The terroir concept suggests that some food and drink products profoundly express the environments in which they are made, including the natural ecology and the ‘local knowledge’ of producers who have historically worked within it. The terroir idea also underpins geographical indication regimes which reserve the use of designated place names for producers working within delineated regions and following agreed-upon methods. But how far can terroir claims be extended before they unravel? In this talk I explore the limits of terroir through presentation of two bodies of research – the first with apple cider makers in Devon, England, and the second with artisan cheese makers in several European countries. I ask to what extend terroir claims hold when applied to opposite ends of a scale continuum – on the one side to micro-organisms (bacteria, fungi, yeasts etc) that are essential to food and drink ecologies of production, and on the other side to macro-cultural phenomena (various forms of expressive culture, savoire-faire, and social identity) that are essential to local productive systems. I conclude that, while terroir serves a vital purpose in calling attention to the importance of place, we must not lose sight of the way that terroir products and the places in which they are made reflect movement and change.