Site Selection

Question 1

What are key influences on site selection when establishing a vineyard?

Answer 1

Style, quality, and price (and vice versa)

Question 1

Vineyard land for production of high volume, inexpensive wines?

Answer 1

• flat fertile land for high yields
• warm, dry climate (low risk of fungal disease, saves money on spraying)

Question 2

What is required in a vineyard site to produce premium wines in cool climates?

Answer 2

Maximum potential to ripen the grapes, aspects that will receive the most sunlight throughout the day

Question 3

What is required in a vineyard site to produce premium wines in warm climates?

Answer 3

Producers may favor relatively cool sites, such as those at high altitude or those exposed to cooling sea breezes to bring better balance to the wine

Question 4

Factors that go into site selection?

Answer 4

1. price of land within desirable GIs
2. location, layout, and topography of the site
3. steep slopes unsuitable for mechanization, labor is expensive or hard to maintain
4. source and cost of irrigation
5. access to the vineyard site, distance from the winery (limit risk of oxidation or microbial spoilage in transportation)
6. proximity to towns/cities for labor, supplies

Question 5

Why might PDO come into play when selecting sites for wine growth?

Answer 5

A producer investing in expensive PDO land with the intention of creating a wine that does not meet the rules (and therefore will be declassified) is taking a business risk

Question 6

What is the origin of the word “terroir”?

Answer 6

• comes from the French word “terre” (land)

Question 7

What is the definition of terroir from a land POV?

Answer 7

A sense of place: a wine shows characteristics that relate to the particular place in which the grapes are grown

• climate, soil, aspect, elevation

Question 8

What is an example of human intervention as regards terroir?

Answer 8

Where French PDOs stipulate planting density, type of trellising, and so on in their regulations

Question 9

How might soil affect terroir? How is this idea contested?

Answer 9

• wines may claim to be directly influenced by the geological makeup of the soil
• implies that the vine takes up elements from the soil that affect the taste of the wine
• strongly contested by scientific community:
  1. photosynthesis is the primary driver of vine growth
  2. all aroma compounds are synthesized in the vine
  3. grape must further transformed during fermentation

Question 10

How could winemaking decisions obscure terroir?

Answer 10

• aging wines in new oak
• picking overripe fruit