Terroir is a French term in wine appreciation used to denote the special characteristics of geography that give a wine its individuality. It can be loosely translated as "a sense of place" which is embodied in the qualities of a wine, the sum of the effects that the environment has on the vines which produce a particular wine.
Terroir is distinct from the characteristics imparted by the grape variety, by the vintage and by production methods (vinification), and is the product of a range of local influences that are transmitted into the character of the wine.
The components of terroir may include:
However, the meaning of terroir goes beyond the geography — terroir is pre-eminently a concept of quality in wine-making. Oenophiles use the concept of terroir as a way of distinguishing quality and richness in wine from the homogenized products of the mass market.
Top-Level Terroir
The Burgundy region is the high temple of "top-level terroir"; i.e. that "somewhere-ness" that bestows certain characteristics to the wines of certain places. Examples include earthy notes found in Savigny and perfumed red fruit in Volnay and Chambolle – though both are different. Pertinent to this discussion is the fact that the parcelling of the land into smaller lots (crus, lieu-dits or whatever you prefer to call them) has nothing to do with the wine market or any type of marketing for that matter, this was done by scholarly monks who controlled the yineyards for 500 years or longer and believed they could characterise the differences. This characterisation led directly to the segmentation that we see today with some sites classed as Grand Cru , others Premier Cru and Villages.
Anyone tasting in a number of producers cellars will be struck by the consistency with which the Premiers Crus are more concentrated and interesting than the Villages wines and will experience the similar jump from Premier Cru to Grand Cru. It’s the occasional exceptions standing out which reinforce the established hierarchy of the crus, the hierarchy that forms the basis of what you pay.
Usage
Terroir is a term adopted from the French usage, an extended meaning of the word for "land". Terroir is often italicized in English writing to show that it is borrowed from a foreign language, though many now regard it as a word naturalized into English.
