The Kosher Terroir - Whats a Terroir?

I think enough of the intro music. Okay, so I am here actually with my son, Levi, Levi Heskel, and we are talking about the podcast, The Kosher Terroir. And what was your first question?

Well, my first question was, what does that mean exactly?

What is a terroir? Oh, a terroir.

Well, it sounds fancy.

It is. It is very fancy. It is a French word. It is probably one of the absolutely most incredibly overused wine word that most people don't understand. It's had like a rocky history to it. It was originally, even when terroir was discussed about wines in the old days, it was about an earthy taste from the wine, which was normally because of an aberration, a problem, like a bad cork or what have you with the wine. It's come to be known more towards 4 basic elements. First of all, we're talking about climate. Is it cool? Is it a warm climate? And there's a reason for that, because in a situation with warmer climates, The vineyards produce grapes that have much higher sugar levels. Much higher sugar levels mean more acidity— excuse me, more alcohol.

More alcohol content.

Okay, more alcohol content and actually lower acidity. In a situation where you have a cooler climate, you have less sugar, you have less alcohol, and you have more acidity coming out of the grapes themselves. So That's basically climate.

Does that factor in seasonally or is that more location-based?

It can be seasonally and it actually creates problems if you've got a particularly hot summer or you've got a particularly cool summer. It can change what you'd normally get out of the vineyard for that year. So when we talk about vintages, which year specific grapes or wine was produced, it's based on that. It's very dependent upon the weather that occurred, besides things like hailstorms and what have you that can end up destroying a vineyard. But the difference between hot and cold makes a huge difference, and we'll talk about it in a minute when we get to one of the other elements. Okay? The second is the soil. Vineyards are made up of all different types of soil, from terra rossa, clay soils, to gravel, to stone, you know, granite and limestone. Limestone where roots from vines can actually reach down through the limestone and get to pockets of water and absorb water from them. They act like little reservoirs for some grapes. So in some instances, you've got, like here in Israel, we actually water grapes for the most part. In many instances in France and Spain, there are vineyards that they don't water specifically. They're not even permitted to water them to, to fit within the rules of growing wine in that area, in that location. So stones, clay, all the different materials can cause very different drainage of water or retention of water that all produce very different finishing products as far as the grapes are concerned.

When you talk about the stone or the clay, This is in regards to what it's held in?

What the vineyard is actually growing in, the grapevines are actually in, in order for them to grow. Okay? So, that's what it's talking about as far as soil. The third one is terrain. Terrain is interesting. It's the altitude of the vines, geological features, whether they're next to large bodies of water, the flora, the plants, the microbes, and the trees that are surrounding them. Geological features is actually incredibly interesting because some of the most beautifully complex wines are that way because of temperature fluctuation. During the morning, the vines are cold. During the evening, the vines might be much warmer. And then they go back into a cycle of cooling off during the evening and night and then cold and then back to warm again, especially in places where they're on hillsides that get exposure of— in California, you have some hillsides that are exposed to morning fog coming in from the water, which cools the vines down significantly. Or warm, sunny climates in the afternoon, evening that keep the, keep the grapes very, very warm during the day. That interaction or that change between hot and cold can meaningfully change what's going on within the grapes. And it produces grapes that have— it produces wines that have incredible characteristics, really amazing flavors and features. So as far as the terrain is concerned, that's really important. So the terrain— so all of these things work together. The terrain works with the soil, works with the climate, and the terrain can actually impact the climate tremendously. And that's, that's really special.

So let me do my, uh, my little marketing expertise here.

Go ahead.

What would that look like in, in a practical application to a wine? What's a good wine that has very complex taste based off of this?

Well, it's one of the reasons why some of the California wines have such incredible flavors, because they're located in areas that get this temperature variation. And because of that, it makes the wines much more complex. It's also a reason why there's certain growing areas that are particularly desirable, like Napa Valley or Sonoma Valley. There— it's, it's the reason why certain ridgelines in California have trademark wines that are produced on those ridges because of, because of it. It's also the same in France. There are areas, um, of Burgundy and Bordeaux that have hillsides where you get different mixes of temperatures and different exposures to sun because of it. Also in Italy, it's— throughout the wine world, people look for hilly areas where they can get different mixes.

Dynamic temperatures and everything?

Of the temperatures, yeah.

Does that also hold true in terms of different varietals of grapes, or some varietals react better than others?

It's absolutely true. Some varieties of grapes or varietals like the temperature change. Some like cool weather, some like warm weather. We're finding now, it's an interesting question to ask, especially in today's world where there's this whole issue of global warming. In the past, people were always focused on some of the more robust, uh, varietals that came out of France, like Cab, Cabernets, Cabernet Sauvignon, um, Cab Franc, but at, at the same time, and Merlots, the— there were varietals that stood up to warm weather better like Syrahs, but people really wanted cabs and they wanted merlots. And winemakers basically planted those. In today's world, because of global warming, you're finding that the temperatures in these vineyards are going up. They're less, um, certain varietals like Cab, Cabernet, is more sensitive to the heat than something like a Syrah. So you're finding that there are a number of wineries that are now either blending Syrah into their Cabs or creating a new type of varietal. Well, it isn't new really, but a Mediterranean-style varietal that's geared more towards Syrah, uh, or some of the, um, Mediterranean grapes that grow much better. Okay, so that's— yes, it does, it impacts it tremendously. Um, the last element of what terroir is, is tradition. It isn't something that's spoken about a lot because most of the new wineries in California and even the older ones in Spain or what have you, that people think about the three first elements, but tradition is something that's really key, especially within entrenched wine-growing areas, okay? Particularly winemaking traditions. In a place like, as an example, in Spain, in Madeira, They have been growing grapes for years, and they actually take the barrels and they leave them under the sun to age and ferment. And that's become a tradition that gives Madeira a very specific taste, kind of old-world taste. Here in Israel, we are in an area with an almost 3,000-year-old tradition in growing grapes and making wine. We have been making wine for religious ritual, traditional reasons for that period of time. And it is such a key element that whenever kosher wines are made throughout the world, they are specifically following these kosher traditions. And because of that, I really felt that as far as a wine blog, or wine podcast, I should say.

Yes, a little bit old world, but it is okay.

It is okay. I felt that a wine podcast should have the name, especially if it is talking about only kosher wines, the kosher terroir, because it really is part of the tradition and the terroir of making kosher wines, no matter where in the world you are making them. So that is the reason for kosher terroir. Okay? Cool. Gives you a little bit of an insight into it, our craziness.

So now whenever I use it in a conversation, I can—

You can sound very awesome.

I can say, you know, yeah, $15 word, whatever, it is fine.

Yeah, it is at least a $2 word. Hey, thank you very much for joining me and for asking the questions. It is really great.

Easy.

Okay.

I ask a lot of questions. It is perfect.

Anytime. Calling it the Kosher Teruah has its issues, because how do people spell teruah? So then that is a question that comes up and whatever. So, The Kosher Terroir, actually, if you just put it in on the web, it'll point back to the, to the podcast. And the goal is to drop that name into everything, whether they're little TikToks or whether they're, um, Facebook posts or what have you.

Critically acclaimed movies, whichever, right?

Obviously, yes. It's really great to have you on the on the channel.

Okay, I'm happy to be here. Yeah, hopefully, uh, this does well enough that I, uh, you know, they asked me to come back on here. That guy in the back is really thrilled about this.

Yes. Yep, very happy.

Thank you for— thank you for having me on.

I appreciate it.