Let’s talk about terroir! What is it, and how does it influence the taste of your favorite wines? 🌍 Terroir is a French term that translates to “a sense of place.”
When you look at a winemaking region, its terroir is the combination of climate, soils, terrain/topography, and microbes—which all affect the taste of wine. #WineWednesday101
🌤 Climate | Climate is combination of heat, sunlight, and water availability, which all play into the growing season. There are cool, moderate, and warm climates. Climate is influenced by latitude, altitude, seas, rivers, air, cloud, fog, and mist.
🌱Soil | There are hundreds of different types of soil, rock, and mineral deposits in the world’s vineyards. Most vineyard soils can be sorted into about 5 to 6 different types of soil that affect the flavor of wine.
🏞Terrain/topography | Differences in elevations and slopes can have a major impact on terroir. Some grape varieties thrive at higher elevations, while others produce their best wines when grown at sea level. Incline affects how the water drains when it rains, slopes change how the sunlight reaches vines, wind and air currents circulate differently according to the landscape, etc.
🦠Microbial terroir | Microbial terroir refers to the microbes (bacteria and yeast) present in vineyard soil and winemaking facilities. Studies have shown a unique biogeographic fingerprint based on the types and amounts of fungi and bacteria present in grape must. This means that every wine has a distinctive biological indicator of where it’s from.
What’s your favorite element of terroir?