To Save the Wine Industry, We’ll Need Human Intervention

Terroir is a word and a concept that has come to represent many different things. Like organic, natural and bacteria, terroir is an often-used, frequently misunderstood term with a very specific definition.

Terroir is the combination of natural factors, including soil, climate, sunlight and topography, imparted via a very specific taste and flavor. Obviously, a Cabernet Sauvignon grown in Napa will taste completely different than a Cabernet Sauvignon grown in the Finger Lakes. But even comparing two Cabernet Sauvignons grown in vineyards that are right next to each other will deliver flavors and aromas that are utterly distinct from each other.

That’s because, as incredibly powerful as natural forces are, the role of human beings, and how they choose to care for those grapes, pick them and then herd those elements into the bottle can have an outsized effect on what lands in your glass.

While the recent “more land than hand” movement has served as a much-needed correction to several decades of over-industrialized wine farming and making, the pressures of climate change are making winemakers reconsider the merits of certain forms of intervention in the vineyard and cellar.

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