The Influence of Terroir on Winemaking

It is believed that “wines are made in the vineyard” implying that the grapes are the decisive factor in wine style and quality. The French wine tradition has two very interesting concepts supporting this philosophy, namely vigneron and terroir.

Vigneron = Literally translated means winegrower, which combines the roles of the grape producer and winemaker

Terroir = is the environment influencing the vines and the quality and composition of the grapes for winemaking.

Topography, climate, geology and soil are the key factors determining the terroir, which can in layman’s terms be seen as the site of the vine. The different key factors can obviously be described in more detail like altitude, slope, aspect, temperature, rainfall, sunlight, wind and soil characteristics.

Different combinations of these natural features of land interact to create unique growth conditions for vines, which lead to specific wine characteristics.

The following are international examples of the role of terroir:

• German Rieslings produced from vines grown on the slopes next to the rivers.

• New Zealand Sauvignon blanc wines from Marlborough.

• Argentine Malbecs from vineyards near the Andes Mountains.

• Italian Barolo from the hillsides of Piedmonte in North West Italy.

• Port from the humid, hot Douro region in Portugal.

• Sherry from the chalky soils in South Spain.

Locally the Cape has a wide variety of terroir. It is the smallest, but richest plant paradise in the world with more than 9600 species. The establishing of wine routes in the different local regions also exemplifies the potential of terroir in our wine industry.

Sauvignon blanc is the varietal which expresses terroir the best. This is mainly due to the fact that the flavour profile of Sauvignon blanc wines is the result of the flavours originating in the grapes. A good winemaker will nurse wines to retain these flavours while a poor winemaker will lose the flavours which cannot be compensated by corrective winemaking practices.

Typical Sauvignon blanc flavours can be of so-called green or herbaceous nature like asparagus, green pepper, tomato leaf or tropical like passion fruit, pawpaw or even mineral like or flinty. It is really worth experiencing the differences when you taste for instance the Alexanderfontein Sauvignon blanc from the West Coast, Cape Point Sauvignon blanc and others like De Grendel (Tygerberg), Neil Ellis (Groenekloof,Darling) Iona (Elgin), Springfield (Robertson) and Strandveld (Elim) originating from different wine regions .

It is however important to assure that the grapes originate from the specific origin by looking at the Wine of Origin indication on the label. Also remember that the site of the vineyard and not the cellar is the origin indicated on the label. The grapes of a Western Cape Sauvignon blanc can for example come from different regions within the Western Cape and will not express specific origin characteristics. Enjoy your Sauvignon blanc journey!

Wine hint of the month: 2009 Almenkerk Sauvignon blanc (Wine of Origin Elgin) A typical full-bodied Sauvignon with herbaceous, tropical and mineral characteristics.

The Influence of Terroir on Winemaking by Charl Theron