Terroir is dead.

Wine was once nature's signature, bottled. You could taste the soil, feel the topography, sense the climate, but those days are largely over.

Natural variability is bad for business, and consistency sells. Why risk a bad year when you can prevent it? Why let vintage variation affect sales when consumers want the same taste every time?

I'm not suggesting malice from winemakers. The problem is systemic.

Making wine with a sense of place is hard, and every tradeoff pulls you further from that truth. Each decision can make wine cheaper, more reliable, or less connected to its origin, but it all exists in a grey area. There's no fine line to cross.

Take drip irrigation. You farm with less water, but your vines get lazy and their roots stay near the surface instead of diving deep into the soil profile. You gain ripening control, but lose the signature of seasonal rains.

If you add compost or fertilizers you get more grapes, with "better" quality, but you've masked the natural nutrient balance of your land.

Commercial yeasts bring foreign cultures to any cellar that wants them.

Even farming and fermenting is done traditionally, a winemaker can use a seemingly endless list additives to manipulate flavor, texture, aroma, and color to whatever profile they're chasing.

Even if terroir still exists in some wines, how do you really know that its the earth you are tasting?