Is the Difference Merely Irrigation?
Dr. Smart, though, is not a firm believer in the concept of terroir existing in the New World, with very specific, and not entirely well-received by this particular audience, reasoning. Smart believes that terroir, in the Old World sense, is defined within tens of yards or meters (i.e., meter-scale) and, in the Old World, “it’s my understanding and my firm conviction that we are talking particularly about soil effects rather than great climatic effects,” he said. In the New World, Smart sees terroir being defined less specifically, in terms of tens of miles or kilometers, (i.e., macro-scale)–so broadly that cheap, bulk wines necessarily express terroir. “What has been the greatest technological change in viticulture in the last 3,000 years which has happened in the last 20 years?” Smart asked the audience. After some timid, and incorrect, offerings, Smart found the answer he was looking for: irrigation. “You canthat would elevate the idea that drip irrigation, where the roots don’t go
