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.