Southern Pinot Noir Workshop

On January 20th I gave the keynote address to the 20th annual Southern Pinot Noir Workshop held in Hanmer Springs New Zealand. The invitation to speak is quite prestigious. Recent speakers include winemakers such as Tony Soter and Ted Lemon. This is exclusively a producer’s symposium so the audience is composed of your fellow vineyardists and winemakers only. It is both an honor and a privilege to address your peers. But it is also intimidating in some ways as you must be careful that everything you say is accurate and true. The title of the talk was “Terroir and Technique in Pinot Noir; Is terroir still the most beautiful question?” In this talk I reviewed both vineyard and winemaking changes over the 30 years of my career and related them to their effects on terroir. Both the questions and the answers were difficult, and in many ways the preparation of this speech felt like an examination of conscience. A review of the scientific basis of terroir and its relationship to Pinot Noir winegrowing was presented before the more general discussion that followed. The speech is available in an 8,000 word essay for those interested in the details.

-          Larry Brooks, Winemaker