Identifying Terroir in Southwest Iowa Wineries

Terroir is a central component of viticulture.  It is often described as an interactive ecosystem that relates the sensory attributes of wine, such as aroma and taste, to the place. Place combines landscape characteristics, grapevine varieties, and local cultural attributes to create a unique identity. Thus terroir wines embody place characteristics in their sensory experience. Climate is a major component of terroir as it is an underlying control on where grape varietals can be successfully cultivated and impacts the quality of the grapes produced. Therefore climate change has the potential to dramatically affect terroir.  In this paper, I use a case study of nascent terroir in southwestern Iowa to explore the relationship between climate change and viticulture. Results from a landscape GIS analysis were combined with interviews to show where changes in site suitability as well as potential changes in vine suitability might affect the area’s terroir.