There seems to be this prevailing notion that "terrior" is some sort of magical quality that winemakers labor to obtain. I would go so far as to say that a wine will reflect its place unless a winemaker goes to great lengths for it to not do so! Another notion is that a piece of ground has some sort of "truth" and that the wines from this site are destined to taste a certain way. This is crap. With the variety of decisions that need to be made before a vineyard is planted, human influence is a huge factor in what the end product will be like. Then we go a step further and include the decisions made in managing a vineyard and again the human influence on the end product is huge. You can take the best vineyard in the world and if you don't thin shoots, pull leaves and drop crop you are not going to get a great wine. The wine is made in the vineyard, not by the vineyard, but in the vineyard through dilegent farming practices.
This is not to negate the importance of site; the soils, aspect and elevation will have enormous impacts on the finished wine. The better the site, in terms of a number of characteristics, the easier it will be to farm in a way to produce quality wine. If left to the hands of incompetence, even the best site will not achieve greatness.
In the cellar the winemaker makes a multitude of decisions, most of which center around making the wine taste good and be of utmost quality. The decisions will have, to varying degrees, an impact on the wine and its inherent or site specific qualities. It is a continuum of possibilities, not a black and white designation. A wine will, depending on the decisions made by the winemaker, express its site of origin to some degree. Highly manipulated wines less so, true 'hands off' wines more so.
I know from my own experience that I never approach my vineyard or winemaking from the standpoint of "what do I do to make this wine reflect its 'terrior' ?". I look at it from the standpoint of wine quality " what can I do to make the best wine possible from this site" ? Because of my own convictions, not unique to myself but common to most good winemakers, the best wines are the ones where I have done just enough. I have done as many things right in the vineyard as time, money, and nature will allow. If this is done well then all that is needed in the cellar is that which keeps the wine clean, fresh and in balance.
'Terrior' isn't magic. 'Terrior' is the result of a vineyard centered approach to wine quality and the confidence that the fruit is all that is needed to make great wine.
Terrior is not Magic
There seems to be this prevailing notion that "terrior" is some sort of magical quality that winemakers labor to obtain. I would go so far as to say that a wine will reflect its place unless a winemaker goes to great lengths for it to not do so! Another notion is that a piece of ground has some sort of "truth" and that the wines from this site are destined to taste a certain way. This is crap. With the variety of decisions that need to be made before a vineyard is planted, human influence is a huge factor in what the end product will be like. Then we go a step further and include the decisions made in managing a vineyard and again the human influence on the end product is huge. You can take the best vineyard in the world and if you don't thin shoots, pull leaves and drop crop you are not going to get a great wine. The wine is made in the vineyard, not by the vineyard, but in the vineyard through dilegent farming practices.
This is not to negate the importance of site; the soils, aspect and elevation will have enormous impacts on the finished wine. The better the site, in terms of a number of characteristics, the easier it will be to farm in a way to produce quality wine. If left to the hands of incompetence, even the best site will not achieve greatness.
In the cellar the winemaker makes a multitude of decisions, most of which center around making the wine taste good and be of utmost quality. The decisions will have, to varying degrees, an impact on the wine and its inherent or site specific qualities. It is a continuum of possibilities, not a black and white designation. A wine will, depending on the decisions made by the winemaker, express its site of origin to some degree. Highly manipulated wines less so, true 'hands off' wines more so.
I know from my own experience that I never approach my vineyard or winemaking from the standpoint of "what do I do to make this wine reflect its 'terrior' ?". I look at it from the standpoint of wine quality " what can I do to make the best wine possible from this site" ? Because of my own convictions, not unique to myself but common to most good winemakers, the best wines are the ones where I have done just enough. I have done as many things right in the vineyard as time, money, and nature will allow. If this is done well then all that is needed in the cellar is that which keeps the wine clean, fresh and in balance.
'Terrior' isn't magic. 'Terrior' is the result of a vineyard centered approach to wine quality and the confidence that the fruit is all that is needed to make great wine.