Explaining What A Terroir Song Sounds Like

Do they really all irrigate? Do they really add water to reduce the alcohol? Do they all yeast their wines? I had to explain it all. That's why they wanted me there. But what I didn't count on was having to explain the Return to Terroir point of view to California. Sitting in Pascaline's apartment checking email I yelled out, "Pascaline!" She ran in thinking I saw a rat or something. "No," I said, " I just got a note from a California winery. Do you remember the one that was quite ripe and hot?" She knew immediately. I read to her the email from a self-professed winery owner who was "pissed of...as my commitment to organic and biodynamic grape growing is 30 years and counting...and then to find people telling me that my wines do not represent terroir, without having ever seen my vineyard,"...... Unbeknownst to me, Nicolas told him that Alice Feiring could explain it all. From his website he certainly had a pretty spot and it seemed as if he thought, a pretty spot was all that was needed to give a great, terroir driven wine. Then, I went to his website he talked about 'luxury' winemaking. From the taste of his wine and the sound of his words, his idea of terroir seemed in opposition to the group's and mine. Why did he even wanted to align with the group as the only value he shared was organic farming and not any other sensibility? When we finally had the conversation he excused himself because there was a man digging a 900 foot well at $85 a foot, there was some negotiation to attend to. "Irrigation?" "Oh, yeah," he said. 'Ever try to dry farm?" The question did not amuse him. When he did call me back I sucked in a breath and willed myself to be clear. Acting as a temporary ambassador of the group, I had a responsibility. So I told him that his wine was too fruit driven, too concentrated and too high in alcohol, and while the wine wasn't overly woody, the degree of fruit ripeness cancelled out terroir. He had chosen a wine style, then dictated the grapes into that style. This was a style driven not a terroir driven wine. This kind of winemaking was not at the heart of the group's philosophy. "That is a clear explanation," he said, much to my relief. Then he went on to knock the Terroir group. He hand delivered his wines to Nicolas daugher Virginie. He could have saved himself a lot of trouble if he knew what the group really was looking for---bacteria ridden wines that were so natural six bottles out of twelve had to be thrown out. He doesn't make that kind of wine. He had a business to run, which is why he irrigates---to grow wine to perfection. I'm trying to learn not to get engaged with these kind of arguments. I hung up successfully without sparring or taking the bait. I felt he was defending the entire new world. On that Friday afternoon, the group noted that while his wine could carry a tune it had no song. The Return to Terroir, wherever it is held, is often one of the best tastings of the year. And on Sunday, at the tasting held in Angers' Grenier's St. Jean, the whole room was harmonic variations. (next, the picks and finds from the Angers Return to Terroir tasting)