All about Terroir Part 2

Element Three: Aspect and Topography
Aspect is the direction a vineyard faces, and in the world of wine, it can be the difference between greatness and mediocrity. In the Northern Hemisphere, a south-facing slope receives the maximum possible sun exposure throughout the day. It’s crucial in cool-climate regions where achieving full ripeness is a yearly challenge. Some of the world’s most celebrated vineyards in Burgundy, the Mosel Valley in Germany, and the Northern Rhône are almost universally situated on south-facing slopes rather than the flat valley floors. Most folks are surprised to learn that the flat, fertile valley floors are mostly left to grow other crops.

Elevation adds another piece to the terroir puzzle. Higher altitude means cooler nights, even in warm climates. Cool nights help slow the ripening process and allow grapes to hold onto their natural acidity and aromatic compounds, even as daytime heat builds sugar and richness. This is the secret behind some of the world's most elegant wines from places seemingly inhospitable to viticulture. The high-plateau vineyards of Mendoza in Argentina, the mountain vineyards of Priorat in Spain, or the elevated sub-regions of Portugal's Douro Valley are all prime examples. The angle of a slope also affects how quickly water drains after rain and how much heat the soil retains overnight. Every degree of incline is a small yet perceptible adjustment in the vineyard’s growing conditions.

Element Four: The Human Hand
Here is where terroir gets philosophically interesting, and where wine lovers have been arguing for decades. Is the human element, the farmer's choices, and the winemaker's decisions part of terroir, or are they a separate influence? The old-school traditional French view maintains that true terroir is entirely natural and includes only the land, climate, and geology. The human role is simply to stay out of the way and let the place itself do the talking. Alternatively, a more modern perspective recognizes that humans are inseparable from the land they tend, and choices made in the vineyard and the cellar either amplify or bury what the earth is trying to say.

I lean toward a more modern reading of terroir. Think of it this way: a vigneron who farms organically and avoids synthetic herbicides and pesticides is protecting the biological life of the soil. That choice reshapes the local ecosystem and all the subtle forces that help translate place into the vine. The same goes for a winemaker who picks early to preserve acidity and freshness, or one who favors neutral vessels over heavily toasted new oak. These decisions may not be “terroir” in the old-school, strictly passive sense, but they determine whether terroir is revealed or obscured.

The French have a word for the person who occupies this role, and, coincidentally, I love to use it: vigneron, which loosely translates as "vine grower." Great ones describe their job not as making wine, but as translating what the land is already saying.

Why Any of This Matters to You
Understanding terroir can change the way you shop for wine and enhance your enjoyment. Instead of simply reaching for a grape variety you know you like, you may start to wonder where that grape is growing and what the land is doing to it. A Sauvignon Blanc from the cool, flint-rich soils of Sancerre in France will taste radically different from one grown in the sunny Marlborough region of New Zealand, even though it's the same grape. The soil, the climate, the slope, the human choices all create something that can’t be replicated anywhere else.

That specificity is what makes wine unlike any other adult beverage. A glass of Chablis isn't just white wine; it's the chalk and clay of a particular valley in northern France, expressed through the Chardonnay grape. Once you start thinking this way, every bottle becomes a mini geography lesson. The more you learn about terroir, the more connected you feel to what's in your glass.

Next week in Part Three, we take a look at the most compelling real-world terroir laboratory on earth: the villages of Burgundy, France. We’ll look at Gevrey‑Chambertin and Chambolle‑Musigny, two communes only a few miles apart, and show how the same grape, the same region, and the same winemaking tradition can produce wines as different as night and day. It’s all about the terroir.