originally posted by MLipton:
Marc,
Where I get hung up in this whole discussion is the idea that minerals or nutrients taken up by the roots impart volatile components to the wine that we can smell/taste. What does granite or limestone taste like? What do they smell like, and does that smell emanate from the mineral or from microorganisms resident on the mineral surface? (SPOILER: it's the latter cf. petrichor)
This is why I find SFJoe's suggestion that the soil influences the mycorrhizal ecology resident around the roots and that it's their interaction with the roots that gives rise to the goût de terroir that experience has taught us is real so appealing. Certainly, yeast populations on grape skins and in the cellar will no doubt vary with location, too, but whether that can explain why one lieux-dit in a vineyard tastes reliably different than another I'm not sure.
Mark Lipton
