Le terroir, qu'est-ce-que c'est?
Terroir
is a great word, but the meaning can be confusing. Part of the reason it
is confusing is because there no English equivalent. If you are like most
people, you think it has something to do with French wine, and you are
right. It has a lot to with French wine, but the word "
terroir"
has a broader meaning and is beginning to be used in other lexicons.
|
Saint-Émilion |
The
word "
terroir" is a noun, and it means, the environmental conditions
in which a grape is grown gives that grape unique characteristics. When we talk
about wine, the environment directly influences the flavor and aroma of the
wine. This makes sense, wines grown in a
particular area, share a similar environment.
Notice, we used the word "similar", and not the
"
same". No two environments are completely the same, and the
small,
subtle differences between them are what makes them distinctive. If there are two adjacent vineyards on
opposite sides of a hill, the grapes grown
at those vineyards may be different. Perhaps one side of the hill is rocky and
consequently the soil more porous, and the other side of the hill receives most
of the hot, afternoon sun. The grapes
grown on these two hillsides would be very different even if the grapes are
grown just a few hundred feet apart. The
wines produced from these grapes would also be very different.
|
Bordeaux Terroir |
Other
lexicons have been borrowing the word "
terroir". For example, cheese makers have begun to use
the word. Cows that graze on high
mountain meadows, will produce milk that is very different from cows on
other
pastures. Consequently, the cheese
produced from this milk will be very different.
The
terroir of the a mountain meadow will produce cheese that may be
found nowhere else because of the distinctive environment the cows live and
graze.
|
Chateau Belair |
|
No
matter where we are, there exists a terroir made up of rain, sun, soil, grass,
wind and so forth. These conditions
combine to make our terroir distinctive, and our terroir makes the things in
it distinctive, including ourselves. The
name of this website is Pennsylvania Terroir and we will write about the wines
that are grown in Pennsylvania. But more
importantly, we will discuss how the Pennsylvania terroir influences us and our
lives in many other ways.
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