The word “terroir” is bandied about by sommeliers who rarely understand the concept. This is the program that definitively shows what terroir is—and what it is not.
What flavors does the earth contribute to wine? What do geography, geology and climate contribute? If you’ve ever heard someone say that Grenache smells like herbs because it was grown near lavender fields, or that a Riesling tastes like slate because of the stony soils it grew in, well, they are ignorant of the truth because they know nothing about the grape itself. Those characteristics are biological, and others are simply the result of winemaking.
Simply said: knowing the truth about terroir means you understand wine. Ignoring the truth makes you a fool.
At the end of this program, you will be able to identify what constitutes terroir and what does not.
Terroir, De-Mystified
Let’s define our terms. Terroir is not, and never was, the idea that a wine tastes like rocks or the soil.
It’s how a microclimate affects the flavors of a wine, and whether those flavors are significant. It’s how geology and soil structure affect vine nutrition. It’s water availability and drainage. It’s also about temperature fluctuations and altitude. Often, it’s about the soil’s microbiology.
What Isn’t Terroir
One of the most important elements of your education is understanding what isn’t terroir.
Oak, cultured yeasts and even oxygen will have a dramatic influence on wine. Fermentation protocols and cellar techniques have an outsized influence on flavors often misattributed to terroir.
A distinctive flavor from a specific wine region isn’t automatically a sign of terroir: it’s often the local winemaking signature. One of the first steps is to identify which flavors come from winemaking so you can exclude them from your search for terroir.
Age Is Not Terroir
Primary, secondary and tertiary. These are the layers of flavor.
Primary flavors come from the grapes themselves, which you learned about in the Core Sommelier program. Secondary flavors are attributed to winemaking, which you learned about both in Core and in this Advanced Sommelier program. Finally, there are tertiary flavors. These are the flavors of age.
As wine ages, aromatic compounds evolve, and tannins continue to morph. Flavors can change dramatically.
To see the difference between age and terroir, we must taste vertical vintages to understand what is, in fact, not terroir. Yes, to know terroir, you have to know what it is not.
So many people assume terroir comes out as a wine ages. It does not.
The Terroir Laboratory
To test what terroir is, Pinot Noir is a perfect candidate.
You must grow it in several places, ferment and age it in the same fashion, and bottle each of those places separately. The differences on display are the first indications of terroir.
In this section, we catalog the differences among the soils, climates and aspects of six vineyards in the American Northwest, in both California and Oregon. This is our first foray into understanding what terroir actually is.
Is Climate Change Terroir?
Is climate change terroir?
As weather patterns push the Willamette Valley from a too-cool to a too-warm location for Pinot Noir, the style of the wines has changed along with it. Do changes in ripeness and acidity mean a wholesale alteration of terroir?
This class looks into the changing world and how the concept of terroir has to change with it. Is it better to consider terroir a dynamic biological system rather than a fixed ideal?
Elevation and Terroir
A key point we have learned is that elevation is an important part of terroir.
From the differences in UV radiation on grape skins to dramatic shifts in temperature and the length of the growing season, elevation is a unique and trackable element of terroir.
In this section, we track changes in flavor from the foothills into the mountains. We follow a single grape from a single winemaker up into the clouds, at higher and higher elevations.
Final Project
Terroir Case Study
The course concludes with a 1,200–2,000-word terroir case study.
Students select a specific vineyard or tightly defined subregion and compare 2–3 wines across different vintages or producers. Using sensory analysis, climate data, soil science, grape genetics and winemaking information, they identify characteristics that appear consistently across the wines and evaluate whether those traits can reasonably be attributed to place rather than vintage or cellar technique.
The report includes:
- Vineyard or subregion profile
- Geology, soil and climate
- Vintage data
- Viticulture and winemaking
- Comparative tasting analysis
- Flavor-attribution analysis
- Proposed terroir markers
- Limitations and conclusions
Scientific claims, soil classifications, and wine data must be supported by appropriate sources.
Program Information
Price: $499
Format: Recorded and self-paced
Access: 180 days beginning with first login
Clock hours: 135
Credential: Master of Wine Terroir
Prerequisite: Core Sommelier certification
Final assessment: Terroir Case Study
Recommended wines: Optional
Recommended Wines
Wine recommendations are provided throughout the course for students who want to taste alongside the material.
Purchasing the recommended wines is optional and is not required for course completion.
The final project does require students to evaluate 2–3 wines from their selected vineyard or subregion.
Prerequisite
Core Sommelier Certification Required
Students must complete the National Wine School Core Sommelier program before enrolling in the Master of Wine Terroir.
The physical Sommelier Pin is not required.
Advanced Sommelier Pathway
One of Four Advanced Courses
Master of Wine Terroir is one of the approved courses toward Advanced Sommelier Certification.
Core Sommelier + Four Approved Advanced Courses = Advanced Sommelier Certification
Master of Wine Terroir counts as one of those four Advanced courses. For more information, please refer to the Sommelier Certification guide.
Certification
Successful completion earns the Master of Wine Terroir certification from the National Wine School.
