Ontarian Terroir
Where do flavours come from? That question has many answers; food, cultural perceptions, laboratories, plant breeders, and chemists. But if you ask a French winemaker, they'll stress that flavour comes from terroir. If you don't just so happen to know a French winemaker, the same answer is implicit on any bottle of French wine you pick up at the LCBO or local wine store.
French wines take their name from the place where they come – they're toponyms. Bordeaux, for example, comes from the place in France called 'Bordeaux'. The same goes for Burgundy, Champagne, and any other wine professing to come from a region shown below.
French wines take their name from the place where they come – they're toponyms. Bordeaux, for example, comes from the place in France called 'Bordeaux'. The same goes for Burgundy, Champagne, and any other wine professing to come from a region shown below.
But knowing a bottle came from Bordeaux isn't enough for the French, who are scrupulous about the origins of their wines. French bottles list, by law, what's called the appellation d'origine contrôlée (AOC) or, in English, controlled designation of origin. Regions in the map above are broken down into micro-regions as you see in the map below, which shows Bordeaux's AOCs. If you want to nerd out on domains and AOC, check out this interactive map.
Bordeaux wine labels and their AOCs (from left to right): Bordeaux-Supérieur, Saint-Emilion, and Hâut-Médoc.
Why do the French take the origins of their wine so seriously? One answer is that terroir matters.
Terroir is the combination of growing conditions (e.g. soil composition, weather patterns, topography, and available sunlight) that interact to determine the potential flavours that can be coerced out of the grapes. Terroir means that Hâut-Médoc AOC wines are incredible not only because the artisans in this region are incredibly skilled, but largely because the land in Hâut-Médoc produces incredible grapes. The same winemaker could be brought to a vineyard of the same grape variety just a few kilometres away and the wine wouldn't taste the same. Taste is inseparable from place. That is terroir's dictum.
Terroir isn't only important to French winemakers; Parmigiano-Reggiano, Jambon Iberico, and Scotch are just a handful of other products with a regulated origin designation (other common products include: coffee, chocolate, tobacco, hops, hot peppers, agave, heritage wheat, tomatoes, and tea.)
Terroir is the combination of growing conditions (e.g. soil composition, weather patterns, topography, and available sunlight) that interact to determine the potential flavours that can be coerced out of the grapes. Terroir means that Hâut-Médoc AOC wines are incredible not only because the artisans in this region are incredibly skilled, but largely because the land in Hâut-Médoc produces incredible grapes. The same winemaker could be brought to a vineyard of the same grape variety just a few kilometres away and the wine wouldn't taste the same. Taste is inseparable from place. That is terroir's dictum.
Terroir isn't only important to French winemakers; Parmigiano-Reggiano, Jambon Iberico, and Scotch are just a handful of other products with a regulated origin designation (other common products include: coffee, chocolate, tobacco, hops, hot peppers, agave, heritage wheat, tomatoes, and tea.)
While terroir can foster snobbery, it can also bring enormous benefits. Mapping provenance charts the way for consumers to begin understanding their surrounding food geography. This is a first step to celebrating local food and reaping the environmental, social, and economic benefits therefrom.
In Ontario, we already have a version of the AOC, called the Vinters Quality Alliance Act (VQA). But Ontario grows many products sufficiently delicious and nuanced by their growing-place to warrant labels that mention terroir. Maple syrup and honey are prime examples.
Ninety one unique flavours can be found in maple syrup depending on its terroir; vanilla, sponge toffee, oats, hay, metal, cloves, almond, and coffee are just a few. Similarily, honey can contain an enormous range of flavours that are a function of the flowers growing around the apiary, which is a function of terroir.
In Ontario, we already have a version of the AOC, called the Vinters Quality Alliance Act (VQA). But Ontario grows many products sufficiently delicious and nuanced by their growing-place to warrant labels that mention terroir. Maple syrup and honey are prime examples.
Ninety one unique flavours can be found in maple syrup depending on its terroir; vanilla, sponge toffee, oats, hay, metal, cloves, almond, and coffee are just a few. Similarily, honey can contain an enormous range of flavours that are a function of the flowers growing around the apiary, which is a function of terroir.
Why aren't Ontarians concerned with terroir? There's no clear answer. Maybe Ontario is too large to understand it's flavour-imparting nuances (it takes longer to drive from Toronto to the western boarder of Ontario than it does to drive to Florida). Or maybe our agicultural industries aren't as old as Europe's and we haven't had enough time to develop our knowledge of Ontarian terroir. Or perhaps we don't have enough maple and honey producers to create a demand for terroir; Ontario has 316 maple syrup producers while thousands of vinters grow in France, a country that easily fits within Ontario.
I'm drawn to another answer: Food processors add flavours to their products to ensure that, for example, a soda at one end of the country tastes the same a soda at the other end. This homogenization of flavour across space has obscured reality. Natural foods don't provide consistent flavour from place to place. But when it comes to deeply delicious foods with complex flavour profiles like maple syrup and honey (or wine, beer, tea, .etc) these place-based nuances in flavour are a well of joy and appreciation.
It's time we start celebrating the terroir of our maple syrup and honey (and other produce, too). Some companies, like Long Point Honey Co. and Jon's Pops are doing just that.
It's time we start celebrating the terroir of our maple syrup and honey (and other produce, too). Some companies, like Long Point Honey Co. and Jon's Pops are doing just that.