Terroir

Terroir is a French wine term that is often thrown around and hidden behind.

I remember one experience from a restaurant in Alsace that I visited with a group of other American wine professionals. We attempted to send back a bottle of flawed wine. Obviously flawed.

The sommelier of that restaurant left the table to speak with another sommelier and then came back a few moments later to tell us the wine was not flawed, but rather what we were tasting was the “terroir” of the wine.

That was an improper use of the term terroir but it does highlight how confusing this term is. This term does not mean “dirty” or “earthy” or any one thing at all. It is not a single flavor at all as a matter of fact. It is a term for the reasons behind all of the flavors, tastes and textures that make up a wine.

It’s what makes a wine taste as if it’s from a certain spot on the globe rather than simply mass produced cookie-cutter wine. Weather, exposition, geological makeup of the vineyard, the animals that live in and around the vineyard, the yeast that lives there, etc. All of the natural elements that exist in the vineyard and winery that go into making a wine have a personality of its place.

Andy Chabot
Director of Food & Beverage