Cellar Journal

Terroir

Two identical glasses of pale white wine beside an anonymous bottle and folded vineyard map, illustrating how place, typicity, and expectation meet in the glass.

What Makes a Wine Taste Like Its Place: Typicity, Technique, or Expectation?

Can wine really taste of place? Explore terroir, typicity, winemaking, and expectation—and learn what regional character can and cannot prove.

September 10, 2026

The same anonymous vineyard seen from one fixed viewpoint in two different growing seasons, with identical stonework and vine rows but contrasting harvest timing and climatic conditions.

The Same Place, a Different Wine: How Climate Change Is Rewriting Vintages

How is climate change altering wine vintages? Learn why harvest dates, ripeness, frost, drought, and grower decisions make old vintage rules less reliable.

September 7, 2026

A vineyard hillside at first light, with one curved slope receiving warm morning sun while an adjoining aspect remains cool and shaded, illustrating how exposure changes the timing of energy without ranking vineyard quality.

Sun, Slope, and Aspect: How Vineyard Exposure Shapes Ripeness

Why do vineyard direction and slope matter? Learn how sunlight, heat, airflow, water, altitude, and canopy shape grape ripening—and why no aspect always wins.

September 6, 2026

A glass of pale white wine beside flint, an oyster shell, sea salt, lemon peel, and chalk, representing the aromas, tastes, and textures often called minerality.

Minerality in Wine: Stone, Salt, or a Sensory Metaphor?

What does minerality in wine really mean? Separate flint, salinity, acidity, texture, and soil influence from the myth of tasting rocks.

September 2, 2026