The Terroir - Part 1
Hello Steemit community, the following articles will concern the topic of terroir. This French word is very important in order to understand what are the essential elements that influence the taste of wines.
The notion of terroir is recent, but it has very old origins. Nowadays, the terroir means a specific area of production for food or wine. This word appeared in order to give back an origin to the products we eat and drink after the mass distribution made us forget what we ate and brought the farmers to their knees. Indeed, supermarkets and industrial agriculture have been more concerned with increasing their profits than with preserving products quality. Thus, today, many varieties of fruit and vegetable have disappeared and healthy peasant agriculture has been replaced by mass agriculture using chemical fertilizers, GMOs and chemicals in order to be able to produce more at the lowest cost without worrying about the environment, the consumer health and especially the taste.
The word terroir is nothing more than the common sense of farmers of other times. Since time immemorial, the farmers have understood that certain foods and grapes varieties grow better in certain areas thanks to a soil that is favorable for the plant. What we call terroir today was simply observation of nature 50 or 60 years ago. Indeed, the origin of a product at the time defined its quality. Just take wine as an example: Montrachet in Burgundy. The vines on this land have been cultivated since the 13th century and the monks who were the first to plant vines on this land had already understood that it gave an exceptional wine. Indeed Montrachet has perfect sunshine and the soil is rich in manganese which is a rare component for white wines quality. The Montrachet appellation and terroir is so well known that Thomas Jefferson asked for 12 vines to be planted in Virginia. The terroir is essential in order to give an identity and a specific taste to what we drink and eat. As I described in my previous article on the soil, the quality of the grape is given by the soil and the elements in it. Thanks to this difference between the soils, a Burgundian chardonnay does not have the same taste as a Piedmont chardonnay.
But, does the terroir mean just the soil?
No. Indeed, the soil is part of the notion of terroir but other factors must be added to the definition such as climate, topography, vintage and the winegrower's expertise.
The next articles will concern all the elements needed to aloud vines to grow perfectly.
I hope you will enjoy it.
All the best
Dylan