Can whisky taste like a place – or is terroir a myth?

Terroir – the wine world’s favourite way of saying something tastes like somewhere. It’s why Pinot Noir from Burgundy’s Cote d’Or carries subtle notes of red fruit and forest floor, while the same grape in Central Otago tastes brighter, louder and almost sunlit in its intensity. Terroir is the land’s signature, quietly signed onto a crop. Whisky, though, has been slower to embrace the language, despite being born from grain, water and wood. So why the reluctance?

Mark Reynier, perhaps the whisky industry’s most outspoken champion of terroir, sees the resistance as largely cultural. “Firstly, terroir is a fancy French word with no adequate English equivalent. To non-wine drinkers it has an uncomfortable air of pretense, prejudice, and yahoo pomposity,” he said. “Secondly, it is an inconvenient truth for an industry that seeks homogenised, international supply. Local produce with provenance and identity then becomes nothing more than heretical.”

Reynier’s perspective comes from a long career in drink. He spent 20 years as a wine merchant before leading the revival of Islay’s Bruichladdich in 2001 – a distillery now known for experiments with local barley. In 2015, he brought the same philosophy to Ireland with Waterford Distillery, championing barley varieties and slow fermentation, as well as the idea of Irish terroir, though the project has since closed.

Reynier’s quest for place-based whisky runs against the (ahem) grain of the mainstream. Homogeneity, certainly, isn’t born of laziness. Research by Tom A Bringhurst for the Institute of Brewing & Distilling suggests high-yield, disease-resistant barley keeps costs down, while consistent flavours let yeast, peat and casks steal the spotlight. All of which raises the question: does terroir actually survive the still?

It’s a resounding “obviously” from Reynier. “Whisky’s natural flavour, like wine, originates in the field – with barleycorn and its 2,000 flavour compounds,” he insisted. “These are immutable and can be liberated into alcohol by fermentation. That flavour-rich alcohol then gets concentrated by distillation.”