One day my husband and I visited a friend who owns pizzerias. We love pizza, I'm from New York and my husband lived there for about thirty years, so he's an honorary New Yorker. Pizza for us is like the tortilla in Mexico. Essential. Period. The first thing our friend said was “the most important thing in pizza is the dough.” The ingredients are important of course, but without a good dough, you can't make a good pizza. It is the essence of a pizza and essential to make a delicious pie.
The same principle applies to wine. To make a good wine, the most important thing is the vineyard. The vineyard and the soil in which it is planted are the essence of any wine; and you cannot make a good wine without good grapes, which are only the result of great care for the vineyard.
None of the producers I know think that the vineyard is of second importance. On the contrary, they have the same philosophy as greatest producers - if everything goes well in the vineyard, there is less to do in the winery and the wine can express the land where it is from in the most elegant and subtle way possible.
A glass of wine has many stories - it talks about the year and what happened during it, it talks about climate change that each year shows us something strange and different, it talks about the country it is from, but most of all it speaks clearly or not - depending on the oenologist - of the land in which the roots are planted.
This concept, called Terruño or Terroir in French, is intrinsically linked to geology and the environment or microclimate in which the vines grow. It not only incorporates the soil, but also the altitude, the diurnal changes, whether there is a sea or lake nearby, the rain or lack of it, the amount of sunshine, how hot or cold it is, if there were storms that lowered the yields, the minerals in the subsoil, even the other plants around.
We can talk about terroir for years on end, but this is basically it: the soil, its stones and the minerals that make it up affect how a vineyard grows. The type of soil is the key to the concept of terroir because wine comes from the vineyard. In the winery, what the best producers do is refine what comes from there.
To look at it in more detail, let's talk a little about soil. There are minerals in the soil and subsoil that affect the pH of that soil and, therefore, the flavors. Although it is debated how and how much minerals affect wine, there is no doubt that terroir is a large part of its flavor.
Geologically, there are three types of rocks: Sedimentary - stones formed when various minerals are exposed to pressure (Calcareous, Silt, and Sand and others), Metamorphic - stones that already exist but change because they are exposed to a lot of heat or pressure (Marble, Gneiss, Slate, Graphite, etc.), and Igneous that are volcanic/magma and that can form below or above the earth (Granite, Basalt, Obsidian, Pumice, etc.).
From this “mother” rock there are various combinations of minerals that arise and after a long time become those become various types of soils. These are some of the “rules” that can be followed when talking about vineyard soils:
Sandy Soils - Typically these soils have good drainage but few nutrients. However, it is one of the soils in which phylloxera (an aphid) that kills grapevines does not survive. Normally wines from these types of soils are fresh and aromatic.
Clay Soils - Soils with a lot of clay hold more water and their temperature is cooler. However, red wines usually have more body and tannin. Well-known places with these soils are Toscana, Pedimonte and Graves.
Silt Soils - Silt is a very fine soil and retains water and heat well. Normally wines from this type of soil are smoother and softer and have less acidity.
Loam Soil - This soil is a combination of sand, clay and silt and is usually soft and very fertile. That is why it is not associated with high quality wines since it is extremely fertile and the vigor of the plant must be controlled so that there is sufficient growth in the fruit.
Alluvial Soils - These soils were rivers or part of a river where a lot of stone gathered together and eventually degraded to fine, fertile soils as well. They have silt, sand and gravel. Wines from these soils have less acid and less aroma.
Calcareous Soils - This is one of the soil types for making very high quality wines. They have good drainage and hold water when there is drought. The white color of the soil reflects sunlight, promoting photosynthesis and increasing the absorption of nutrients. Wines from these soils are normally aromatic and elegant. The most famous regions with these soils are - Champagne, Chablis and Saint Emilion.
Volcanic Soils – This type of soil is made from magma that cooled and eventually decomposed into soil. They have good drainage and hold heat and water well. They are common in the Canary Islands and Sicily.
When you drink wine, it doesn't have to be anything complicated. You like it or you don't. It doesn't matter if it comes from calcareous or alluvial soils or from Mars. But it is one of the few fruits that so clearly and subtly expresses where it is from. It is a combination of science and art. Its story tells of the earth and the sky and the moments that passed in a year. When we combine all this information, we better understand the story in our glass.
-Description of soils translated from this article: https://www.thebeautyandthetaste.co.uk/wine/soils/
