Current studies of terroir features are focussing on finer and finer scales. For example, mass spectrometric techniques are showing that arrays of fatty acids, flavonols, phenols and more in grapes and wines from vineyards only a few kilometres apart can have significant differences, and so can be seen as a chemical representation of terroir. A newly developing biological aspect of terroir is the recognition of distinct microbial components in grapes, wines and vines, and the fact that these distinctive microbial components can change from year to year! How these newly discovered qualities of wine environments relate to soil and bedrock attributes of vineyards is a new challenge for the geological community seeking to understand local and regional wine settings. All of these recent studies demonstrate conclusively that a scientific approach to terroir has many dimensions, placing the geological, chemical and biological qualities of terroir on an increasingly solid footing. An additional factor is that a geologically-based approach to wines and their settings offers promise in identifying not only the best kinds of soil/bedrock settings for superior wine production, but also identifying potential settings to be avoided as possible vineyards, for example places underlain by ultrabasic, magnesium-rich rocks almost wholly unsuitable as vineyard sites! Although papers in the Geology and Wine thematic series to date have covered a spectrum of topics from field geology to detailed geochemical/analytical approaches, much remains to be learned on all attributes of terroir and fine wine.

Series Editor and Contact Information

• Roger McQueen, Emeritus Scientist,
  Natural Resources Canada,
  3303 33rd Street NW, Calgary, AB, T2L 2A7, Canada.
  Tel:403-292-7145
• Email: Roger.MacQueen@canada.ca