Beyond Organics -- to Bliss

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Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, a Chardonnay grape planted in the limestone and oyster fossils that make up the ground of Chablis, France, will taste steely, mineral-rich, and stony. In the best case, it will be so stony that tasters will use a characteristic term of Chablis terroir: gunflint. Gunflint is considered a very good taste, and its most majestic expression is found only in those Chardonnay grapes planted on the ocean-fossil soils of Chablis. Flinty Chablis could never come from warm, fertile Northern California; lush, fruity, buttery, Napa Valley Chardonnay could never grow from the stark, cold vineyards of Chablis.

So, in various vineyards, the land is most eloquent when it speaks through the Chardonnay grape. But on a certain Illinois farm, the land might express itself most beautifully through a Brandywine tomato. Somewhere in Pennsylvania, it might be most clearly heard through a fresh ch?vre. And on a certain California river delta, that voice might sound best in a Suncrest peach.

Or consider artichokes. They love to grow by the sea, where it's in the 70s, sunny, and mistily breezy all day, and in the 50s and mistily breezy all night. If it's too cold, they'll die. If it's too hot, they'll die. Which is to say, they grow best right next to the sea in Southern California and in various places in Italy. Get an artichoke from Castroville, California, or from fields near Rome, and you'll experience the nutty, woody, grassy, meaty divinity of the artichoke. Unfortunately, scientists have lately been breeding artichokes that will grow in greenhouses and deserts. Try one of these and you will know what an artichoke would taste like if it were made of watery cardboard.

Note also, please, that pasture-raised dairy cows in Iowa make the magnificent Maytag Blue cheese, and nothing too thrilling comes out of Arizona factory dairies.

Terroir is the voice of the land as sung through agriculture. It is care for the land that sets certain delicious essences free. Terroir is where ethics and land stewardship grow together to produce sensual bliss. Watch for it in markets, restaurants, and fields near you.

Dara Moskowitz is an award-winning food writer for City Pages, an alternative weekly in Minneapolis. Her work will appear in Best Food Writing 2004.

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