JancisRobinson: On Worshiping at the Altar of Terroir

Jancis has a fairly interesting article:
Robinson/Terroir ,
speculating that some winemakers maybe could make a better if they blended their vnyd wines, rather than bottle them separately as vnyd-designate wines.
She details her interview w/ RajParr on his Dom. de la Cote wines. His one large vnyd has 4 rather different vnyds. Raj makes all the wines exactly the same way in an attempt to understand the 4 different terroirs. Jancis speculates that he could, possibly, modify his winemaking for each vnyd and make a better wine. Or even blending all 4 vnyds to yield a better wine.
Whether such would be the case is pure speculation. My suspicion is that the differences are probably pretty subtle. So Raj can charge us more for his experimentation and attempt to understand his terroir.
Tom

So Raj can charge us more

Yes, I'm sure if he had all the same costs but gave up on vineyard-designated bottlings, his prices would come tumbling down. Just like in what Jancis calls the "the one region where expressing terroir seems a minority sport," which is of course known for its high QPR.

(Interesting story, thanks!)

[David M. Bueker]

Tom takes a whack at terroir for the second time today. Better not open any Burgundies for Mr. Hill.

[David M. Bueker]

And on the subject of Mr. Parr making four wines rather than one, I remain agnostic. I bet the results would vary year after year, and that overall they will get better as the vines get older. There are only a few well established vineyards where the vines could be considered "mature" in Santa Barbara, so young vines may be a factor as well.

It's not unlike what Pax is doing at Wind Gap. Overall I happen to generally prefer his Sonoma Coast Syrah and Sonoma Coast Pinot over the single vineyard offerings, but not every year, and not every single vineyard. Armagh Syrah is special, and I treasure each bottle I can get. I feel the same way about Arnot-Roberts Griffin's Lair.

I sometimes think Raj Parr is so busy trying to make a point that he loses control of the conversation. He reminds me of Randall Graham in that way. They are both zealots, and that can cause blind spots.

That does not make terroir a false grail.