Episode 115: What Is Terroir? Breaking Down Wine's Most Untranslatable Word Host: Joanne Close Episode Length: 9:37 Release Date: June 11th Join the Wine Educate Newsletter Get wine tips, episode updates, and exclusive content delivered to your inbox. Subscribe at https://mailchi.mp/6648859973ba/newsletter Level 2 Mock Exam Bundle If terroir and how climate, soil, and site come together to shape a wine's character is the kind of topic that makes you want extra practice before exam day, the Level 2 Mock Exam Bundle is built for exactly that. It includes practice questions modeled on the real WSET Level 2 exam format, helping you test your understanding of these foundational concepts before you sit the real thing. https://joanne-close.mykajabi.com/offers/xeXeiyop/checkout Episode Description Joanne is recording this episode from a tiny stone cottage at the top of a mountain in the south of France, and the setting could not be more fitting. This week she tackles terroir, a word every wine student encounters early on but one that resists a single tidy definition. Rather than offering a textbook answer, Joanne breaks the concept down into its parts and walks through how each one shows up in a glass of wine. She covers the building blocks of terroir, including climate, soil composition, topography, aspect, and the human decisions that go into farming a vineyard. She also touches on how France's appellation system is really a reflection of terroir, and how newer wine regions like the United States are still discovering and defining their own. Using her current surroundings in the Languedoc as a live example, Joanne talks through the wind, the limestone soil, the wild herbs of the garrigue, and how all of it ends up reflected in the wines made from this specific patch of land. It is a grounded, personal take on a concept that can otherwise feel abstract. What You'll Learn in This Episode What Terroir Actually Means Why there is no direct English translation for the French word terroirHow terroir refers to the combination of factors that create a wine's unique sense of placeWhy terroir is not one single thing, but many factors working together The Components of Terroir Climate, including rainfall, sunshine, and windSoil composition, drainage, and color, including how dark soils like the galets of Châteauneuf-du-Pape retain and reflect heatTopography and aspect, including elevation and proximity to rivers or the seaVine training methods and vine densityGrape variety selection and vineyard decisions Terroir and the Appellation System How France's appellation system reflects recognized terroir over centuriesHow appellations get more specific moving from a broad region down to individual sites, using Burgundy, the Côte d'Or, Pommard, and Volnay as an exampleHow newer wine regions are still in the process of identifying their best sites Terroir Beyond Wine How the concept of terroir also applies to cheese, tea, honey, and single malt scotchNew research into soil microbiomes and how they may influence the resulting style of wine Terroir in Practice: La Clape and the Languedoc How wind, including the mistral and tramontane, shapes the vineyards of this regionHow calcium-rich limestone soil and water reflect in the minerality of local winesHow the garrigue, with its wild lavender, rosemary, and herbs, contributes to the aromatic character of wines from this area Episode Highlights and Quotes "Terroir is poetry, and it is a combination of all the parts of a unique part in the world and the wine that it makes." "One big important factor about terroir is that it cannot be replicated. You could try to take the same grape in the same climate, planting it on the same soil, aspect, elevation, all those things, and you may get something similar, but you're not going to get a replication of this specific wine." "If you were doing your WSET studies, you could be nodding your head right now, because those first few chapters of that level three book essentially talk about these components that go into terroir." Quick Reference: The Components of Terroir ComponentWhat It Includes Climate Temperature, rainfall, sunshine hours, wind Soil Composition, drainage, color, nutrient content Topography Aspect, elevation, proximity to water Viticulture Vine training, vine density, farming decisions Grape Variety Which grapes are planted and why Resources Mentioned Châteauneuf-du-Pape and its galet stonesAOC Burgundy, the Côte d'Or, Pommard, and Volnay as examples of appellation specificityLa Clape, the wine region near Joanne's location in the LanguedocWSET Level 3 textbook, early chapters on terroirLevel 2 Mock Exam Bundle for practice ahead of the WSET Level 2 exam: https://joanne-close.mykajabi.com/offers/xeXeiyop/checkout Connect with Wine Educate Newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/6648859973ba/newsletter - sign up for wine tips, quizzes, and episode updates delivered to your inbox every week. Website: https://www.wineeducate.com ...
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