The French term ‘terroir,’ similar to the English word ‘terrain,’ means a ‘sense of place’ and is often used by someone tasting wine.
When someone says a wine exhibits a specific terroir, they mean that the wine they are drinking has taste characteristics associated with the region from where it is grown.
Terroir describes the natural landscape that supports a vineyard’s growth and wine production: macroclimate, microclimate, soil type, slope, topography, and sun exposure.
The word terroir also describes agricultural products that include coffee, chocolate, tomatoes, wheat, and teas.