What are airoir, barroir, and meroir? - Karen MacNeil & Company

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January 12, 2026

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April 4, 2025

What are airoir, barroir, and meroir? The following content is accessible for members only, please sign in.

A. New French grape varieties genetically modified to withstand heat

B. The rhyming names of the first three self-driving vineyard tractors created in France

C. Villages just outside of Burgundy that make inexpensive wines which are now selling well thanks to escalating prices of red Burgundy

D. Concepts related to terroir

Terroir may be the oldest concept that explains the idea that place matters, but terroir has recently been joined by three new related terms—airoir (the idea that the character of the air in a given place has an impact on what grows there), barroir (the “terroir” of barrels) and meroir (the “terroir” of the sea). Oysters, by the way, are the perfect example that meroir exists.

The Single Perfect Cheese for Wine

Sur lie

Sur lie is French for “on the lees,” and lees for their part The following content is accessible for members only, please sign in.

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