Ep 590: Back to Basics - Defining Terroir (2026 Remix)

Wine for Normal People

Arts, Food

4.6 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 7 January 2026

⏱️ 46 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Many, many years ago (like 15 years ago when I started the pod! ) I did a bunch of shows to define terroir. This was when there was a lot of controversy over whether or not terroir was "real", with people lining up on various sides – terroir is a bunch of bunk made up by snobby French people, wine from anywhere can be made to taste the same regardless of place, the winemaker is more important than the land, and on the other side – terroir is magic that can't be explained, only European wines have a sense of place, etc., etc.

In this show I discuss some of the newer definitions of terroir that most of the world has settled on, as well as the finer points that are still argued. I address how the concept of a sense of place came to be, and specifics of what's included in the definition, and then wrap with my views on terroir.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Wine for Normal People, the podcast for people who like wine, but not the snobbery that goes with it.
0:15.8	I'm your host Elizabeth Schneider, author of the Wine for Normal People book and Certified Wine Dork.
0:21.5	This show is brought to you by Wine Access. Go to wineaccess.com slash WFMP to get into the site
0:29.3	and browse their amazing selections. Wine Access has wines from all over the world that you can't get
0:35.0	locally. And you can join my wine club at wine access.com
0:39.0	slash normal to get quarterly shipments of six bottles that I hand select for 150 bucks.
0:45.4	Wine access.com slash normal. Listen in the middle of the show for more details.
0:51.1	Happy 2026, everyone. I can't believe it. I've finally written it for the first time. I know we've all
0:58.0	had this experience and it feels kind of weird. It's going to take a while before I stop writing
1:02.3	2025. But I hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday season. I took some time off. I wound up
1:10.1	in a very spontaneous way going to
1:12.5	Cartagena, Columbia. One of my best friends is from Columbia. We just decided to meet in
1:18.3	Cartagena for Christmas, and it was super fun. That was my Christmas adventure, and then I was
1:24.8	just raring to go. I'm so excited for 2026. Why am I especially excited?
1:31.2	Because in five days, it will be the anniversary of Wine for Normal People's 15th year.
1:38.7	So many of you have listened for all 15 years. You've seen the evolution of the show from the
1:43.8	early days with different hosts
1:46.5	and different formats. And hopefully this show is evolved and better than ever. And I think I've
1:53.2	have like this renewed sense of passion, which I know some of you are like, how could she be
1:57.9	more passionate about wine? But I feel that there's some shifts going on
2:02.6	right now. The wine industry is so gloom and doom. If you know anybody in the industry,
2:06.2	they're, oh, it's everything so bad. And I just don't feel that way. I feel that people are going
	...

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