A Magical Word: TERROIR

A significant portion of the words translated into Turkish from French pronunciation immediately reveal themselves with the suffix -sion. Some words are more mysterious and do not reveal themselves immediately. France, the center of the modern wine world, has managed to place many terms in wine literature not only in Turkish but also in almost all other languages. One of the most important of these words, terroir, which is the title of today's topic, has found a place in our language as pronounced.

Although terroir is a term related to viticulture, it finds its real equivalent in winemaking. The literal meaning of terroir is defined as region, its content is actually much deeper and more comprehensive. When we express any point on the world with its latitude and longitude, we describe its exact location on the map. But much more is needed to explain the agricultural value of the area in these coordinates. Let's see together what this 'much more' is.

Let's say we decided to start winemaking, and we came across a sizable piece of land suitable for using as a vineyard. When we looked at the title deed information and coordinates, we realized that the land was in Bolu, between Istanbul and Ankara. Then, we can have a general idea about how suitable Bolu is for viticulture by looking at its general geographical features. During this scanning, we can also access secondary information such as the distance of the region to the sea, the altitude of the land above sea level, the average annual precipitation it receives, the average number of days of sun it receives in a year, the temperature change by month, and the temperature differences between day and night. But this information is not enough to decide whether the land is suitable for viticulture or not.

After this, we need to make special observations about the location of the vineyard. For example, what is the soil structure? Stony, sandy, clay and volcanic soil structures each have different effects on the growth process of the vine. We need to evaluate, together with the experts, the information about whether the place where the vineyard is located is a plain or a slope, at what hours it sees the sun, in which direction the wind movements occur, and whether it is rich in groundwater.

The first stage of wine production is the vineyard. However, if we are going to invest in the facility required for production ourselves, the location of the facility, transportation facilities, the way the energy requirement is met, and if this facility is to be built in Turkey, whether it is in a suitable place to obtain an operating license are of great importance. It has been stated that there have been delays in the issuance of wine production licenses in recent years.

In the WAYANA Wine Menu, we indicate the region from which each wine was harvested. At WAYANA Wine Tasting events, this time we also share the information we have about the terroir characteristics of the vineyards. In this way, it is possible to enable participating wine-lovers to better associate terroir with the wines tasted.

As you can see, terroir forms the basis of the wine's journey all the way to our glass. France, which recognized the importance of terroir early, divided all the wine regions in the country into categories. We see similar practices in Italy and Spain. Let's discuss the classification principles applied in these countries and how they yield results, in another article.