Trubek introduces the cultural phenomena that surround the concept of terroir. Is it strictly French, or can the United States also achieve this elusive marker of quality? What is that quality, anyway? Note: On the left is a quote from Randall Grahm of Bonny Doon (Santa Cruz Mountains), where we will travel in August.
--Brent W.
“The key understanding taste of a place in the twenty first century, I would agree, is focusing on what has persisted. Why have wine makers, cheese makers, chefs and others been able to continue to make claimed for the quality of their products based on how they were made and where they come from? And how has the new reality of interdependent global markets for food in fact created new possibilities for terrior, moving it far beyond the borders of France?”
ReplyDeleteAmy Trubeck claims in her quote that you must look at everything when it comes to terrior. You need to even look deep inside of yourself and what you truly see as terrior. Is terrior just a simple thing or is it more than just what comes from the place. The quote challenged what we think inside of our minds and makes us think that it is maybe more than just what we can see and taste in the product. Terrior has been widely considered something that comes from the older wine producing regions. Many wine makers in California and the United States is challenging this notion by bringing their own terrior to the table. Wine producers in the United States are challenging us to think of terrior of more than where it comes from but as a much bigger picture. Terrior has much more to reveal about the place. Terrior encompasses the story and the sweat that has gone into the land to produce your wine.
-Catherine S
The taste of a place
ReplyDeleteBy Amy Trubek
Quote: “ Farming in the New World, where there were few traditions established to guide or constrain practices and there were seemingly an infinite amount of arable land, meant that viniculture and viticulture were a part of an array of possibilities, easily adopted but just as easily rejected.”
I picked this quote because I thought it embodied the struggle and success of American wine makers. This country’s history of wine and all things surrounding it is young in comparison to many other parts of the world. Yet it has become just as successful. America has some extremely unique climate and terroir throughout its many wine regions and reading this piece along with this quote really brings to life the full value or terroir in wine making. Wine makers in this country have gotten to branch out, grow hybrids and grapes only grown here. They have faced many struggles, some being finding a place in the global wine market, but they have also gained great success with unique wines grown nowhere else in the world.
Samantha H.
5) Trubeck, “Taste of Place”: “[Daniel] River is a firm believer in the existence of terroir and its importance to the final quality of a wine.”
ReplyDeleteTrubeck champions the proponents of terroir. Daniel River of Domain Tempier is only one example of someone describing the unique taste of the soil, sunlight exposure level, etc, within her article, “Taste of Place.” Trubeck seems very impassioned in her defense of the concept of terroir. As I said at Whitecliff Winery, I often rolled my eyes when people were describing their wine in ornate detail. I do the same when it comes to the concept of terroir. Value must be attributed to the geographic location of a crop; however, the human element must not be lost within the greater context of good food and beverages. When enthusiasts begin placing absurd names on the color of a wine, harping on its hues and beckoning its ever presently opening bouquet with their all too abused olfactories, the art of wine tasting, pairing, and appreciation gets drowned in snobbery and self-propagation. I am a firm and stubborn believer in simple, clean, flavorful food and beverages. I disparage snobbery and pomp with regard to preparation and presentation. My wife has actually ranted about the presence of frisée on her plate, because she dislikes its bitter flavor and its “froofy” appearance. I cannot say that I completely disagree with her.
בס״ד
Avrohom S.