What's Terroir?

First, how do you pronounce terroir?    tehr·waar

There is much discussion within the industry about the exact definition of "terroir" - and how it links, or doesn't. to what we taste in our glass.

In general, the following elements are considered to be part of the definition of "terroir":
1. Climate
2. Soil
3. Terrain

• location/latitude
• geological features (coastal/inland, proximity to large bodies of water, other flora [plants/trees], etc
• elevation (mountain or valley)
• sun exposure

While the particulars of a vintage/year absolutely are a factor in defining a specific vintage of a wine - they are not included in the definition of terroir:

* Weather:

• Rainfall
• Temperatures

However, there is much debate about whether the human aspect should be included, or not:

A. Varietal planted
B. Farming practices (dry-farming, sustainable/organic/biodynamic, leaf pulling, 
pruning, vine-training, canopy management, etc.)
C. Winemaking style (free run vs press, cold soaking, fermentation temperature, fermentation time, punchdowns vs pump-overs, secondary malolactic fermentation, gravity-fed, whole cluster, lees contact, oak barrel/cask/stainless/concrete/egg/amphora, % of new/neutral oak, oak origin/forest, barrel treatment/toast, how long wine is aged before bottling, fining & filtering)

I think my favorite discussion on the topic is a post in Wine Spectator by Harvey Steiman from a number of years ago.