Terroir
In winemaking, quality begins with terroir (from the word terre, which in French means “earth”). By this word winemakers all over the world call the totality of the geological composition of the soil, microclimate and illumination, as well as the surrounding vegetation. The listed factors are objective, God-given terms of the terroir. However, it also contains two parameters determined by human will: the choice of grape varieties and the technologies used in winemaking.
Bad is good
The vine is designed in such a way that the best harvest in terms of quality only yields in the most unfavorable conditions. In other words, the vine is doomed to suffer – from moisture deficiency, lack of nutrients and excess of extreme temperatures. Quality grapes intended for winemaking must have a concentrated juice, so watering the vine (at least in Europe) is generally prohibited. There are, of course, exceptions. So, drip irrigation is allowed in the arid regions of Spanish La Mancha, in some places on the steep slopes in Germany, where water simply does not linger – otherwise, the poor vine may simply dry out.
Soils for vineyards are chosen by the poor, so that the vine takes root deep; in some vines, the root system goes to a depth of tens (up to fifty!) meters. This is necessary for the aroma of the future wine to be as rich as possible – the fact is that each geological rock with which the roots of the vine come into contact gives the future wine a special aroma. For example, granite enriches the aromatic bouquet of wine with a violet tone, while limestone gives it iodine and mineral notes.
Where to plant what
When choosing a grape variety for planting, a winemaker takes into account, first of all, two terroir factors – microclimate and soil composition. Therefore, in the northern vineyards, mainly white grape varieties are grown, since they ripen faster, while in the southern vineyards, red varieties are planted, which ripen relatively late. The regions Champagne and Bordeaux… In Champagne, the climate is quite cold, risky for winemaking, and therefore only three varieties of grapes are allowed there for the production of champagne. it Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier, they are all early ripening, and only white and rosé sparkling wines are made from them. For the sake of fairness, it should be noted that there are also red wines in Champagne – for example, Silleri, however, they are practically not quoted. Because they are not tasty. Both red and white grapes are allowed in the Bordeaux region. Red is Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Pti Verdo, and white – Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon and Muscadelle… This choice is dictated, first of all, by the nature of the local gravel and clay soils. Similarly, one can explain the use of a particular grape variety in any wine-growing region, which is generally recognized as great.
Crew
So the quality of the terroir is the quality of the wine. A simple conclusion, but the French made it before anyone else and were the first to create a classification system called cru (cru), which literally means “soil”. In 1855, France was preparing for the world exhibition in Paris, and in this regard, Emperor Napoleon III ordered winemakers to create a “wine hierarchy”. They turned to the archives of the customs (I must say that archival documents in France are stored for a very long time, in some cases more than a thousand years), tracked fluctuations in prices for exported wine and on this basis built a classification system. Initially, this system extended only to the wines themselves, moreover, produced in Bordeaux, but then it was extended to the terroirs proper – first in Bordeaux, and then in some other wine-growing regions of France, namely in Burgundy, Champagne and Alsace… As a result, the best sites in the named regions received statuses Premiers Cru and Grands Cru. However, the cru system was not the only one. In other regions, more than half a century later, another classification system appeared and immediately took root – the AOC system, that is Controlled Designation of Origin, translated as “denomination controlled by origin”. About what this AOC system is and why it is needed – in the next part.