A Super Quick Primer On "Terroir"
Terroir, pronounced “tear-WAHr,” is a French word that doesn’t directly translate into English but is usually taken to mean “sense of place.”
It refers to the conditions and variables of a specific place where vines are grown — from the general characteristics of a larger region (e.g. southern Rhône) to those of a small appellation* (e.g. La Romanée in Burgundy is about the size of a city block.)
The terroir of a place includes things such as
climate
latitude
rainfall
soil type
elevation and aspect of the vineyard
topography
microbes in the soil
local flora and fauna (including native yeast)
geographical features (lakes, mountains, plateaus, basins)
even the winemaking tradition in the region
The idea is that these things are so specific to a place that they define the characteristics of grapes grown there and hence directly influence the taste of a wine.
So next time a winemaker talks about wanting a wine to “express terroir,” they just mean that they want the distinct characteristics of the region to stand out in the wine.
Terroir. There ya go. ;)
*another French word, meaning a delineated wine region, defined by a governing agency
Grape varietal doesn’t matter! Ok, ok. This isn’t 100% true. But, what is true is that where a wine is from (aka region, aka a wine’s terroir) is just as important, if not more important than the varietal.