Bad Soil, Good Grapes

{ September 25, 2009 @ 6:39 pm } · { soils }

Ironically, grape vines used for the production of quality wine must be planted on infertile  soils in order to generate good grapes.  This concept may seem contradictory at first, but as you will see shortly, it makes perfect sense.

THE most important factor in making great wine is the quality of fruit and the only way to get quality fruit is to choose the perfect vineyard site for the grapes that you want to grow.  Climate, position, and soil, (otherwise known as terroir)   are the three factors in choosing this site.  Each one of these is important on their own merit, but we will talk about  “soil”  for now.

The vineyards of the Rhone Valley

When say I say poor soil I mean poor soil.  Sometimes, like in the Rhone Valley, there is not even an ounce of dirt in sight, just rocks.  Who would think that soils made up of rocks can produce such fantastic grapes?  Rocky soils provide excellent drainage for the vines as well as capturing heat during the day to warm the vines at night.  The physical components of the soil  like those that regulate water supply  are of the utmost importance in determining a wines quality, not the chemical nutritive elements that most may think.   This is whole other beast which I will not get into here, but I will soon.

Grapevines for wine are planted on soils that are usually not fertile enough to sustain other agricultural crops.   Grapevines  need to be stressed to produce quality fruit. The poor soil encourages the roots to dig deeper for water and other nutrients.  When this happens the roots begin to ramify and the surface area of the roots that eventually comes into contact with the soil increases.  In turn, more nutrients are delivered to the precious clusters of berries.  Also, more roots equal better regulation of water supple which is very important during the veraison.

The fertile and rich  soils that are used to grow commercial crops would spoil the grapes.  Here’s the definition of spoil, “: to impair the disposition or character of by overindulgence or excessive praise. (as in spoiling a child)”  When grapes are spoiled the quality of the resulting fruit is inevitably inferior.  In other words, fertile soils make it too easy for vines to produce grapes.  When this happens, the quality of fruit is sacrificed for quantity.    It’s like a child never having to work a day their life.  The harder and entity has to work for something the greater it will be rewarded in the end.

These are just a couple of basic concepts of vine cultivation.  These concepts are not universal but provide a good background in understanding how some of this stuff works and the varying factors that go into producing the delicious beverage we call wine.