The communication of the aims of a viticulture under the premise of terroir is presently discussed in a lot of wine-growing regions around the world. To encourage this discussion the differences in knowledge, understanding, and preference concerning wine and landscape should be regarded more closely: the wine should be perceived as a representative of its region and one of the most characteristic features of a region is the landscape. The basis of the concept presented is the integration of the landscape in the notion of terroir. The aim is the linking-up of attributes of the viticultural landscape with attributes of the wine in a system of increasing complexity: with increasing spatial resolution, the attributes and descriptors for landscape and wine increase, too. In a vertical line the landscape is regarded at different levels, from the region to the local territory to the vineyard site. It is assumed, that in the same manner, the sensory evaluation of wine is presented in an increasing complexity according to the increasing specification of the origin. In a horizontal line the typical of each level is described. This parallelism of landscape and sensory evaluation might contribute to a transparent communication of wine origin, quality, terroir, and sustainability to wine-grower and consumer.
Author: Stephan REUTER
RLP AgroScience GmbH, Institute for Agroecology, Breitenweg 71, D-67435 Neustadt a.d.W./Germany
Email: stephan.reuter@agroscience.rlp.de
Keywords: communication, landscape, terroir, wine, origin