I've deleted terroir

L

Lou Kessler

Lou Kessler
I was in Cabo San Lucas last week where I attended a presentation by a well known house of Tequila. It was primarily given to educate people on the art of using Tequila to accompany most foods. The expert in charge used the different grades of Tequila with varying foods. The different Tequilas presented were Blanco, Reposado, Anejo, and Extra Anejo. According to the gentlemen in charge Terroir is very important in knowing and enjoying different Tequilas.
I was never comfortable with using the word terroir when describing different wines because of the many ways the word seems to be used and this put to an end my ever saying TERROIR again in any context pertaining to JUICE of any kind.
 
Lou, it seems hard to imagine terroir being applicable to any significant degree with hard liquor(s) like Tequila.

With wines, yes!

. . . . . Pete
 
Borderies/Petite Champagne/Grand Champagne in Cognac and Bas Armagnac/Tenareze in Armagnac suggest that there may be some terroir-like features in brandy, at least. I sympathize with Lou though.
 
originally posted by Lou Kessler: this put to an end my ever saying TERROIR again in any context pertaining to JUICE of any kind.
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I don't see any mention of juice in your post, but surely wine would show more terroir than both juice or tequila, although that doesn't mean terroir is irrelevant for any of them.
 
"Terroir: originally a French term in wine, coffee and tea used to denote the special characteristics that the geography, geology and climate of a certain place bestowed upon particular produce."

I suppose there'd be some variance in characteristics in agave plants used in Tequila, but they're kind of from the same mesoclimate, so it's not as if there'd be much difference inherent in the cacti (succulent?) fields.

My presumption is that most anything ascribed to "terroir" WRT the spirits world (talking booze, not Ouija) would be chalked up to vagaries of distillation, not dirt. Still, a case might be made for grappa or eau de vie reflecting the soil its components were grown in. Artisanal gin too, although even the best botanicals could come from anywhere and thus are unlikely to be affected by where they're from.

-Eden (the juice what's moving me tonight is a 2008 Claus Preisinger Pinot Noir, served at the correct temperature)
 
one easily imagines that, the "vagaries of distillation" being equal, the character of the produce of a particular location might be discernibly different vis a vis the same produce from a different location--or--did I just imagine that ?
 
originally posted by Lou Kessler:
I've deleted terroirI was in Cabo San Lucas last week where I attended a presentation by a well known house of Tequila. It was primarily given to educate people on the art of using Tequila to accompany most foods. The expert in charge used the different grades of Tequila with varying foods. The different Tequilas presented were Blanco, Reposado, Anejo, and Extra Anejo. According to the gentlemen in charge Terroir is very important in knowing and enjoying different Tequilas.
I was never comfortable with using the word terroir when describing different wines because of the many ways the word seems to be used and this put to an end my ever saying TERROIR again in any context pertaining to JUICE of any kind.
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do what you've gotta do.
 
Seems like the liquor industry is trying to piggy back on wine lingo. A little snobbery helps sell luxury products.
Lou, don't take it too hard.
 
originally posted by Eden Mylunsch:
but they're kind of from the same mesoclimate, so it's not as if there'd be much difference inherent in the cacti (succulent?) fields.
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Grapes, too, right? Broadly similar cultivars, broadly similar climates. (Well, there's always Scuppernong).

I wonder whether 11,000 foot mezcal (close your ears, Oswaldo) might not be different from 8,000 foot. Of course, it could be that only a different kind of portable still makes it up the last road to the high elevation villages, and that accounts for the differences.

I'm an agnostic.
 
originally posted by SFJoe:
originally posted by Eden Mylunsch:
but they're kind of from the same mesoclimate, so it's not as if there'd be much difference inherent in the cacti (succulent?) fields.
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Grapes, too, right? Broadly similar cultivars, broadly similar climates. (Well, there's always Scuppernong).

I wonder whether 11,000 foot mezcal (close your ears, Oswaldo) might not be different from 8,000 foot. Of course, it could be that only a different kind of portable still makes it up the last road to the high elevation villages, and that accounts for the differences.

I'm an agnostic.
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Also, I can't help wondering if there isn't some mycorrhizal variation going on in various locations giving rise to perceived differences. I too am agnostic on the subject, though. Perhaps what's needed is a Mezcal blind tasting jeebus? I'll bring the antojitos.

Mark Lipton
 
originally posted by Rahsaan:
originally posted by Lou Kessler: this put to an end my ever saying TERROIR again in any context pertaining to JUICE of any kind.
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I don't see any mention of juice in your post, but surely wine would show more terroir than both juice or tequila, although that doesn't mean terroir is irrelevant for any of them.
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I knew I could count on you Rahsaan to take literally every word I wrote. "JUICE" In this changing world you are my rock of never changing existence. It's good to know.
 
originally posted by Lou Kessler:
I thought so!
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Obviously I knew what you were saying.

I just really dislike wine being referred to as 'juice'. It seems so derogatory.

Hence my joke.
 
I don't think distillation process or wood explain Borderies nuttiness or Tenareze hardness for the first several decades, but I might be wrong, since I'm judging this mostly from the drinker's side.
 
Brandy de Jerez is made with white grapes grown 300 miles from Jerez, in La Mancha. Yet many feel the Jerez terroir is very present in it. Of course: the terroir comes entirely from the old American oak butts used to age it...
 
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