The Terroir of Israeli Wine
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By Richard Shaffer in Wine from Israel Published: Tuesday, 15 May 07 - 10:18 AM (GMT -06:00) Last Updated: Tuesday, 15 May 07 - 10:56 AM (GMT -06:00) |
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There have been a couple great thought-provoking pieces recently on the illusive and probably over-used wine concept of TERROIR.
A good place to start is with Eric Asimov's recent blog about the topic at his blog The Pour.
Jancis Robinson, in her must-have Oxford Companion to Wine, spends almost two full encyclopedic pages on the topic. She defines "terroir" as "the total natural environment of any viticultural site." The idea is that "every small plot...and every region may have distinctive wine-style characteristics which cannot be precisely replicated elsewhere." So, terroir is a wine's unique fingerprint or DNA, altering the flavor and aroma profile in some distinct way.
Matt Kramer from the Wine Spectator simply calls it a wine's "somewhereness," that indelible profile that is in essence a wine's fingerprint, the wine's expression or translation of its Place.
It's actually a pretty controversial concept in the wine world, many disagreeing over whether there even exists such a thing as terroir.
At least some of our desire to believe in terroir is our desire to be connected and rooted (pun intended) to a specific PLACE. In a World Wide Web-ified world, with people more transient than ever, and the world feeling flatter and flatter (no) thanks to the Internet and 24/7 news programming, we hope more than ever to feel a part of a specific Place. We want there to be such a thing as terroir.
Asimov writes : "The power and beauty of wine is in its ability to evoke images, aromas, flavors and experiences...Many things associated with wine are not literally in the wine."
Wine is like this liquid Rorschach for wine drinkers, some of whom eagerly wish to connect with the Land vicariously through the wine, all of whom bring themselves, their dreams and expectations and tastebuds and aroma sensors plus a specific context (romantic dinner with my wife vs. same wine out of a plastic cup while cooking hotdogs with the kids) to the wine itself.
I'm not saying there is no such "thing" as terroir. It seems obvious that the combination of dirt, sun, and climate come together to mean something in the wines.
My point is that we bring as much to the wine as the wine brings to us. And that this puzzle piece of a wine's taste/aroma profile seem left out of much of the discussions of terroir I have read.
Just like modern literary critics put the reader back into what's being read, we need to keep the drinker and her context in what's being drunk!
It just feels somehow right to us that wine translate the ground it grows in.
For me, I take special joy in drinking Israeli wine because when I do I feel more connected to the literal Land of Israel. Eretz Yisrael (the land of Israel) is on my mind all day every day and wine from there is a connector.
I know really nothing about French wine, and while I know I should care, I don't really. There, I said it!
For me, I'd rather explore deeper into Israeli and American wines (and some other countries, too) because those places and peoples mean something special to me.
That's the land I care about and wine tastes better to me for having grown there.
QUESTION: Is there a Hebrew word that captures the intention of the French terroir? If so, what is it and what is its exact translation?
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| the wines of France | Micha | 05/19/07 |
Thanks for the Feedback
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Richard Shaffer | 05/19/07 |
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Top | Reply to this Title: the wines of France Author: Micha Date Posted: 19 May 2007 03:32 PM (GMT -06:00) While I understand your love for the idea of drinking wine from eretz Israel (I feel the same way), I personally think that it is impossible to fully understand wine until you explore the wines of France. The idea of terroir, and of wine being more than just alcohol can be credited to the winemakers of France, above all others. No country has greater variety or quality of wine, no country takes wine more seriously. I too am a bit politically francophobic, but let's give credit where credit is due here. Erik Asimov had a good post on it a while back: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/05/dining/05pour.html?ex=1179720000&en=a88c64d042dd6026&ei=5070 |
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Top | Reply to this Title: Thanks for the Feedback Author: Richard Shaffer 
(http://israeliwinedirect.terapad.com)Date Posted: 19 May 2007 10:55 PM (GMT -06:00) Micha: Thanks for your Comment! I agree it's important to get out of one's "comfort zone" and no doubt French winemakers lead the way in so many ways. Where do you recommend someone start when it comes to French wines? Richard |
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