Terroir

The friendliest place on the web for anyone that enjoys cooking.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

What matters more, terroir or market appeal?

  • Terroir

    Votes: 14 73.7%
  • Market Appeal

    Votes: 5 26.3%

  • Total voters
    19
Joined
Dec 10, 2008
Messages
75
Location
Somewhere nice
What matters more to you, flavor profile or terroir? I tend to view wine as a living, breathing thing. I would perfer to drink a wine that is from an inferior vintage, and observe it as such, than a wine from an inferior vintage that has been manipulted through cellar techniques in order to give it market appeal.
 
Last edited:
What matters to me is it how it tastes. Not where it's from.


Which would you prefer, "to drink a wine that is from an inferior vintage, and observe it as such"...

or

...to drink a wine with top notch flavor, aroma, mouth feel, etc. and relish the experience?

I prefer the latter, as I view wine as a beverage.
 
Nate... you did not include the option "Alcohol Content"

Ok I admit to having to look up the term "terroir"... it meant what I figured though.

I cannot stand wine that I feel is primarily a marketing ploy.... I avoid all of what I call the "frenetic animal" wines.. the ones with a cutesy outline of some animal named something like "dancing gerbil" or whatever and anything with too long a story... I also have learned the hard way to not buy wine on the basis of a cool label graphic... I figure if too much effort was put into the packaging its because they knew the wine itself was not going to move product

I am not an aficionado nor do I want to be one.... but I usually gravitate to wines that are regional and typical in name Dolcetta Di Alba, Rioja etc. and simply packaged. When I find something I like I buy it again.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I had to look it up as well, so it means the unique flavor given to a wine because of where the grapes grew? Is that correct?
I go with taste, I am not a huge wine fan and prefer the sweets over dries, etc. But, if it is smooth enough I will like it.
One example given to us by one of my wife's clients was a Lambrusco dell Emilia. Again, not a huge fan of wines here, but that one I did like especially when I paired it with a nice New York Strip.
 
PS I voted terroir assuming that since it influenced taste that would be the closest to what I looked for... but I am probably wrong there LOL.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Yep... I had to look it up as well. I know so little about wines and selecting them, I'm kinda whimsical when purchasing wines. I think for me, both count... terroir and flavor. I usually buy whites or blushes, and I have rarely bought the same thing twice.

Dancing Gerbil.... now that is funny!!! I would buy that just for the name!!!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I'm with sattie...I know little about wines and would probably buy something named "dancing gerbil" because it made me giggle. The sophistication level of this question is a little beyond me...
 
OH... I just saw market appeal, I was thinking flavor and terroir... um.... sometimes market appeal plays a role in it for me. But I'm with Pancho on this one, the more cutesy or played up the bottle is, the less likely I will buy it. I tend to go with the plain labeling, more serious looking wines.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I don't buy anything just for market appeal. When I buy wine it is not to impress anyone with a fancy bottle or a cool name. I am buying it to drink and enjoy the taste, period. Marketing might get me to try something that I might not have tried though. I am not wine expert so when I am buying wine I am usually flying pretty blind. Marketing will play a role in what I pick, at least subconsciously at the minimum, but in the end it is the taste that is what will get me to buy it again.

Edited to add: Marketing goes into every bottle, not just the cutsie ones. The plain labels were designed that way, even if just in small part, with people who hate cutsie type labels in mind.
 
What matters more to you, flavor profile or terrior? I tend to view wine as a living, breathing thing. I would perfer to drink a wine that is from an inferior vintage, and observe it as such, than a wine from an inferior vintage that has been manipulted through cellar techniques in order to give it market appeal.

Sorry, Nate, but the word is TERROIR and not "terrior." Please get it changed. It is a French word that really has no accurate translation into English. It means "the soil," but not only the soil, but also the microclimate of the place the specific grapes are grown AND the growing conditions of each specific vintage.

There is significant conflict between many French winemakers and their Californian counterparts, that the Americans manipulate the grapes to make the wines taste the same as wines from other places, and as well, taste exactly the same from year to year. Thus, many (and not only French) feel there is little if any "terroir" to many California wines.

For me terroir is very important to why I choose and like a wine. Never "market appeal."
 
I only buy wines that have pictures of cute dogs on the label! ;)

Unfortunately, Jenny, many Americans buy wine just that way. If the label catches their eye with a significant (for them) image, a favorite color or a name that has nothing to do with what is in the bottle, that's what they choose, even often when a salesperson tries to steer them to something they might like the taste of better..

Sadly, many plonky wines are designed that way, for just that reason. :(
 
Sorry, Nate, but the word is TERROIR and not "terrior." Please get it changed. It is a French word that really has no accurate translation into English. It means "the soil," but not only the soil, but also the microclimate of the place the specific grapes are grown AND the growing conditions of each specific vintage.

There is significant conflict between many French winemakers and their Californian counterparts, that the Americans manipulate the grapes to make the wines taste the same as wines from other places, and as well, taste exactly the same from year to year. Thus, many (and not only French) feel there is little if any "terroir" to many California wines.

For me terroir is very important to why I choose and like a wine. Never "market appeal."

Yup, you are right June, sorry about the misspell, spelling was never my strong suit (my French is admittedly very poor as well). I suppose I should download the spell-check thing.

I am a member of a tasting group (mostly wine makers, growers, and writers) in N.E. Ohio. Terroir is a hotly debated topic among the old world folks in the group and the neauvou wine makers (sp again?). The definition of the word seems to be the biggest area of debate, what does it cover and not cover?

So I asked Laurent Drouhin about it at a Burgundy tasting in Cleveland. He told me terroir is the sun, the rain, the soil, the subsoil, the temperature, the humidity, and the worker in the field. He was very clear in telling me that terroir CANNOT be influenced in the cellar - only taken away from or destroyed - which is the debate amongst my wine friends I was just talking about.

I ask the question based more of market appeal for flavor rather than labeling. The "American" taste for wine tends to be "Big". Big alcohol, big oak, big tannins, big mouthfeel, big finish. So the Cali. winemakers are giving people what they want. I don't think it's a problem, only a preference. I love the challenge of tasting a wine, without knowing what it is, and trying to figure out where it came from, what year it was made, what type of oak it was cast in. Elegant, bold, fruity, sweet, light, heavy, steel, oak, I just like the challenge. There is no right or wrong answer to the poll, I am just curious what others think.:ROFLMAO:
 
It's an interesting topic. European children are raised on wine (watered down, to be sure, but wine, nonetheless) and American children are raised on milk and soda... both SWEET -- LOTS of sugar, and not the residual kind found in wine. As a result, many adults in America have the taste for sweet beverages, and most wine does not fall into that category.

Add to that, most folks want to slug their wine the way they would a coke or a beer, and when they do that, even the finest wine will taste NASTY!

Did you know some Aussie wines are made to be especially sweet to appeal to Americans' tastes? They make them different for themselves. Interesting, Godiva chocolate also has two different formulas -- one for Europeans, the other (sweeter) for Americans.
 
Could someone please explain to me how wineries manipulate the grapes to make their wine taste different? Also, why is that a bad thing?
 
I guess wines could pick up a different flavor depending on where they grew, soil content etc.
I tend to buy local wines made here in Washington or California - they have a good flavor and a reasonable price. Sometimes I'll "go out on a limb" and get Australian, lol
 
Could someone please explain to me how wineries manipulate the grapes to make their wine taste different? Also, why is that a bad thing?

Andy, there are myriad techniques used by winemakers to manipulate the grapes, and more than that, the wine itself. I am not an expert in that at all, but I do know some add oak chips, some add unfermented grape juice, some add sugar, itself. but it is not all about adding things to the wine. The trend these days is to let the grapes get overripe before picking. That will always result in a sweeter wine. I'm not good at this, and I don't want what I say to be taken as gospel...

and it is not necessarily a bad thing. especially if you like the results. It does, however, rob the wine of its sense of place, its terroir.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top Bottom