In late 2022, Hamel Family Wines’ 2018 Pamelita Reserved was hailed by Wine Enthusiast for its “incredibly impressive” tension, texture and tannins alongside its “velvety core of refinement and grace.” It earned a superb 95-point rating. But the structure and palate described may not have been quite so impressive without the help of winemaking consultant Pedro Parra, a.k.a. Dr. Terroir.
Two decades ago, Parra, who hails from Chile, was one of the first doctoral students to research terroir at the Paris Center of Agriculture. Rather than viewing things on a macro scale, as one might for an American Viticultural Area (AVA) in the United States or Appellation d’Origine Protégée (AOP) in France, Parra zooms in on micro terroir, such as the small, precisely delimited parcels of top Burgundy vineyards.
His goal, of course, is to steer viticulture and winemaking away from the industrial, heavy-manipulation techniques that have dominated the industry for decades. Instead, he pushes producers toward artisanal practices that emphasize attention to detail in the vineyard and the expression of place. This focus is on display at top wineries that have employed Parra, including Rose & Arrow Estate in Oregon; Quintessa in Napa; Flowers Vineyards and Winery in Sonoma; Domaine Roulot in Burgundy; and Biondi-Santi in Tuscany’s Montalcino.
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“It’s about what happens in your mouth,” says Parra of his preferred techniques. “Many, many wines have beautiful aromas and disappointing palates.”
Where most consultants focus on soil, Parra—who now makes his own wine in Itata, Chile— looks at geology. It is the single most important component of mouthfeel, he believes, although it frequently is not given the attention and comprehension it deserves from winemakers. Parra, on the other hand, possesses an uncanny ability to pinpoint the source of a wine’s mouthfeel. He can do so merely by looking at rocks on the ground.
“In just five minutes, he was able to describe the style of each plot,” recalls Daniel Landi, co-founder of Comando G in Spain’s Sierra de Gredos mountains, of an experience with Parra. “It was, like, in five minutes he knew the things we discovered over ten years—he described each wine more or less perfectly.”
Whenever he starts working with a client, Parra asks them to identify which portions of a vineyard they think produces the best wine. He then reviews electrical conductivity maps produced by an electromagnetic scanner, a technology most frequently used by mining companies, to figure out how much clay is in the soil. Generally, the more clay there is, the higher the likelihood of big black fruit and a plush mouthfeel.
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He also asks the client to dig seven to ten-foot holes across different parcels of their vineyard, from what they think is the best to worst, so he can visually inspect the rock composition beneath the topsoil. The type of stone is important, with limestone at the top of the quality pyramid. Additional considerations are rock hardness; the harder the rock, the more linear and austere the wine. Also, rock that is more decomposed leads to rounder, bigger wines.
“I am like a vineyard shrink,” says Parra. “I need to understand people’s personalities and preferences, the terroir’s typicity and try to find any problems to help them make better wines.”
Sometimes, Parra finds that his clients’ vineyards don’t have the type of soil and rocks conducive for making their desired wines. A lack of limestone is often the problem. The sedimentary rock delivers freshness and minerality to Europe’s top vineyards, which according to Parra, is where 90% of the wine world’s limestone is found.
Around a quarter of the time, calcium carbonate-filled rock—which can lend wine freshness—is not found. In this case, Parra encourages clients to seek out new plots of land that are rich in limestone. Both Chakana Wines in Mendoza and Nivarius in Rioja have done this.
“Limestone is fantastic because it provides different things,” says Parra. “You can have the same weather with two different terroirs, and the one with limestone is fresher than the other one. It’s going to provide a longer mid-palate and a very elegant energy and minerality.”
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Back in Sonoma at Hamel, however, winemakers did not find limestone when they started looking back in 2016. But they did find basalt, a volcanic rock created by lava flow between three and five million years ago. After studying the ground, Parra and Hamel winemakers pinpointed a small, .75-acre soil pocket that contained 95% pure basalt, which can provide finesse and elegance alongside tension and energy in the bottle.
That tiny plot is today the most spellbinding section of Hamel’s already excellent Nunns Canyon vineyard, which gave rise to Hamel’s highly praised Pamelita Reserve.
“Prior to working with Pedro, those grapes were getting lost in one big fermenter,” says winemaker John Hamel. He now picks and ferments his smaller blocks separately, creating hyper-specific wines without much intervention on his part. Hamel’s work with Parra has given him a new level of confidence in his terroir and a better grasp of how exactly it’s impacting his wines. “People talk about terroir in wine all the time, but to really express it you have to understand it.”
The post How Pedro Parra, a.k.a. Dr. Terroir, Is Changing Winemaking appeared first on Wine Enthusiast.
