Terroir versus the advantages of diversity

Many of those that prefer olde worlde wines (mainly the Frog Stuff) feel that for a wine to be “great” it must have terroir and any wine that is blended using grapes from different areas is inferior. (For those that don’t know, terroir is basically the unique expression of the soil and the climate of the vineyard expressed in the wine.)

So in essence, these olde worlde wine lovers feel that a wine like Grange will never be “great” as it uses grapes from multiple vineyards and even worse, multiple growing regions. The first question this raises is what is the definition of a great wine? Many millions of words have been written on that subject and it has been debated at length. Frankly, I don’t have a perfect definition and I don’t care. As long as I can drink a wine and go WOW, that’s great, that’s the only definition I need. Do you care if the wine wont last fifty years and is only good for twenty five?

In Australia we are extremely lucky to have a great diversity of climate in our wine growing regions. In reality Australia has about as much land as the whole of Western Europe in which to grow grapes. France is one-sixth the size of Australia and it is restricted in what it can and cannot do in many regions with its top wine styles.

This diversity allows as to do many things. Winemakers can buy in grapes from all over the place to make wines in a style in which they feel is best. They can blend McLaren Vale and King Valley or even the Hunter Valley and Coonawarra. There is no restriction where grapes come from in Australian wines.

We also have many quality single vineyard wines, some of the best known being Henschke Hill of Grace, Jaspers Hill Georgia, Cullens Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot and even the lowly priced Seven Hills in Clare only uses estate grown fruit. These are just a few of the wineries that only use fruit from their own local vineyards and they all turn out some pretty credible wine.

We also have many “reasonable quality” (notice I didn’t say “great” - cheeky grin) blended wines like Grange, Bin 707, etc. The point is, in Australia we have a huge flexibility to produce wine in any style and manner that we like, we are not restricted by terroir. Essentially no one style is right and no one approach is wrong (not even Oz Pinot {choke choke – evil grin}) because it’s a matter of individual choice and taste.

Even though these many of these blended wines are enjoyable, so to are the estate grown wines in Oz that do reflect terroir. Probably the easiest example of terroir to spot is Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon, it tends to stand out like a beacon. Is it coincidence that Coonawarra is a cool region and is the one that shows Terroir with such obvious ease? No way! It’s the fact that it is a cool climate (and soil) that makes it unique and easy to spot. Does that mean that it’s the be all and end all of Australian Cabernet Sauvignon because it expresses terroir? The lovers of Margaret River Cabernet Sauvignon and even the (blended) Bin 707 would argue that point vigorously.

So, those die hard terroir(ists) can keep bashing their keyboards stating that you can’t produce a great wine without terroir, but as long as wine has the WOW factor, it will do me. Frankly there is no right answer, both have their place, but at least our winemakers (and consumers) have a choice, unlike some others, and that’s a good position to be in.

Cheers

Ric