Terroir 2006 @ UC Davis

UC Davis lecture series - 4 day workshop on Terroir! [UC DAVIS LINK]
[WineBusiness online link]

Only $650 per person if in the industry...and each day Mon through Weds is a full day - though you're on your own for dinner most nights.

Some highlights of the program:
Sunday 3/19, 5:20~6:00 PM Opening Speaker: Alain Carbonneau
Institut des Hautes Etudes de la Vigne et du Vin, Montpellier, France
"Terroir: a French Word and Concept, as Old as Wine and Vine are, as New as Man, Mind and Technology are"
(the title leaves me little hope of any clarification of the term "terroir" to make it more useable...in fact it sounds more like the title of a pep-rally speech...)

Then the afternoon of Tuesday 3/21, everyone will be treated to 1:45 min total time in discussion of "Biodynamic Methods": Alan York and John Reganold (“Biodynamic Viticulture: Myth and Reality”); Phillippe Pessereau (“Biodynamie at Phelps: A New Viticultural Approach”); Randall Grahm (“The Phenomenology of Terroir” (with wine tasting)). I know some will give hoots of joy to know that BioD is being presented as a part of a "terroir" lecture series, though I have doubts as to the benefit of it's inclusion.

The final 3.5 hours of lectures focus on Marketing the Romance of Terroir, which is what they want you to leave thinking about...
Again, that doesn't bode well for clarification of the term "terroir"...and indicates yet more of the pep-rally orientation...

Is there a chance we could experience a sea change in the way people look at terroir from their participation @ this event? Yes, there must be some chance...but it isn't very plausible from the tone so far...