The Components of Terroir

Terroir is a French word that describes the unique characteristics of a vineyard site that in turn impart consistent and unique qualities to the wine made from that vineyard.

The role of man, tradition and culture in terroir is a much-debated topic but in my plain or vanilla version, man chooses the variety to match the climate and employs the appropriate viticultural practice to allow the best expression of the site. Terroir describes the environmental inputs of the site, namely the geology, soil, aspect and climate.

The geology and soil of a site determine the size of the vine and its crop (vine capacity) and the balance of vine growth (vine vigour) and the climate decides what varieties should be grown and the style of wine made. These roles of the atmospheric (climatic) and edaphic (soil) components of terroir do overlap so climate does have some influence on the size of vine and its vigour. Equally soil and geology do have an influence on the choice of varieties and wine style, but the generalisation of the dominant role of soil on plant capacity and vigour, and of climate on the choice of varieties, holds.