Is Terroir a Dirty Word in Spirits? (Ep. 46)

INTRO

In episode 46 of the Japan Distilled podcast, our hosts tackled a a thorny topic. The concept of terroir in spirits.

CREDITS

Theme Song: Begin Anywhere by Tomoko Miyata (http://tomokomiyata.net/)

Mixing and Editing: Rich Pav (https://www.uncannyrobotpodcast.com/)

HOSTS

CHRISTOPHER PELLEGRINI Vermont born and bred, long-time Tokyo resident and author of The Shochu Handbook, Christopher learned about delicious fermentations as a beer brewer at Otter Creek (Middlebury, VT). He now spends most of his waking hours convincing strangers that shochu and awamori are unlike anything they’ve ever tried before. 

STEPHEN LYMAN discovered Japan’s indigenous spirits at an izakaya in New York City. He was so enthralled that he now lives in Japan and works in a tiny craft shochu distillery every autumn. His first book, The Complete Guide to Japanese Drinks, was nominated for a 2020 James Beard Award.

Stephen and Christopher love the Japanese spirits brands that focus on local agriculture and local production methods.

If you have any comments or questions about this episode, please reach out to Stephen or Christopher via Twitter. We would love to hear from you. 

SHOW NOTES

Terroir Defined

Terroir is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as:

1. the complete natural environment in which a particular wine is produced, including factors such as the soil, topography, and climate.
2. the characteristic taste and flavour imparted to a wine by the environment in which it is produced.

Clearly, the concept itself was borrowed from the wine world, particularly the French wine world, when we started to think about terroir in other products made form local agricultural ingredients.

There has been a lot written about whether terroir exists outside of wine. The Sake on Air podcast had a fascinating discussion on terroir in sake. To their credit the team treaded quite carefully on the subject. The same discussion has been happening in the beer and spirits worlds. In fact, it’s quite a polarizing topic.

One argument, perhaps persuasive, is that the word was intended for wine and that’s where it should stay. Expanding its meaning to other beverage alcohol has the potential for diluting its meaning. That’s possibly even more true when you move from wine to spirits than when you move from wine to other fermented alcohols like sake or beer.

That being said, our hosts decided to tackle terroir in Japanese spirits with reference to the Oxford English Dictionary definition, but replacing “wine” with “beverage alcohol” like this:

1. the complete natural environment in which a particular beverage alcohol is produced, including factors such as the soil, topography, and climate.
2. the characteristic taste and flavour imparted to a beverage alcohol by the environment in which it is produced.

With that context set, the discussion was more about which spirits most qualified and what was settled on is that there is a spectrum in Japanese spirits from definitely to definitely not.

Terroir Yes or No?

Satsuma Shochu – definitely terroir driven in many cases.

Iki Shochu – definitely not terroir driven in most cases.

Kuma Shochu – relatively rarely terroir drven.

Awamori – technically not, but strong argument for. Perhaps only our own bias.

Kokuto Shochu – can be terroir driven.

Oita Barley Shochu – sometimes terroir driven.

Chesnut shochu – maybe terroir driven?

Izu Island Shochu – in the case of Aochu (pictured below), 200% terroir driven.

Definitely curious to hear what others think about this episode. Did we ruffle some feathers? We hope not. We hope we’ve given you something to chew on as the spirits world struggles with a definition.

Perhaps spirits need a different word or simply a more nuanced definition since the impact of the distillation is such a big part of the final product.

Kanpai!