We often hear about them in gastronomy, delicatessens and wine cellars. But what does the term mean? Does it make sense or is it just a marketing ploy?

The region and its products

Before we talk about terroir products, let’s briefly define what terroir is. A very French term, it’s a word born at the intersection of the geographical and the cultural. Although the term was certainly born in France, it has since been exported all over the world, a sign of the influence of French culture!

The notion of terroir has really been democratized and used for commercial purposes since the 1980s and administrative decentralization. From then on, in the wine and gastronomy sectors, it was used to mark the contrast with urban life.

At first, only farms, bed & breakfasts, winegrowers, farmers… promoted the term to showcase their products. But since the end of the 20th century, the major distribution and catering groups (Casino, Leclerc, Campanile…) have been developing their own “produits du terroir” (local products) for marketing purposes.

Local products and labels

As its name suggests, a “produit du terroir” is an agricultural product (whether processed or not) linked agronomically and climatically to a terroir, and to the know-how and practices of the local population in growing, raising and possibly processing it…

The AOC (Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée), created in 1935 by the INAO (Institut national de l’origine et de la qualité), is one of the guarantors of local products. It guarantees the quality and origin of wines, as well as other products from France’s terroirs, whether animal (meat, dairy products, seafood, honey) or vegetable (fruit, vegetables, by-products) in origin. In fact, it was mainly in the 1990s that AOCs were extended to other local products.

Among the many products bearing the AOC label are all wines complying with AOC specifications, almost all cheeses, Bresse poultry since 1957, Ardèche chestnuts since 2006, and Charolles beef since 2010 (the list is far from exhaustive…).

Other labels such as AB (Agriculture Biologique) or Label Rouge are also guarantees of product quality, but in no way guarantee that the product belongs to a specific terroir.

Today, the “produit du terroir” is fashionable, a kind of economic object that is a factor of attraction both for rural areas (wine tourism, for example) and for supermarkets and companies that promote their products thanks to this label.

Photo : Adobe Stock – Eléonore H