Why terroir matters
Terroir is a unique term aimed at expressing what is revealed in a wine that can not be explained by either grape variety, wine growing methods, climate or any other element of typicality.
To be fully understood, wines need be thought of in terms of terroir. While this may sound complex and disturbing at first, it is the key to getting into finer wines.
The one important thing to keep in mind is that younger wines express aromas and tannins that are so directly linked to the grape variety that they can almost entirely be described and explained by naming the grape itself. This is the reason why most wines designed to be drunk young bear grape-like names, while greater wines are named after their place of origin, otherwise called "appellation" or "AOC".
But the magic of wine is elsewhere, beyond the grape variety. After a few years, aging will help the grape aromas to slowly mellow to the benefit of much more diverse, subtle and fine aromas that make wines so unique: this is where the Domaine de Leyre-Loup gets its individuality and character.
A way to visualise terroir is to think of wine-aging in terms of a slow and gentle evolution from grape aromas to a genuine expression of the soil where the vines reach deeply for nourishment : we see the grapes, we know what they are, but we don't see the soil, we feel it through the wine, and when moving from grapes to soil through wine-aging, new things appear, new aromas are revealed, tannins change in expression and softness, in short the wine turns into something else that is definitely unique.
From grape to soil : connoisseurs call it the expression of terroir, amateurs the magic of wine, and both are right: it's all the same.
