Pourquoi terroir? Reflections on French influences on Australian winemakers’ senses of place

Abstract

Terroir is an untranslatable, unstable, and often undefinable French term frequently used in the global wine industry. This article focuses on the transnational potentialities and cultural transferability of terroir in reflecting on French influences on Australian winemakers’ senses of place. After outlining the evolution of terroir in France to demonstrate how and why it appears to have become a floating signifier, I examine the use of terroir in the Australian winemaking context. I thereby provide an example of how this French concept has travelled and been translated by Australian proponents of the term at the other end of the New World of wine. Finally, I present conclusions drawn from the particular case of French-Australian cultural transfers to demonstrate key features of the current state of terroir's globalisation.