Concept Of Terroir Research Articles

Greece: A Portrait in Seeds

Scientists and governments worldwide have, for decades, made mammoth efforts to “bank” agricultural biodiversity as an insurance policy against natural and manmade threats to the global food supply. Meanwhile, in recent years a perfect storm has been brewing: small-scale and midscale farmers are hungry for new market opportunities; consumers in more developed countries crave foods that come with a history and from a known place; and the concepts of biodiversity and terroir as applied to food are creeping into mainstream consciousness. Using Greece as a lens for examining these issues and using seeds as a lens for understanding Greece, this article explores the country's myriad food-plant variety preservation initiatives, from community seed saving to government gene banking, and it asks: Could banked seeds be distributed to farmers who could cultivate them, regenerating the seed collections themselves, reintroducing consumers to old varieties and creating new market opportunities for struggling small and midsize farmers? Could seed bankers, plant breeders, consumers, seed-saving farmers, and innovative food businesses collaborate in a mutually beneficial way to preserve and promote heirloom seed varieties? What would it take to bring more heirloom seeds from the freezer to the field?

Communities of Practice in Tourism: Working and Learning Together. An Illustrative Case Study from Northern Norway

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the application of Wenger's theory of Communities of Practice (CoP) to cooperative groups of small tourism actors. Empirical data about a case study of a group of firms operating in northern Norway are presented in order to illustrate and challenge the discussion. The findings suggest that Wenger's theory can be usefully applied to describe the processes and dynamics relative to the development and management of tourism products based on the identity of the local area. The element of Wenger's theory that makes it particularly useful is its focus on social processes, knowledge and identity. The findings suggest also that the CoP framework could gain completeness from the integration of the concepts of terroir, lifestyle entrepreneurship and community entrepreneurship. In regard to the adoption of Wenger's framework as a practical tool to promote cooperation, the case study shows that the existence of formal programmes directed to cooperative groups that can be qualified as CoP can help to identify them and support the implementation of collective projects.

Terroir and cultural identity

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between terroir and cultural identity to illustrate that the concept is being employed as a means to reconnect people to the land or an ancestral heritage. The rapid pace of globalization has created a disconnect between identity and the land for many people. If it is true that 99% of human history has been spent as hunter-gathers, it is fair to say that we have a strong connection to the land as a sense of placein direct relation to food procurement. We know we can´t go back to being hunter-gathers, but it doesn´t mean we can´t seek out or desire a connection to the land or an ancestral heritage. This connection can be represented by the concept of terroir. To synthesize the various defi nitions of terroir, it is important to explore the historical origins of the term. A philosophical view establishes that the concept of terroir exists as a separate experience to be refl ected upon independentfrom the sensory experience produced by eating or drinking a food product. A selection of essays and articles are presented to illustrate that the human or cultural component is the most important factor in considering the role of terroir in shaping or creating identity at ethnic, national, regional, and individual levels. Whether one simply believes the concept is being used as a marketing gimmick or that it resonates with our identities, terroir does exist in relating place, timeand people to the production, consumption, and epistemolog y of our modern foodways.

The use of surveys among wine growers in vineyards of the middle-Loire Valley (France), in relation to terroir studies

Studies of terroir have been increasingly developed during the last two decades, in different vineyards all around the world. The indigenous knowledge and the know-how of wine growers is an important part of the French terroir concept which must be taken into account in terroir studies. In the middle-Loire Valley (France) results of terroir studies were made readily accessible to all the wine growers through cartographic atlases, including maps of terroir units and their components as well as advisory maps. In this paper, the authors use different kinds of surveys among wine growers for the knowledge of terroir and show the interest of this approach. Surveys among farmers, performed at their home were developed within the framework of terroir studies carried out in the Anjou, Chinon and Sarthe vineyards in the middle-Loire Valley (France). A first category of surveys (59) led at the farm scale were used to characterise different vineyards at the socio-economic level. A second category of surveys (439) carried out at the plot scale have allowed to obtain a knowledge about agro-viticultural practices, and to study the viticultural and grape quality potentials of terroir units, in the regions studied. Finally, telephone surveys among 244 growers in the Anjou region were used to assess the level of perception of terroir studies and their impact through directive and semi-directive questionnaires, Socio-economic surveys at the wine farm scale made it possible to establish a general typology of studied vineyards, to identify their characteristics. Results allowed to distinguish between Chinon and Sarthe vineyards, in terms of operating structure, production potential, and typology of growers. Surveys showed large differences in terms of socio-economic aspects between the two studied vineyards. Agro-viticultural surveys, at the plot scale, provided significant differences for grape varieties, rootstocks and soil management practices, between the Chinon and Sarthe vineyards. Crossed with soils properties, these surveys allowed to identify the plant behaviour in terms of timing of the growth cycle, water supply and vine vigour and the potential for grape quality in different terroir units within an experimental area in Anjou vineyards. In these same vineyards, surveys about the perception and the acceptance of terroir studies by growers have shown that terroir studies and cartographic atlases, readily available to wine growers, were known by a large number of producers and used fairly frequently by some of them. Results of surveys indicated that about one quarter of growers were really influenced in their agro-viticultural practices by terroir studies. The rigorous and systematic use of adapted surveys bodes well for the rapid development of terroir studies in different vineyards. They make it possible to significantly alleviate classic studies without decreasing their relevance and they constitute an active contribution of wine growers to the characterization of terroir units. In addition, surveys can allow to assess the level of adaptation of agro-viticultural practices in use in the vineyards.

Tasting the Bedrock

This article begins with a personal narrative of the author’s involvement in sugaring before moving to an account of collaboration with local experts in maple production and testing, "sensory analysis," and geology to explore the correlation between the taste of syrup from particular sugarbushes and such factors as the bedrock on those sites. This high-spirited and stimulating investigation was inspired in part by collaborator Amy Trubek’s application of the concept of terroir to a wide range of foods beyond wine. Although it at one point alarmed Vermont's maple industry, it has ultimately led to a productive dialogue, to which authorities from the state's Agency of Agriculture as well as maple researchers and producers in Quebec have all contributed. Grounded in a small-scale operation in Starksboro, Vermont, the article ultimately points toward both innovations and marketing opportunities within a much wider circle.

Terroir Products in North America: Dreams or Future Reality?

This introduction seeks to analyze the French concept of terroir and its possible applications in North America. By focusing on Quebec and Vermont, respectively the most advanced Canadian province and American state in terms of defining and regulating terroir, it outlines the primary challenges in developing government certifications for terroir and explores ways in which the practical and legal considerations associated with such certifications compare and contrast with similar considerations in Europe. In so doing it focuses on three products: cheese, wine, and maple syrup.

Influence of some Terroir Viticole Factors on Quantity and Quality of Grapes

High wine quality can be only achieved with an appropriate vineyard management. However a lot of other factors will play also a decisive role: climate, soil, topography, micro-climate, human factors genetics, environmental and technological factors a.s.o.. Since years exists a discussion about the influence of the pedo-climatic system on wine quality. It can be summarized as terroir. The purpose of this study is to delimit some micro-areas in the Cotnari region which warrant the production of a certain type of wine, a quality. This is the first study attempting to characterize the terroir concept for Cotnari vineyards. It is applied on the behavior of traditional varieties of wine grapes grown in the region: Grasa de Cotnari, Feteasca alba, Francusa and Tamaioasa romaneasca. In a first run it was found out that the two Natural territorial base unit exert a distinct influence yield, sugar content and must acidity. This system has to be improved with further research in order to judge the vineyards in that region more precisely. The results of this study can be used to determine with precision micro-areas that will produce quality wines.

Soil, vine and other quality cultures: “terroir” and “zonazione” concepts introduction and practice

The research of the cultural vocation is one of the most effective means for quality and typicality protection of the productions and, at the same time, to limit soil degradation. In particular, the study of “terroir”, i.e. the relationships between environment and product quality, highlights a local positivity of the resources, strongly linked to the specificity of origin environments. It must be fairly protect. The valorisation of terroir is mostly considered one of the greatest prospects of success for national agriculture within global market, because very often the quality crops become also reference crops and driving imaging for a territory. Actually the term “total quality of territory” is very useful; it means the territory managed in function of crops quality, soil and ecosystem conservation, environment healthiness and landscape beauty. The reconnaissance of the territory vocation needs the research of its peculiarities witch determine the uniqueness of that production area. Therefore the uniqueness of a terroir is a value added to the quality and it may be determining for the success of a cultivation. The “zoning” technique started from the introduction of terroir concept. It is the division of a territory in function of its ecopedological and geographic characteristics and checking the qualitative result of different species and varieties. In short, the climatic, pedological and crop information interact with productivity and quality of crops.Through the zoning, the constituents of terroir and the verification

Unravelling the terroir mystique - an agro-socio-economic perspective.

Abstract The concept of terroir is a complex notion because apart from climate and soil, it includes individuals, social organizations and activities, such as agricultural practices. The idea of geographical origin is important for products which lay claim to a terroir-linked typicality. Quantifying the terroir effect using criteria other than taste (such as the socio-economic development for the area) is important for arguing the case of a product in the face of intellectual property rights, international trade rules and rules of competition. Measuring the 'terroir' effect on an agri-food product remains difficult for both trained experts and for the consumer, for whom the appreciation of the product or lack of it remains the principal criterion in its evaluation. This does not exclude the capacity to recognize the product's properties, but it should be remembered that the perceived taste and aromas will be transformed by the individual's experience into a unique overall impression of taste and smell. It would seem that the enrichment of the terroir concept over the centuries is a strong signal of its social importance. Terroir-derived food products, the preservation of landscapes and the encouragement of individuals are important values that merit current support and future development. High energy costs will engender a delocalization of certain agricultural products which may well lead to new links between the producer and the consumer, with inevitable positive results for terroir products. The purpose of this review is to address the question, via an extensive literature search and original conceptual analysis: what is a product's relationship to terroir and is this relationship identifiable?

Terroir and precision viticulture: are they compatible ?

<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Aims</strong>: The aims of this work were to see whether the traditional regionallybased view of terroir is supported by our new ability to use the tools of Precision Viticulture to acquire detailed measures of vineyard productivity, soil attributes and topography at high spatial resolution.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Methods and Results</strong>: A range of sources of spatial data (yield mapping, remote sensing, digital elevation models), along with data derived from hand sampling of vines were used to investigate within-vineyard variability in vineyards in the Sunraysia and Padthaway regions of Australia. Zones of characteristic performance were identified within these vineyards. Sensory analysis of fruit and wines derived from these zones confirm that contrasting wines may derive from different areas within the same, uniformly-managed vineyard.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Conclusions</strong>: The performance of vineyards is variable whether yield, fruit quality, wine quality, wine style or value is the measure of interest. The tools of Precision Viticulture enable both growers, winemakers and researchers to see that within vineyards deemed characteristic of a region, terroir is spatially variable at the within-vineyard scale.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Significance and impact of the study</strong>: Whilst precision viticulture raises questions about the utility of the concept of terroir at regional scales, it has much to offer in promoting robust understanding of the impacts of soil and land attributes on grape and wine production, and thus, how management practices might be modified to gain greater control over fruit and wine quality. Accordingly, at least some of the elements of terroir can be considered to be manageable.</p>

?A Merciless Source of Happy Memories?: Gaston Roupnel and the Folklore of BurgundianTerroir

The period between the two world wars (1919–1939) saw a flowering of French regional culture. Held up as a more authentic complement (and sometimes alternate) to national French culture, Burgundian regionalism was anchored in the concept of terroir, the belief that geography played a role in contributing specific qualities to local culture and products such as wine. Gaston Roupnel, a Burgundian provincial folklorist, was especially important in efforts to link terroir and Burgundian regional culture through the figure of the modern rustic vigneron (viniculturalist/vintner).

Constructing Locality: The Terroir Approach in West Africa

This article examines the origins and evolution of the terroir approach as an organizing idea in development planning in West Africa. We consider the evolving meaning of the terroir concept in three distinct periods: as a research approach crafted in a French geographical school; as a site for research-development programmes, and, most recently, as a tool for conservation planning, territorial restructuring, and land privatization. An important shift in the meaning of the terroir concept is apparent in its evolving uses. For the terroir school, the terroir came to represent the socio-natural heritage of a group in which its social organization and pattern of resource use became inscribed in the landscape. The concept took on new meaning in the late-1980s as an appropriate location for on-farm research by agricultural development planners. The terroir became both an alternative research site and a setting for mobilizing rural populations to adopt new land management and farming techniques. The meaning of the concept shifted again in the 1990s with the advent of the gestion des terroirs approach. In the hands of conservation and development planners, the terroir was conceived of as a scale of intervention for a host of government, aid donor, and NGO programmes. In summary, a significant change in the meaning of the concept has taken place from one in which the notion of local heritage was dominant to one that emphasizes territory and boundary clarification.

The concept of terroir in viticulture

Terroir is a highly important concept in viticulture because it relates the sensory attributes of wine to the environmental conditions in which the grapes are grown. Quality hierarchy and wine style may, to a considerable extent, be explained by terroir. However, terroir is difficult to study on a scientific basis because many factors are involved, including climate, soil, cultivar and human practices, and these factors interact. The best expression of terroir is achieved when the precocity of the grapevine variety is suited to the local climatic conditions in such a way that full ripeness is reached by the end of the growing season. For the production of high quality red wines, environmental conditions should induce moderate vine vigour, either through moderate water deficit stress or through low nitrogen supply. These conditions are most frequently met on shallow or stony soils, in moderately dry climates. Regular but not excessive vine water and nitrogen supplies are needed to produce high quality white wines. However, great terroir emerges only when socio-economic conditions are favourable to the establishment of quality-orientated wine production.

Translating terroir: the global challenge of French AOC labeling

This essay considers the current importance of labels of origin for agro-food products as part of a biopolitics of food that relinks the local and global through an emphasis on place. The particular example of the French system of AOC labeling ( appellation d’origin côntrolée) is explored in both directions, linking to the local through the concept of terroir, and linking to the global as intellectual property defined by the GATT and regulated by the WTO as a “geographical indication.” Embeddedness perspectives and conventions theory are suggested as fruitful avenues for understanding why labels of origin present a challenge to conventional agriculture. These theoretical perspectives also shed light on how origin labeled products administered by the state impact rural development through the processes of negotiation they engender. The French AOC request process is outlined and aspects of it analyzed in more detail to demonstrate how it opens market forms of justification to larger arenas of social scrutiny.

The Quality of Grapes and Wine in Relation to Geography: Notions of Terroir at Various Scales

Terroir has many facets. It has been related to: variety of plants and typical food products; territory, name, strategies of advertising and marketing. A viticultural terroir is seldom defined as a region which is related to a particular area with a distinct quality of grapes and their wines. The scale of analysis of the few available discussions by area range from local to a broad spatial coverage: ' local functional ' approaches emphasise quality controlled by ecology and physiology; ' spatial ' approaches depend on the diversity of viticultural environments from area to area. The combination of spatial modelling and geographical information system (GIS) data can update the concept of terroir provided the area, scale and resolution of each so-called terroir -unit are more carefully specified and fully related to viticultural data.

Philosophie des sciences Le pouvoir de l'esprit. Entretiens avec des scientifiques Sa Sainteté le quatorzième Dalaï-Lama Fayard, 2000, (trad. de l'anglais), 257 p., 110 F.

Vitis vinifera flowers and grape fruits are one of the most interesting ecosystem niches for native yeasts development. There are more than a 100 yeast species and millions of strains that participate and contribute to design the microbial terroir. The wine terroir concept is understood when grape and wine micro-regions were delimited by different quality characteristics after humans had been growing vines for more than 10,000 years. Environmental conditions, such as climate, soil composition, water management, winds and air quality, altitude, fauna and flora and microbes, are considered part of the “terroir” and contribute to a unique wine style. If “low input winemaking” strategies are applied, the terroir effect will be expected to be more authentic in terms of quality differentiation. Interestingly, the role of the microbial flora associated with vines was very little study until recently when new genetic technologies for massive species identification were developed. These biotechnologies allowed following their environmental changes and their effect in shaping the microbial profiles of different wine regions.In this chapter we explain the interesting positive effects on flavor diversity and wine quality obtained by using “friendly” native yeasts that allowed the microbial terroir flora to participate and contribute during fermentation.