Proceedings of Terroir 1996

In this last ten years period, there has been many integrated and interdisciplinary studies to determine the aptitude of different zones to viticulture (Lulli et al., 1989 ; Costantini, 1992 ; Fregoni et al., 1992). The researches needed some différent knowledges about environment characteristics (soil, climate), ecology, vineyard management, vine genetic, winemaking and sensory analysis. The interaction of all these knowledge produced the assessment about the environmental vocation (Scienza et al., 1992). By means of this metodology, the “viticultural vocation” joined the word “zoning”, that is the territory parting for its ecopedological and geographical characteristics in relation to adaptative answer of winegrape (Morlat, 1989).

In addition to studies on the edaphic and landscape characteristics of the environment (Dolédec, 1995), the characterization of the physiology of the vine and of parasitism during its vegetative cycle represents an essential component of knowledge and management of the terroirs.

Massif and the first sedimentary formations of the western aureole of the Paris Basin. If it is found all over the world (California, Israel, South Africa), it is in this region that it best asserts its identity. It is one of the most interesting grape varieties due to the variety and complexity of the wines it can produce. It can give very dry or very sweet, still or sparkling wines, fresh when young and sublime when ageing, expressing the characteristics of each vintage as much as those of the terroir. The Chenin is a faithful witness of its geographical, geological, pedological and climatic environment; he is the foil of the land. It has strong aptitudes for the production of sweet wines conditioned by overripe grapes often botrytised in the AOC Coteaux du Layon.Massif and the first sedimentary formations of the western aureole of the Paris Basin. If it is found all over the world (California, Israel, South Africa), it is in this region that it best asserts its identity. It is one of the most interesting grape varieties due to the variety and complexity of the wines it can produce. It can give very dry or very sweet, still or sparkling wines, fresh when young and sublime when ageing, expressing the characteristics of each vintage as much as those of the terroir. The Chenin is a faithful witness of its geographical, geological, pedological and climatic environment; he is the foil of the land. It has strong aptitudes for the production of sweet wines conditioned by overripe grapes often botrytised in the AOC Coteaux du Layon.

The French viticultural appellation areas are the result of an empirical, historical and evolutionary selection which, generally, has consecrated a match between natural factors, grape varieties and viti-vinicultural practices. The notion of terroir is the main basis of the Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée in viticulture. It is based on the one hand on privileged natural factors and on the other hand on the know-how of the winegrowers; the whole allowing the production of a wine endowed with an authenticity and a sensory typicity. Wine-growing practices evolve according to progress in viticulture and oenology, while the natural factors of the terroir are much more stable, with the exception of the vintage. They therefore represent a fundamental pillar of the identity of an appellation vineyard.

Pour prévoir et gérer chaque année les principales caractéristiques de la maturation en Champagne, le CIVC (Comité Interprofessionnel du Vin de Champagne) a développé un ensemble de moyens de prévision et d’information très performants qui permettent aux différents acteurs de la filière viti-vinicole de prendre en compte ces informations à l’échelle de chaque terroir communal pour la recherche d’une qualité optimale.

Different terroirs have been identified in Bolgheri area (a viticultural appellation in the Tirrenian coast of Tuscany) by the aid of pedological, landscape and agronomic observations in 1993. Numerous preliminary observations suggested that wines obtained from these different terroirs were unique.

The notion of terroir covers multiple components, from geology, pedology, geomorphology and climatology (Doledec, 1995), to aspects that are less well identified but which also intervene in the “typicality” of wines. This justifies the “zoning” approach (Moncomble and Panigaï, 1990) to define homogeneous areas, under the same agro-viticultural management and also identified at the product level (Morlat and Asselin, 1992).

It is not easy at first sight to give an exhaustive definition of the notion of terroir as it can be simplified or complicated at will. Thus the vagueness that surrounds this concept leaves the door open to various interpretations of the terroir. These tend towards a questionable level of objectivity because the fields they explore are not sufficient to explain the notion on their own, constituting only part of a whole.

The Champagne vineyard extends over 35,300 ha under the Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée, of which 30,000 are in production. It mainly covers 3 departments: in order of importance, Marne (68% of the appellation area), Aube (22%) and Aisne (10%), and more anecdotally Haute Marne and Seine and Mame. It is a young vineyard (for more than half of the surface, the winegrowers have the experience of only one generation of vines), and fragmented (more than half of the exploitations extend over less than 1 ha; the average size of a cadastral parcel is 12 ares).

Face à l’enjeu d’affirmer et de mieux comprendre la spécificité des vins en relation avec leur origine, la notion de « terroir », avec la richesse de sens et la diversité des perspectives qui l’éclairent, se révèle la clef de voûte de la production et de la valorisation de vins personnalisés et typiques. Asseoir la connaissance des principaux terroirs de la Vallée du Rhône sur des bases autres que celles, jusqu’alors essentiellement empiriques, invoquées dans la seconde grande région française productrice de vins d’AOC, constitue un projet conforme à l’intérêt voué à cet enjeu d’actualité.

Approaching the notion of terroir wines at the level of consumption poses a problem due to the absence of a regulatory definition of the term terroir, which is not taken up either at Community level or at national level (the Consumer Code in particular does not define not the land). However, whatever definition is adopted for the terroir, we can retain at the consumer level an identification of the terroir through the different geographical mentions appearing on the labels or on the shelves of the wine shelf.

L’étude porte sur trois terroirs du Roussillon, classés dans l’A.O.C. Muscat de Rivesaltes et concerne les 2 cépages de cette appellation : le muscat à petits grains et le muscat d’Alexandrie. Elle a pour objectif de connaître pour un terroir donné le meilleur choix de cépage.

La place prépondérante que prend le Massif Jurassien en Franche-Comté confère à la région un caractère montagneux qui a orienté l’agriculture vers l’élevage laitier. Cette vocation pastorale marquée et de rudes conditions climatiques sont à l’origine de la production, attestée depuis l’Antiquité, d’un fromage de réserve pour la longue période hivernale. Cette tradition fromagère, liée à des prairies naturelles, a perduré jusqu’à nos jours. La qualité et la spécificité du produit actuel, le fromage de Comté, ont été reconnues dès 1952 par l’attribution d’un label et dès 1958, par la reconnaissance d’un périmètre d’appellation d’origine contrôlée, l’A.O.C. Comté (fig. 1).

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The jurist feels like an intruder when talking about terroirs. He looks at the press and tries to understand. We can read there about the cooking festival of May 30, 1996 which “..highlights products whose quality depends on a region”, that Camembert du pays d'Auge is the only one to be protected, I was thinking of camembert from Normandy, that 80% of Greek feta is made in the Netherlands, I thought it was in Denmark, and that the European Community protects geographical indications of IGP origin, probably a new category replacing the indications protected areas (1). I also learned that distributors are asking for more local products because “they come to confuse the cards in the part engaged with the big brands”. Carrefour has its “Terroirs and drawers”, Prisunic its “Vent d’Ouest”, Intermarché “Les bouquets du terroir”, Monoprix “Les terroirs de France” (2), Promodés and its brand “Reflets de France” for the “Continent” hypermarkets (3). At the same time it is asserted that “The term is a mere common noun. Unprotectable and therefore unprotected” (4).