Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Food & Drink

What Is Terroir and Is It Really Controversial?

Mark Stock
By

Terroir is a trendy term that relates to the flavor and nature of a food’s origin. It began in wine, where it’s still a prominent concept, but has crept into everything from coffee and tea to baked goods and specialty salts. Has the t-word tread too far?

It began, like so many wine-related things, in France. Terroir was used as a way to account for the place-ness of a particular wine. In other words, the many conditions at play that make Champagne uniquely Champagne and Burgundy uniquely Burgundy. Over the generations, we learned more and more about how these conditions — the climate, the soil type, the elevation — shaped the resulting wines. Now, we have more distinct wine regions on the global wine map than ever, with some 260 American Viticultural Areas (AVAs) in the states alone, with a few more added every year.

Related Videos
Wayne Bailey next to wine tanks.

Wayne Bailey runs Youngberg Hill in the Willamette Valley. The way he describes terroir would translate to pretty much any crop harvested from the ground. “Terroir is everything that in any way impacts the growth and development of the fruit on the vine,” he says. It is a truly singular thing, he adds. “It’s the one thing that nobody else can duplicate,” he says. “No one else can make wine from my fruit therefore no one will be able to make a wine that tastes like mine.”

The terroir aspect can be amplified too and Bailey says that’s definitely the case with an ultra-expressive grape like Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, his specialties. He doesn’t think it’s too hard to go overboard with terroir, at least in wine, but there are some misconceptions.

What is Terroir?

“Most think of terroir as it relates to the land and weather, but those are very large categories as land includes soil, altitude, slope, drainage, orientation, etc. while weather includes both macro and microclimates, temperature, moisture, seasonal timing, etc.,” Bailey says. He says it relates to the agricultural approach, too, meaning the opportunity for even further expressions of terroir. “It includes the farming practices as well, including pruning, cultivation, irrigation, leaf removal, and anything else that is done by the farmer while growing the grapes,” he says.

Cara Morrison is in charge of making Chardonnay at Sonoma-Cutrer. She says honoring terroir means farming according to your specific site, which is uniquely it is own and can produce its own flavor profile. “Our Les Pierres Vineyards is made up of incredibly rocky soils, which gives the lemon-lime and mineral aromatic notes,” she says, something that tends to come out of Burgundian Chardonnay. “Although, the weather is warmer and dryer in Sonoma County, so we need to farm accordingly, which does give the Sonoma-Cutrer Chardonnay different nuances than wines from anywhere else.”

Who Uses the Term Terroir?

Morrison says it doesn’t have to stop at wine. “As for other industries, if it truly fits using the concept of terroir, it is worth exploring,” she says. “We see terroir differences with our barrels — wood from different forests in France vary in flavor due to the amount of rainfall and sunlight. There’s the science to testing the various varieties in different terroirs, and the art of defining the differences.”

person holding a wine.
Evrim Ertik / Getty Images

These differences, she admits, can take generations to find out but that’s what keeps wine and sibling industries fascinating, she contends. Undoubtedly, one of the positives of paying attention to terroir is the environmental and sustainability pros that can follow. For example, if a grower is looking to really showcase the uniqueness of their crop, wouldn’t it make sense not to dampen it in any way? This tends to translate to less-interventionist farming philosophies like organic, biodynamic wine, regenerative, and more, which are all easier on the earth than more conventional methods.

So why should wine only be able to dabble in the terroir party? Why not coffee, pears, even hazelnuts? I mean, it’s even been adopted by cultural avenues, like music (think Nashville sound versus Detroit). For one, winemaking tends to involve the most opportunity for terroir to shine through. From Mother Nature’s prominent influence and farming style to barrel types and all of the countless microbiology along the way (the yeast, the bacteria), terroir exerts itself throughout. Moreover, wine is a living creature and constantly evolving, essentially extending and evolving that sense of terroir.

Other sectors can’t be blamed for taking on the term, as it’s sexy and a great selling point. Sibling industries like coffee, tea, as well as grains that go into spirits, and hops that go into beer are wise to take it on. But a bakery touting its terroir? Do its muffins really taste different than if they were made a few regions over? Perhaps. But these differences are less easily pinpointed as they tend to involve the microbiology (different yeast strains, for example) more than the detectable differences in flavor. And, unlike with wine, your local bakery probably doesn’t have tasting notes and somebody behind the counter telling you why that muffin is such a unique snowflake (not yet, at least).

For now, terroir will continue to run rampant in wine, as both a marketing tool but also one with often perceptible results. As for other sectors, we’ll have to wait on the science and see. There’s certainly no reason why a blueberry grown in Milo, Maine would be unlike any other blueberry on the planet. You just have to be able to back it up with the unique context that makes it so. Or, at the very least, the context for a good story as that’s essentially what terroir is anyway.

Expect to see more and more of it in the drinks world anywhere there’s regionality. Think, American vodka versus Russian vodka, Wyoming whiskey versus Kentucky bourbon, and the many variations of IPA beers. Terroir can enhance the homegrown quality and philosophy of the crop or the resulting product in question, adding more variety to the marketplace. We just have to make sure there’s some substance behind all that marketing muscle.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
The Borg drink is a viral Gen-Z favorite that’s really not all that new
Sorry, kiddos. "Borg" has been around for a while. We just call it something else.
borg drink recipe

Every new generation thinks they've invented the wheel when it comes to anything trendy. We're sorry to say, Gen-Z, but "flared leggings" are called yoga pants, most of us were using flip phones before you were born, and don't even think about talking to us about pop punk unless you know who Billie Joe Armstrong is.
When it comes to drinks, most generations have a hallmark party beverage that defines their college years, holding the power to flood them with a rush of nausea and fuzzy memories even decades later. For Gen-Z, that drink is called "Borg." What they haven't realized yet, though, is that this falsely fruity concoction has been around for years under the name "Jungle Juice."
While Jungle Juice was originally invented by U.S. soldiers during the Second World War, it was Millenials who made it the truly trashy, hangover-inducing party swill it is. Most stereotypically mixed in a large bucket or something else that can be found in a dorm garage, Jungle Juice is a mixture of vodka and a cheap, fruity mixer such as Kool-Aid. Naturally, there aren't any hard and fast recipe rules, but that's the usual gist of Jungle Juice.
The Gen-Z twist, Borg, does have some clever upgrades, and for that, we give them due credit. Firstly, the rather gross-sounding name is actually a witty acronym for "Black Out Rage Gallon." We love that there's no beating around the bush with this generation. They know how to call a spade a spade. Second, unlike the communal trough that's used to dole out Jungle Juice, Borg is made and served in individual plastic jugs, cutting down on germ spread. We can appreciate that growing up in the days of COVID has made for some much healthier thinking. We also love that Borg can be capped, making it much more difficult for potential predators to tamper with a drink.
Of course, the optional addition of new ingredients like Liquid IV also help to curb the hangover that will undoubtedly come with drinking vodka from a plastic jug. That sure would have been nice back in the day.

Borg drink recipe

Read more
Is erythritol harmful? What a dietitian says new data means for your Keto diet
Erythritol is common in many keto foods - what does that mean for your health?
erythritol in keto diet advice

While sugar substitutes have been around for more than a century, they didn't really become mainstream here in the United States until around the mid-70s. According to Carolyn De La Pena, professor of American Studies at UC Davis and author of Empty Pleasures: The Story of Artificial Sweeteners from Saccharin to Splenda, between 1975 and 1984, Americans increased their consumption of artificial sweeteners by 150 percent. This timeline makes sense when you take into account that the late seventies coincided with the start of our crazed diet culture and the revolving door of fad diets.
One such diet that doesn't seem to be going anywhere, however, is the Keto diet. Still hugely popular among Americans trying to shed a few pounds, Keto focuses heavily on limited or no carbohydrates. Because sugar contains carbohydrates, followers of Keto have turned to artificial sweeteners to satisfy those late-night cravings - sweeteners that, more often than not, contain erythritol. Erythritol in particular has become hugely popular because it's much better for baking than other sugar substitutes, has less of an artificial flavor, and will keep the eater in Ketosis, which is key for losing weight on the Keto diet.
A new study has made waves recently because its findings indicate there's a link between erythritol and higher rates of heart attack and stroke (though the study did note that only an association was found — not causation. So should you be worried?
We asked Dan LeMoine, RD, the award-winning author of Fear No Food and the Clinical Director at Phoenix-based Re:vitalize Nutrition, what he had to say about erythritol, including its benefits and potential health risks. "Artificial sweeteners are still sweeteners. While many are non-nutritive or zero-calorie, we tend to view them similarly as we do regular sweeteners or sugars — moderation is key. While many have amazing implications on weight loss – being low to no-calorie options and having little impact on blood sugar, some have their downside," he says.

While some of that sugar substitution has been good for waistlines and health issues that come from obesity, it seems to be causing more and more concern when it comes to other potential health issues. "For example," says LeMoine, "some research indicates the popular sweeteners stevia may have negative effects on the gut microbiome. And the recent study showing correlation between the sugar alcohol, erythritol, and heart attack and stroke."

Read more
Feeling adventurous? 5 of the weirdest cocktails from around the globe
Would you order a cocktail with a pickled human toe? You can in Canada, apparently
unusual and unique cocktails sourtoe cocktail

We all love a good cocktail, but it's easy to tire of the classics. There's nothing wrong with a perfectly frosty, salted-rimmed margarita, or a warm-to-your-bones, cherry-topped old-fashioned, but sometimes, you just want something new. Something that makes you think. Something that, perhaps, gives you a chuckle. These are those cocktails.
Pig's Blood Piña Colada (USA)

Back in 2014, bartender Jason Brown of Chicago's Kinmont restaurant and bar, concocted this cocktail after listening to a Werewolves of London lyric about a werewolf drinking a pina colada. His creativity sparked, and the "Werewolves of London" cocktail was born.

Read more