What is Terroir?

First off let’s narrow down when exactly the natural wine-movement was introduced. In 1981 Jules Chauvet, whom many agree to consider the founding father of natural wine, gave a key interview in the magazine Le Vin en Question (the interview has later been published as a book).

In this interview Chauvet corner phrased some of the first ideas about natural wine. So it would probably not be a stretch to consider 1981 a key year in the formation of natural wine as an idea, or a concept.

Usually the term terroir is used to describe the knot of environmental factors that influence a given crop branching out to maybe also including farming practices. In their terrific book “Authentic Wine – toward natural and sustainable winemaking” Jamie Goode and Sam Harrop outline their understanding of terroir.

As you can see in their model below there are many elements constituting the concept of terroir. It is not only the soil and plant but and abundance of puzzle pieces that work together to create the ever changing face of the concept.

With all of these elements influencing the final product – climate and weather, soil, humans, (mechanical) inputs, site, yeast and biotics – it follows then that terroir is a concept of negotiation. Not in itself because that stays the same, but more in terms of how terroir is expressed in the wine of a particular domaine as this will most likely shift from cuvée to cuvée and from vintage to vintage or from harvest to harvest.

Terroir is relevant to wine, coffee, vegetables, fruit and many other crops. 

This topic was heavily debated as recently as in 2021 with reference to a new Russian law by which French Champagne makers are obliged to label their bottles ‘sparkling wine’ and in return only local russian producers can call their product ‘shampanskoye’ – the Russian equivalent of champagne. 

To the French main Champagne industry group this purportedly seems unacceptable referring to the AOC labelling restrictions where a wine in order to be allowed to be called ‘Champagne’ must be made from grapes grown in the region of Champagne.

This questions what terroir really is. The term is clearly disputed. And not only by the new Russian law. The topic has been challenged for many years by different opponents.  

Up until 1981 then, or maybe during the 1980s, terroir had a lot to do with geographical typicity and the AOC’s. Quality was viewed (we write a little more on the topic here) and quality equaled AOC. The more geographically tight you could define the typicity of your wine, the better the wine.

For the classical wine world this is still very true. For instance an AOC Pauillac is better than a generic AOC Bordeaux which in turn is better than a Vin de France. This is the majority logic.

Opposing this idea we have now for some time had the natural wines which challenge the focus on geography. Not in itself. Because you would never find a natural winemaker saying that the local terroir is without meaning. This is only in terms of administration.

So, when winemakers declare their wine as Vin de France in stead of AOC it suggests that the old world logic doesn’t apply anymore.

What is important is that this approach rejects everything classic and old. As a consumer you need to know that this or that winemaker does amazing wines. You can’t any longer rely on the AOC to tell you what is good. Now, wines that earlier on would have been perceived as cheap bulk wine as they lack the AOC, are sold at higher prices than many conventional AOC-wines.

To some extent it signifies the human element of the natural wine-movement. Maybe it’s a little bit of anarchy or punk or je ne sais quoi. A sort of rebellious streak, you might say.

To our understanding terroir has to do with how people do an agricultural product; how the winemakers live and breathe the wine that they make; how and to what deeply inspirational extent they understand the conditions of their particular piece of land; how they interpret tradition and local culture and way of life; how they take wine production as an art form.

Including every geological, climatological and broadly speaking natural aspect – people is our notion of terroir.