a term introduced to us by the French called “Terroir”.
Loosely translated, it means the soil (earth), the weather (climate)
and the wine grape’s natural affinity to its surrounding conditions.
The French claim they have this and that the rest of the world does
not. Well, the rest of the New World does not anyway. That is why
they plant specific grape varieties in their particular or ideal if you
will, regions. Chardonnay and Pinot Noir in Burgundy, Cabernet
Sauvignon and Merlot in Bordeaux, or Syrah in Northern Rhone.
You get the picture. For centuries their claim has been that these are
the specific places on earth that these particular grapes want or need
to be grown, where their ideal expression will come through in the
wine. For the longest time, I felt that this was nothing more than your
typical French arrogance. After all, America and other New World
countries make outstanding wines, right?
And the answer to that question is yes, in fact, maybe too good! You
see California and Australia have changed the face of the wine-
drinking world as we know it today. No longer does a wine drinker
need to wait years or even decades to enjoy a wonderful bottle of
wine, as they have had to do in France, Italy and Spain for centuries.
You can just uncork your new big and fruity, lush California or
Australian wine and pour it right into your glass. Now enjoyment is
merely a sip away. Let’s face it, we Americans are not the most
patient people in the world and we want our satisfaction or
gratification right away. We do not want to wait around for years to
receive it. The United States drives the wine importing economy and
dictates to the rest of the world, albeit indirectly, what wine styles will
be successful in the import market. The Aussies sure know this and
they are all over it. They are quick to take advantage of this and
make the wines that appeal to masses, masses of Americans that is.
Most Australian wines are a blend of grapes from all over a wine
region or regions in Australia. Even the most famous and prestigious
Australian wine of them all, the Grange from Penfolds, is a blend of
Shiraz grapes from several different vineyards throughout Southern
Australia. The Australian winemakers would argue that this allows
them to select only the very best of the best grapes each year to
make it into their wines. I wouldn’t argue with them because as you
can see, or should I say, taste, the results are quite convincing. They
make pretty darn good wines. When one drinks an Australian Shiraz,
there is no mistaking its country of origin, you know that the wine
comes from Australia. Ah, but can you tell from what coast, what
region or even which vineyard the wine comes from? No!!! You just
know that it is a wine that is enjoyable to drink now.
California was heading down the same path as the Australians have
taken until the past decade or so. There is now more of a focus from
your better and more skilled California wineries to let certain
vineyard sites come through in their wines. They are not totally there
yet, but at least there are some vineyard a.v.a.’s that put their distinct
stamp on the grapes, like Stags Leap District in Napa does on
Cabernet Sauvignon, or the Russian River Valley does on Pinot Noir
and Chardonnay for example. However, we still have a ways to go
though.
Why is all of this important you ask? After all, if we are enjoying
these wines, why do we need to find our “Terroir” so to speak? Well,
just like milk, more and more, every day, wine is becoming
homogenized. It is becoming harder and harder to tell one wine from
the next. Does this one come from Napa or Sonoma? Australia or
America? It would be a sad day indeed if all wines tasted the same
and they lost their individuality. Why bother trying new things, if they
are all good, find the cheapest and stick with it!
If you pick up a Burgundy from France, or a Chianti from Italy,
maybe even a Rioja from Spain, there is no doubt whatsoever where
these wines came from. You see, the region, nay the soil and the
climate, has left their indelible mark on these wines, for better or for
worse. If I pick up another Burgundy, from a different Appellation
(wine districts within the Burgundy region), the wine is dramatically
different, even if the grapevines used to make this other Burgundy
are a stone’s throw from the Burgundy I just drank before. Why is
this? Perhaps it’s because for just ten minutes more a day, the sun
shines on these grapes or there is just a little more limestone or flint
in the soil over here than that plot of grapes over there. Maybe even
the natural yeasts floating in the air that kicks off the fermentation
process are of different strands than the ones found a few miles down
the road. All of these factors can attribute to a wines personality.
Individuality! Aren’t choices great?
Sadly though, the individuality of even France appears to be coming
to an end as more and more winemakers, desperate to sell their wines
on the international market, are giving up their traditions that have
lasted for centuries and replacing all their winemaking equipment and
methods with the latest and most modern machines and technology.
The end result will be a wine that is fashionable to the international
community, but says little about the place that it comes from. If you
think the big names in the old world are safe from this transformation,
you are dead wrong! Not even the great Chateau from Bordeaux can
escape from this tragedy. Wine critics like Robert Parker, who’s
palate seems to prefer those big, robust wines with powerful fruit and
tannins over the charm and elegance of softer wines, have
successfully championed these great wine producing estates into a
more modern and unfortunately, similar style of wine to the rest of the
world.
I witness this preference for the big fruity and approachable wines all
the time amongst my wine-drinking friends. We are ready to dive into
the bottle immediately after the cork has been popped. We are not
patient enough to let those old world wines breathe for an hour or two
in a decanter before we consume them. That just is not convenient
for us. And when we taste these old world wines next to the big and
brash new world wines, we are unable to appreciate their charm and
subtlety. To us, the earth and dusty leather aromas are best kept on
the bottom of the grape growers work boots, not in their wines.
Where’s the fruit in this one? we ask. Well its there, if only we gave
it a little more time to reveal itself, we would taste it.
What we need to realize is that the difference in Old World wines and
New World wines is that of a cultural difference. In Europe, time
moves more slowly and everyday life is, quite thankfully, less hectic.
Patience is quite often rewarded. Wines are made with food in mind
and not how loud it speaks to the drinker. Meals are more of a social
event taking much longer to get through and the wines are enjoyed
when they are ready. This tradition is very special and it should not
be forgotten.
I did not write this article to slam wines from Australia or California.
That would make me a hypocrite, because truth be told, I have far
more California wines in my wine cellar than any other place or
country. I just hope that you will become a patient wine drinker and
enjoy all those subtleties of these Old World treasures. Let them
breathe, then they will speak to you and share with you their secrets.
They will say things like, ‘My vineyard was once an olive grove’ and
‘My soil is poor and my vines had to struggle to get water’, or even,
‘My winemaker took a huge risk by waiting an extra two weeks
before picking my grapes and just narrowly escaped the rains that
soaked many of my neighboring vineyards at harvest time, but you
can now taste the benefit of his patience’. Listen to them, they will
tell you something about where they came from, it just takes some
time for them to get all the words out. Individuality should be praised,
not stamped out! Take the time to enjoy a wines terroir!
Cheers!
Shane Johnson
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