feature Land and wine Competition from the New World, a changing climate and technological advances have threatened the Burgundian notion that the quality of wine depends on regional geography and culture. Only flexibility can keep the concept of terroir alive. istercian monks began to make fall outside the classic idea of terroir. in twentieth-century Burgundy. In the wine in the Clos de Vougeot region In addition, terroir is less obviously Burgundian sense, terroir is “everything Cof Burgundy, France in the late meaningful in a rapidly changing that contributes to the distinction of a Middle Ages (Fig. 1). Their traditions created climate: if a region’s characteristics, vineyard” (ref. 2). Burgundians originally the notion, described as terroir, that aspects including temperature and precipitation developed the concept as an instrument of climate, geology and human culture create patterns, lead to a unique quality of its for identifying the qualities of their wines a unique characteristic in regional food and produce, then rapid and severe change in terms of geo–climatic origin and beverages, especially wine. The idea was in these circumstances — as expected authenticated methods of production. advocated most strongly by the Burgundian from global warming in many regions However, in addition to marketing wine, cultural historian Gaston Roupnel1 and worldwide — must affect the outcome. Burgundians also used the concept cannot be defined in a quantitative manner. Not all facets of terroir that comprise the to promote tourism, affirm regional Nevertheless, terroir — as a cultural, modern notion of the term are supported traditions and obtain a comparative place-based entity springing from centuries by scientific analysis, and those that are, advantage over other wine-producing of connection between culture (epitomized such as rainfall and temperature, will regions. Natural resources, historical by the Cistercians) and the cultivation of probably change in the next few decades. memory, modern marketing strategies and wine-grapes — was ideologically elevated In the face of the challenges from both revived cultural practices were assembled to the level of an analytic explanation technology and climate change, the most into an imaginative repertoire of wine for the quality of certain wines by the successful winemakers — either Old World festivals and gastronomical fairs that helped mid-twentieth century. This Burgundian or New World — will be those who achieve sell regional products in general and wine concept was so successful that in 1935 it two goals simultaneously: the use of modern in particular. led to the appellation d’origine contrôlée technology to optimize the making and In the early twentieth century, a time of (AOC) — a French system that is still marketing of wines, and the development debate on the relative importance of cultural used to legally delineate geographical and advertising of location and production versus physical geography, Paul Vidal de la regions and regulate agricultural products processes that are unique to their product. Blache3 (1845–1918) began to emphasize (produits du terroir), and has been adapted To make terroir useful as a classification the importance of empirical and rigorous for much of the food-obsessed world. system and marketing tool in a sustainable site studies — a theme that still exists in But the idea of terroir is not easily twenty-first-century wine market, it needs to discussions of terroir. Although Vidal reconciled with mechanized wine be defined more flexibly, allowing changes was unable to resolve the physical-versus- production, New World winemaking in location or in the varieties of grapes cultural argument, his emphasis on scientific (focused on wine variety rather than produced at a certain site. factors presaged the late-twentieth-century location) and the rise of precision rise of precision agriculture. agriculture, which makes use of non- the rise of terroir Still, for much of the twentieth century, traditional devices such as computer Terroir achieved its greatest cultural the cultural (rather than the scientific) modelling and remote sensing that resonance through ardent supporters notion of terroir held prominence, largely Figure 1 | ‘The Vintner’ (left) and ‘The Clos de Vougeot’ (right) showing idealized depictions of the rural wine making tradition — woodcuts by Louis William Graux. Reprinted with permission from ref. 1 (© 1936 Gallois family). 82 nature geoscience | VOL 2 | FEBRUARY 2009 | www.nature.com/naturegeoscience © 2009 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved. feature due to a marketing campaign rooted in be believed, led to a fashion of a globally it is probable that many of the posited Burgundy. This concept of terroir was soon homogenous style of bold, fruity, strong geological elements of terroir — soil texture, expanded, largely by Roupnel1, beyond wines with no character and a growing depth, rock content, slope and aspect — are its geo–climatic moorings and agrarian unfriendliness to food. just some of the more important factors base to include the lived experience mediating the interaction between climate associated with grape growing and wine Terroir is a powerful controller and the vine. Perhaps the central metric of making. To this end, a Burgundian cultural this interaction is soil water content7, which identity was anchored in regional terroir of the perceived enjoyment can be optimized to maintain the slightly and represented by an ideal folk type — the of wine, independent of the stressed vines that produce the best grapes8, rustic Burgundian vigneron (Fig. 1). across a wide range of soils. Terroir was also the agent for a sensory characteristics of Climate is clearly of prevailing repertoire of popular festivals, such as the the wine itself. importance. Some vineyards consistently Gastronomical Fair of Dijon, the Paulée of produce fine wine, but when the vintage Meursault, Saint Vincent parades and weather is just right, these sites produce an annual wine auction at the hospice Slowly, the sense that wine styles are not just fine, but excellent wine. As has in Beaune. The Burgundian Pavilion at not unique to place or culture is spreading, become obvious from the great experiment the 1937 World Fair in Paris was used and wine styles are increasingly viewed as of expanding wine production round the to draw attention to the unique qualities broadly reproducible in any of the mid- world, similar landscapes and soils will of Burgundian wines and to suggest latitude climates capable of producing not grow the same grape variety to the that they might be best consumed in an fine wines. In this model, soil type and same quality if the climate is different. authentic setting. These events linked the critical role of the vigneron’s long Yet, locations with a similar climate but natural resources, historical memory and connection with the land are jettisoned different landscapes and soils will garner cultural participation, and helped create in favour of the blunt instruments varietal typicity and often similar quality. an imaginative and enduring marketing determining overall balance in any wine, Winemakers can influence or control package (Fig. 2). Thus, although there are such as liberal oak-based corrections some aspects of the natural terroir through some scientific components, the traditional of off-flavours, commercially induced interventions in the winery. Large- concept of terroir is at its heart founded fermentation techniques or liberal scale commercial winemakers usually on marketing needs that are based on a adjustments to the sugar-to-acid ratio. A initiate fermentation with applications constructed cultural identity in a mythical controversy and debate resulted between of mass-produced strains of the yeast rural Burgundy. the Old and New worlds, traditional versus Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Traditional wine industrial production and protectionism making, on the other hand, relies on a the terroir controversy versus experimentation4. suite of wild yeasts and bacteria to convert The agrarian French concept of terroir grape sugars to alcohol. The wild yeasts, assumes a pre-eminent quality of French the science of terroir although more temperamental and subject wines. When this assumption was first Debates have long raged concerning which to interannual variability, can produce a questioned in the late twentieth century, factors of terroir are most important for more nuanced wine with less potential for the historical concept of terroir also came high-quality wine production (or the off-flavours. under scrutiny. In retrospect, the process perception thereof). Possibilities included Perhaps most remarkably, terroir — when began at the Paris Wine Tasting of 1976, climate, soil, microbiology and culture, represented by metrics of wine reputation when a panel of largely French experts but scientific investigation has shown and price — is a powerful controller of the ranked Californian wines over France’s that weather and climate are the central perceived enjoyment of wine, completely best in both the red and white categories: determinants of wine quality5. High-quality and perversely independent of the sensory the Stag’s Leap 1973 Cabernet Sauvignon wine-grapes may be produced at an average characteristics of the wine itself 9. That is to was rated above the heavy hitters from air temperature between 13 °C and 22 °C say, in tastings where information is revealed Bordeaux and the 1973 Chateau Montelena during the growing season