Terroir it's the bugs, not the dirt

There has been much discussion in the wine industry about the validity of describing a wine's flavour as minerality. Research by Aberystwyth University looked at factors that create an impression on the drinker that a wine tastes of different soil types. In a bid to understand better the chemistry of terroir, the report highlighted an experiment using mass spectrometry on Pinot Noir grapes managed by the same person but lying two kilometres apart in the Côte de Nuits. The results showed notable differences in the fatty acids, cholesterols, flavanols, phenols and other compounds in both the grapes and their wine. Considering the impact of microbes in the soil, such as mycorrhizal fungi whose symbiotic relationship with a vine is known to help it take up nutrients, Jack Gilbert of the Argonne National Laboratory in Lemont, Illinois remarked: “If you grew a plant without any microbes, you wouldn’t have any wine. Bacteria and fungi influence the chemical composition of the grapes and 
the health of the vine.” Bacteria effects a vine's metabolism and chemical defence against insects. But what the report did find was that yeasts have the biggest effect on taste, aroma and texture of wine.