Forum - 1Terroir and wine style
Hervé Birnie-Scott - Terrazas de los AndesRobert Mann - Cape Mentelle
Discover how terroir – the combination of geography, climate and soil –
shapes the wine style in Mendoza and Margaret River.
Hervé Birnie-Scott
1. What distinguishes your terroir in Mendoza ?
The terroir in Mendoza is very singular. It’s a unique combination of high-altitude desert climate with diverse sedimentary soils produced by the erosion of the Andes Mountains. The terroir is entirely continental with no oceanic influence. The days are warm and dry, the nights are cold and the fruit ripens slowly. As the vineyards lie in the Andean foothills, the higher you move up the slope, the colder the weather becomes, allowing you to grow each grape type at the right altitude for maximum varietal expression.2. How does your terroir impact on the wine style?
Most of the Terrazas vineyards are in the highest part of Mendoza province, all above 1,000 meters (3,300 feet) with cooler days and cold nights. This means the wine style majors on fruit character, natural freshness and elegance coming to the fore within a sound structure. The terroir particularly suits the Malbec grape, which was brought from Bordeaux 160 years ago and found a new home here in Mendoza. As for the Terrazas white wines, in addition to the fresh, fruity style of our Mendoza Chardonnay, there is also the unique Torrontes grape, only found in Argentina. We cultivate it in its ideal terroir, the Cafayate Valley, 1,800 meters up in the northern province of Salta. There is a huge variation in annual temperatures here, leading to intense, elegant fruit flavours.3. With Cabernet Sauvignon, are you seeking to make wines that will match the best in Bordeaux?
We are different from Bordeaux, and from all the other well-known Cabernet Sauvignon regions. Indeed, Mendoza is probably one of the very few significant areas for Cabernet with a continental climate. Here, the cooling oceanic influence found in other renowned regions like Bordeaux, Napa, Margaret River, Chile and so on is replaced by the effect of altitude. This enables us to produce Cabernet Sauvignon wines of great potential displaying more ripe, dark lively fruits, rather than the classic, green-pepper style of Bordeaux.Robert Mann
1. What distinguishes your terroir in Margaret River?
The ancient soils of Margaret River are formed from decomposed granite and are free draining, with a high content of iron-rich gravel laterite. We are situated within 5 km of the Indian Ocean at 50 meters above sea level, so the main impact on our climate is the moderating effect of the Ocean, keeping our day temperatures cool and our night temperatures warm.2. How does your terroir impact on the wine style?
With our soil and climate in combination, our wine styles that excel are similar to those of Bordeaux. Cabernet Sauvignon is the focus of our region in addition to the other red and white Bordeaux varieties. As well as these varietals, the region, with its very reliable climate, also produces highly distinctive Chardonnay and Shiraz. Our styles tend to be more restrained and elegant, with a focus on bright varietal characters.3. With Cabernet Sauvignon, are you seeking to make wines that will match the best in Bordeaux?
Cabernet Sauvignon is the real strength of Margaret River and our wines compete with the best in the world. We are not looking to emulate Bordeaux, rather to utilise what we know best about Bordeaux and apply it to our region. We want the structure and intensity of Bordeaux with a more expressive and better-defined fruit character, while also preserving the individual nuances that come from specific vineyards withinForum - 2Varietals versus blends
Manuel Louzada - NumanthiaNicolas Audebert - Cheval des Andes
Blends or single varietal wines? Learn how both can excel, as shown in Argentina and Spain.