Concepts in Wine
What we talk about when we talk about terroir: Part I
('Terroir' describes special realities of climate and soil which determine the character of vineyards and their finished wines. A debate exists - whose actual subject may be whether the great wines of Europe can be replicated - as to whether terroir is only in the soil, if it can be cultivated, created, or lost, and even whether it exists at all. This is Part I of an approach to the debate.)
January 2009, eastern France.
I watched in wonder, terroir on my mind, as dark shapes appeared in the white misty screen, resolved into figures - churches, animals, other cars – and vanished again. This strong sense of mystery, while entering the Jura mountains in a rented car on a day of heavy fog, was recalled to me the following day, when Jean-François Bourdy, a 15th generation winemaker in the Jurassien town of Arlay, claimed, “Science can explain every wine, except vin jaune – it’s very empiric, very mysterious – there is a symbiosis between the yeast and Savagnin”. His wines were superb – amazing attack and grip and length - and he had no way to explain them. Again and again, I’ve seen that terroir is more than just dirt. Here was a new lesson.
(image)
- Jean-François Bourdy
The Jura, forgotten to so much of the world, including France, is home to some of the world’s most unique wines, among them vin jaune. It’s made like this: barrels, once filled with the juice of the Savagnin grape (a close cousin to Traminer) at harvest, are not topped up over the course of 6 years and 3 months, but are left to evaporate, leaving space for oxygen and ambient yeast to gather. This ambient yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) is top-fermenting; in the world of beer, ales are made with it – in the world of wine, it’s unique to the Jura and the Jerez (Sherry) region in Spain. It floats in the air, collecting on grapeskins (especially Savagnin’s) and haunting cellars. Its survival is limited by the proximity of evaporite rocks (of which the Jura is uniquely composed), a specific altitude, a median daily temperature range, and relative degrees of humidity. Centuries are needed to learn how to work with it.
(image)
- ‘good’ Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast, seen through the bung of a barrel in Arbois
Wines aged under its wrinkled veil of gray skin take on a distinctly nutty/honeysuckle nose and flavor. It can’t be introduced artificially, and can’t be controlled. It can be good or bad. ‘Good’ veil is paper-thin, preserving the wines’ fresher, fruity flavors; ‘bad’ veil is centimeters thick, leading to reductive, ‘off’ tastes like nail polish and copper. The Bourdys have found that vines cultivated with chemicals tend, half of the time, to attract ‘bad’ veil, while vines cultivated organically or biodynamically attract ‘good’ veil.
So on what does the quality of vin jaune depend? Tradition and cultural heritage? Oui. The air? Oui. The grape varietal? Oui . . . as well as the soil type and the method of viticulture: all of which help define, yet do not exhaust, terroir . . .
(to be continued)
-Jeremy Quinn
('Terroir' describes special realities of climate and soil which determine the character of vineyards and their finished wines. A debate exists - whose actual subject may be whether the great wines of Europe can be replicated - as to whether terroir is only in the soil, if it can be cultivated, created, or lost, and even whether it exists at all. This is Part I of an approach to the debate.)
January 2009, eastern France.
I watched in wonder, terroir on my mind, as dark shapes appeared in the white misty screen, resolved into figures - churches, animals, other cars – and vanished again. This strong sense of mystery, while entering the Jura mountains in a rented car on a day of heavy fog, was recalled to me the following day, when Jean-François Bourdy, a 15th generation winemaker in the Jurassien town of Arlay, claimed, “Science can explain every wine, except vin jaune – it’s very empiric, very mysterious – there is a symbiosis between the yeast and Savagnin”. His wines were superb – amazing attack and grip and length - and he had no way to explain them. Again and again, I’ve seen that terroir is more than just dirt. Here was a new lesson.
(image)
- Jean-François Bourdy
The Jura, forgotten to so much of the world, including France, is home to some of the world’s most unique wines, among them vin jaune. It’s made like this: barrels, once filled with the juice of the Savagnin grape (a close cousin to Traminer) at harvest, are not topped up over the course of 6 years and 3 months, but are left to evaporate, leaving space for oxygen and ambient yeast to gather. This ambient yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) is top-fermenting; in the world of beer, ales are made with it – in the world of wine, it’s unique to the Jura and the Jerez (Sherry) region in Spain. It floats in the air, collecting on grapeskins (especially Savagnin’s) and haunting cellars. Its survival is limited by the proximity of evaporite rocks (of which the Jura is uniquely composed), a specific altitude, a median daily temperature range, and relative degrees of humidity. Centuries are needed to learn how to work with it.
(image)
- ‘good’ Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast, seen through the bung of a barrel in Arbois
Wines aged under its wrinkled veil of gray skin take on a distinctly nutty/honeysuckle nose and flavor. It can’t be introduced artificially, and can’t be controlled. It can be good or bad. ‘Good’ veil is paper-thin, preserving the wines’ fresher, fruity flavors; ‘bad’ veil is centimeters thick, leading to reductive, ‘off’ tastes like nail polish and copper. The Bourdys have found that vines cultivated with chemicals tend, half of the time, to attract ‘bad’ veil, while vines cultivated organically or biodynamically attract ‘good’ veil.
So on what does the quality of vin jaune depend? Tradition and cultural heritage? Oui. The air? Oui. The grape varietal? Oui . . . as well as the soil type and the method of viticulture: all of which help define, yet do not exhaust, terroir . . .
(to be continued)
-Jeremy Quinn
