In the 2004 hit movie Sideways, wine geek Miles rails against drinking any "fucking merlot." Instead, he speaks in reverential tones about finicky pinot noir. What he's really decrying is the homogenization of a particular grape that has lost its way.
Aficionados want to drink wine that shows terroir, that simple French word that represents a complicated mix of factors. Terroir is what differentiates the fruit of the vine from a formulaic drink like Coca-Cola. It's the combination of geographic factors (climate, soil, terrain, and tradition) that make a particular wine identifiable.
Wine is, however, a business. And when the market discovered that merlot's ripeness and soft tannins could be mass-produced at affordable prices, too many bottlings of this grape lost that sense of place (and inspired Miles' wrath). Too much merlot priced for everyday drinking might as well have been Coke, because it was largely indistinguishable.
For some reason, the concept of terroir remains controversial. Earlier this year, a new book by Mark Matthews, professor of viticulture at UC, Davis (the USA's premier oenology program), tries to debunk Terroir and Other Myths of Winegrowing. He argues that only properties that may be confirmed by scientific measurements are meaningful, an approach called "scientism."
The problem with scientism is that it doesn't hold up when you taste fine wine. Your palate tells you that great wine does reflect terroir; it's there for all to taste, regardless of your experience or sophistication as a drinker.
The best description of terroir that I've come across is from Ted Lemon, the winemaker of Littorai Wines from the Sonoma Coast. He employs sustainable farming techniques and aims to make his wines through a focus on vine-growing rather than winemaking. In other words, he believes that the character of his wine should come from terroir and vintage rather than from manipulation in the fermentation and barrel-aging process.
In a recent letter to Wine Spectator magazine, he states: "What creates the sense of terroir is the sum total of all aspects of a location: all soil parameters, subsoil characteristics, latitude and longitude, exposure, elevation, solar radiation, seasonal wind speed, wind run, humidity. Beyond that, cultural, traditional, and historical markers are equally important to terroir."
I know this is a bit technical for a general-purpose rag like CL, but it's an important concept. The broader your knowledge, the more fun you can have when you raise a glass. The path is a continuous learning journey from white to red, grape to grape, Old World vs. New World, jug to fine wine.
Say, for instance, you like chardonnay. There's a world of difference between the ripe, oak-aged buttery style from California that loves lobster and the lean, steely minerality of a crisp Burgundian Chablis that you want to drink with oysters.
Pick your favorite grape. Go to a wine shop (or bar) you trust. Ask for 3-4 bottles (glasses) that reflect different styles and terroir. Learning wine is a lifelong pursuit that will bring you great joy. Keep tasting something new. I guarantee you'll recognize differences of terroir in the glass. Maybe you'll even start with merlot.
This article appears in Aug 18-25, 2016.