Is Terroir a Sensory Fact, a Story, or a Critical Practice?

Terroir may be the most important word in wine and also one of the least useful when left unexplained. Some people treat terroir as an objective fact. The soil speaks. The limestone, granite, clay, fog, wind, and afternoon sun all make their way into the glass, as if the vineyard were dictating tasting notes to the winemaker. On this view, the critic’s job is to detect the message and report it faithfully. But others roll their eyes at that story. They are skeptical that features of the soil or climate imprint themselves directly on the flavor of the wine. To them, terroir is marketing romance, a story told after the fact to raise the price of fermented grape juice. Both views get something right and something wrong. Terroir is not a simple flavor stamp. There is no direct pipeline from limestone to minerality. Place does not imprint itself on wine the way a boot leaves a mark in wet mud. The relation between site and flavor is far more complicated than that. Soil influences water…