Soil: a natural approach with Alice Feiring

It is something Alice Feiring feels strongly about. “Terroir can be influenced through farming, climate and man’s involvement. However, the bedrock is the one constant that cannot be denied. It is the wine’s ‘control… For a wine to transfer that magic we call terroir, the winemaking should be as free of ingredients and process as possible. Even without additions, just by choosing the method of winemaking meaning: stems, extraction, temperature, the elevage vehicle, the addition or not of sulphur, there are plenty of variables to choose from and plenty of options for a winemaker to play with.”

Feiring doesn’t claim to be scientist or as she says. “someone who lays claims to empirical knowledge.” While Feiring agrees the soil does not have an aromatic or flavour impact, she says “I do believe it has a textural impact, influencing the vertical or horizontal nature of the mouthfeel. Sometimes I also believe or experience salinity, though this is more complicated as salinity can come from a number of other influences. This is supported by scientist Benoit Marsan’s research….To look at it only via a scientific perspective Is to look at art only through analysis. Wine has the power to have an emotional impact and to explain its existence only through science limits its immense power to connect to people, the moment, and a little bit of je ne sais quoi.”

If soil is at the ‘root’ (pun intended) of terroir character, and natural winemaking a conduit for sharing its voice in a wine, then surely rootstock must also play a factor. Feiring says “I can put my neck out there and say the choice of rootstock’s impact on wine is huge, mostly tied to yield and water retention, nitrogen, and potassium uptake... etcetera... more than actual flavour and disease resistance. That might be why own rooted vines, where it is possible, is the holy grail, a direct link to the soil.”

Terroir without the Filter: is francs de pied (ungrafted vines) the holy grail of viticulture?