Terroir. This term is bandied about in the wine community, but the concept of terroir can often be difficult to understand. What exactly is terroir?
Terroir is that combination of factors that makes a wine uniquely from a particular place. It is the reason that Chardonnay wines from Burgundy are different from Chardonnay wines from California. And, even more precisely, why Bugundian Chardonnay is different from Chablis, which is north of Burgundy (despite both being made from the Chardonnay grape).
Moreover, it is the reason that Chardonnays from Burgundy are called white Burgundies and not Chardonnay. The elements that exist in the particular region and ultimately, in the particular vineyard constitute the environment, which influences the final outcome and its expression of the terroir.
A similar approach might be applied to people as an illustration of this concept. Certainly, we all know that each person is unique and their journey into adulthood is influenced by a combination of nature (genetics) and nurture (environment). While scientists will debate as to how much one overrides the other, I believe most would agree that environment certainly plays at least a partial role in the final outcome in creating a fully-formed adult.
With wine, there are six factors that are responsible for the finished product: variety, soil, climate, annual weather conditions, viticultural practices and vinification practices. For people, gender could be akin to the variety. As a person is born and raised into a specific family/household, this might be considered their soil.
A person’s climate would include all of the aspects of their situation: living in the city vs country; residing in a house vs apartment; living far or near from water, mountains and other elements of nature, as well as all of the external elements in their life — schooling, neighborhood, etc. Each of these factors will eventually influence the type of person one becomes and will be expressed in their personality and actions.
Annual weather conditions could entail both mundane and important events characterizing one’s life. Was one’s life relatively boring? Did they fail math in 8th grade? Fall off their bike at age 10? Watch their parents divorce at 16? Fall madly in love at 18?
Viticultural practices are similar to parenting skills. In the vineyard, how the vines are tended is very important. Likewise, the way a person is raised will affect their outcome. For example, a person with more lenient parents will react differently to life than a person with stricter parental rules.
Generally, the final factor, vinification practices, is not really an element of terroir. However, to carry the analogy to completion, it would seem that decisions made in adulthood: if and where to attend college, if and whom to marry, if and when to have children, career choices, etc. will provide the final influence on the person.
Although this is an imperfect analogy, I hope that it can shed at least some light on the concept of terroir, which should provide you with an appreciation for the differences in various wines.