The Truth About Terroir

Appellation America March 2006

I recently participated in a San Francisco tasting panel that sought to unearth the true character — what some call “terroir” — of wines from a specific appellation in Napa Valley, Spring Mountain.

As you might imagine, the experience led to lots of discussion of what terroir really is and, if it does indeed exist, how exactly it can be defined in terms of wines from a specific place.

In the case of the Spring Mountain tasting, the discussion focused on why wines from the hillside of Napa Valley tasted differently from those on the valley floor. Or were they different at all?

The upside to all this serious talk was that I had the opportunity to try a whopping 25 wines that day — many of which retail for about $70 to $100. Not a bad way to spend a Monday afternoon, if I do say so myself.

 A note on terroir: The idea behind terroir is that wines from different places have different characters due to the unique places in which they’re grown. It’s quite possibly the most debated topic in the wine world.

There are staunch terroir believers and unwavering terroir nonbelievers. I, for one, belong to the believer camp.

But what is terroir, really? “The Oxford Companion to Wine” would have you believe it’s something relating to science, dubiously describing the components of terroir as “soil … and local topography, together with their interactions with each other and with macroclimate to determine mesoclimate and vine microclimate.”

It’s no wonder few people really understand what it is. Allow me to translate: Terroir is the unique character of a wine that results from everything that occurs around the grape vine — the earth, the amount of sun it receives, the way it’s tended, and its age.

Terroir is what makes a Syrah from the Northern Rhone region in France taste differently from one grown in the Santa Rita Hills of California. It’s what makes a Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand different from one made in the Napa Valley. The same varietals can make very different wines in different places — because of terroir.

Back to the Spring Mountain tasting. The results were fascinating.

The wines were unique, but several common themes came up again and again during the tasting, among them a blueberry flavor and something that winos refer to as “sous bois,” or forest floor.

Because the grapes are grown on a mountain side, it’s no surprise that they made wines full of complexity and richness. Mountain vineyard sites are known for producing complex wines, since the vines have to work a lot harder to get to nutrients and water.

The “struggle” these vines go through is actually a good thing in winemaking and leads to more layered wines than those grown from grapes whose roots just barely reach into the topsoil.

Although not all 25 of the wines tasted exhibited these qualities in abundance, the common themes were unmistakable in the best examples. Among these were wines from Barnett Vineyards and Spring Mountain Vineyard.

If you get a chance, give these a try. You won’t regret it.

Courtney Cochran is a wine consultant and certified sommelier based in San Francisco. Her column appears every other week in Living. Contact her at www.courtneycochran.com.