A wine never comes from nowhere.

“Terroir” is a word that other languages have never really managed to translate. They often borrow it as it is. It gets used loosely, on a label or in an advert, but its deeper meaning is a lovely one: the idea that a place can have a taste.

More than a soil

Terroir is often reduced to the earth. In reality, it is a set of forces acting together:

• The soil and subsoil: what they are made of, how deep they go, whether they hold water or let it drain away, and the life they shelter.
• The climate: rainfall, temperatures, wind, frost. We distinguish the climate of the region, that of a hillside (the mesoclimate) and that of a single row of vines (the microclimate).
• The lie of the land: the slope, whether it faces the rising or setting sun, the altitude, how close it is to a river or a forest.
• The plant: the grape variety and rootstock chosen for that place.
• The people: generations of know-how, choices, mistakes and adjustments.

The International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV) in fact defines terroir as an area in which collective knowledge has developed between a natural environment and human practices. Without people, there is no terroir. In 2015, the Climats of the Burgundy vineyards, plots that have been mapped out and named for centuries, were added to UNESCO’s World Heritage list. It is one of the finest recognitions of this idea.

A little geology in the glass

Each type of rock influences how the vine feeds, withstands drought and ripens. Don’t imagine that you “taste the stone”. But certain tendencies come up again and again:

Limestone

You find it in Burgundy, in Champagne (as chalk), in the tuffeau of Touraine and in the Jura. It holds water like a sponge and gives it back to the vine in summer. It is often associated with taut, straight wines of great finesse.

Granite

This is the rock of northern Beaujolais, of some plots in Alsace and of the northern Rhône valley. As it breaks down, it forms a poor, sandy gravel that drains well and warms up quickly. The wines there are often bright, fruity and precise.

Schist

You find it in Anjou (“Anjou noir”), in Banyuls, in Faugères and in the Priorat in Spain. This layered rock lets the roots push very deep between its sheets. It is credited with deep wines, sometimes smoky or slightly bitter on the finish.

Clay

It is heavy, cool and holds water. It often gives broad, round, structured wines. Merlot, on Bordeaux’s right bank, is particularly fond of it.

Volcanic soils

Basalts in Auvergne, ash on Etna in Sicily, pumice on Santorini… These young, mineral-rich soils often give vibrant, distinctive wines. Today they are favourite ground for many natural winegrowers.

Sand and pebbles

Phylloxera does not survive well in sand. That is why, on some sandy soils, you still find own-rooted vines, never grafted, as at Colares in Portugal or in the Camargue. As for the rounded pebbles of Châteauneuf-du-Pape, they store heat during the day and release it at night.

The soil is alive

It is easy to forget: a soil is not just something to stand on, it is a world. A handful of healthy earth is home to billions of organisms, such as bacteria, fungi, earthworms and insects. Some fungi, the mycorrhizae, team up with the vine’s roots and help it draw up water and minerals.

Chemical weeding, compacting the soil with heavy machinery or leaving it bare all impoverish this life. Many winegrowers think it also erases the terroir. That is why those who practise living agriculture talk so often about their soils: they scratch them, cover them with grass, sow flowers and legumes, and let the worms come back. A vine that roots deeply in living soil reaches further down for what makes its place unique.

And “minerality”?

It is the tasters’ favourite word, and one of the most debated. Science is clear on one point: the vine does not carry the taste of stones into the glass. Yet everyone has felt that sensation of wet stone, chalk or salt in certain wines, often linked to acidity, tension or certain aromatic compounds.

At Vinivers, we like this kind of mystery. We are not trying to settle it: we would rather share what people feel, without claiming to hold the truth.

Terroir put to the test by climate

Warming is upsetting the balance: harvests come earlier, alcohol levels rise, spring frosts and hailstorms are more frequent. Some winegrowers are moving up in altitude, others are replanting later-ripening or forgotten grape varieties, others again are betting on trees, hedges and shade. Terroir is not fixed; it is a balance that is always being sought.

---

Are you a winegrower? Tell us about your soil, your hillside, what makes your place special. A “Portraits of terroirs” series is in the works.