Terroir
(See also: 7 Terroirs / 7 terroirs)
Location, location, location! This French word means the special taste of a particular place, like a single vineyard site. Until the 1980s it was usually only applied to French wines (and French cheeses too!), however during the late 20th century the awareness that wines like the dry GermanRieslings from Gut Hermannsberg had every bit as much terroir character as any of France’s great wines spread. Now the term is used by winemakers right around Planet Wine, but that doesn’t mean every wine has a terroir character in the proper sense of the word. At Gut Hermannsberg we certainly don’t claim that all our wines have a strong terroir character! For example, our Weisser Burgunder VDP Gutswein / Estate Wine tastes really good and is very well balanced for a lighter wine form this grape, but it shows the regional characteristics of Nahe wines, not the special taste of a single vineyard site.