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IVES 9 IVES Conference Series 9 The origin and the discovery of “terroir”

The origin and the discovery of “terroir”

Abstract

Le mot “terroir” dérive du latin “terra”, mais déjà les Romains l’indiquaient comme “locus” ou”loci”, c’est-à-dire un lieu ayant le “genius”destiné à la production d’un produit d’excellente qualité. Les Égyptiens, les Juifs, les Grecs et les Romains employèrent les premiers le nom du lieu d’origine pour indiquer le vin sur le “pittacium” en argile qui était apposé sur les amphores en terre cuite qui contenaient le vin. De cette façon naquit la dénomination d’origine. Les peuples anciens de la Méditerranée n’ont pas utilisé le nom des variétés de vigne pour distinguer les différentes typologies de vin, mais leur lieu d’origine.
Les Grecs anciens, déjà à l’époque de Homère, choisissaient pour les vignes les terroirs qui permettaient la vie aux plantes du maquis méditerranéen, puisqu’ils étaient surs que le climat de ces lieux permettraient aux baies de mûrir parfaitement et de fournir des vins très corsés, fort structurés, riches en sucre et en alcool, mais pauvres en acides et en arômes facilement oxydables. Ce furent les anciens Romains qui en partant de la ”Provincia” de la Gaule transalpine remontèrent le Rhône, le Rhin, la Moselle, le Danube, et d’autres fleuves, en rependant la vigne dans le nord de l’Europe et en créant ce que l’on peut appeler la “viticulture fluviale”, qui s’oppose à la viticulture méditerranéenne pour la production de vins plus légers de corps, moins alcooliques, plus aromatiques, plus acides etc … Les Romains démontrèrent que la vigne peut mûrir même dans des climats plus septentrionaux, où les Grecs n’osèrent pas s’engager, en atteignant la limite septentrionale de culture du vignoble dans l’hémisphère Nord, c’est à dire jusqu’à 50° de latitude Nord.
Le premier exemple de délimitation géographique et territoriale nous vient de Pline (N.H., livre 14, chapitre V) qui avait étudié de façon approfondie le plus ancien cru Romain, c’est-à­-dire le Falernum.
Dans le premier siècle après J.-C., Pline décrit ainsi la zone de production du Falernum : “toute cette zone de la Campania qui s’étend en rive gauche du pont Campanus à la colonie urbaine de Silla est pleine de collines à vignobles très renommés à cause du très généreux vin qui prend le nom du village Falerne.”
C’est encore Plinius qui précise “à la gauche du pont commence la campagne de Falerne”.
Le pont cité existe encore sur le fleuve Liri et il lie l’ancienne Sineussa à la mer.
Son nom comme le dit Pline dérive du pays Falernum.
Le “genius loci” a été encore confirmé pendant le moyen-âge et pendant les époques historiques suivantes, jusqu’au moment où des règlements et des lois ont établi les premières délimitations de ces lieux. Plus tard, après la découverte de l’Amérique, la viticulture du nouveau Monde se développa, comprenant les Etats Unis, le Canada, l’Australie, la Nouvelle Zélande, l’Afrique du Sud et toute l’Amérique Latine, des pays qui, récemment, ont découvert l’importance du terroir.
Dans l’hémisphère sud, la vigne trouve sa limite de culture à 45° environ de latitude sud.
En 1700 fut délimitée par un document officiel (décret) la zone de production du Tokay Hongrois, suivie par celle du Chianti (1716) et celle du Porto (1755).
L’essence du terroir fut toutefois amplifiée en 1855 à Bordeaux avec la publication de la liste des “crus”. En effet, le “cru” est produit par un terroir ayant le “genius loci ” pour un vin d’excellente qualité. On fait remonter l’origine du terme “cru” à deux mots différents. Normalement on le définit comme participe passé du verbe “croître”, c’est-à-dire crû sur un terroir spécifique, mais, selon l’interprétation de certains latinistes d’anciennes abbayes françaises, cela signifie également “cru”, c’est-à-dire considéré comme “célèbre”, ayant une renommée auprès des consommateurs. C’est justement à travers les “crus” que les Français ont inventé le terme terroir, désormais utilisé dans tout le monde de la viticulture.

DOI:

Publication date: February 16, 2022

Issue: Terroir 2002 

Type: Article

Authors

M.FREGONI

Université Catholique – Piacenza (Italie)
Via E. Parmense, 84
29100 PIACENZA – Italie

Keywords

Histoire, Terroir, Appellation d’origine contrôlé

Tags

IVES Conference Series | Terroir 2002

Citation

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