Will Lyons on Wine Getting to the Root of Tastes in Wine How important is soil when it comes to the nature and character of wine? By Will Lyons Wall Street Journal March 13, 2014 5:16 p.m. ET WHEN IT COMES TO their produce, winemakers are no different than any other farmers. They are obsessed with the earth. Though plants in reality only need water, sun and air to produce fruit, vignerons wax lyrical about the quality of their soil and how it influences their wines. Wine connoisseurs, too, cant seem to get enough. Its not uncommon for todays tasting notes to include descriptors such as flinty for wines grown in the Loire, wet slate for German Riesling and, a term I use frequently, minerality—a savory, saline, stony aftertaste—for Bordeaux wines, particularly those from the Médoc. But how important is soil exactly when it comes to the nature and character of wine? Does it affect the wines overall quality? The French were the first to recognize the role soil plays in wines development, and thought it important enough to build an entire classification system around the concept of terroir. The word itself dates back to the 17th century and was used as part of the phrase goût de terroir, or taste of the earth, but it was the wider concept of terroir—the natural environment of a vineyard—that was one of the key factors underlying the French Appellation dOrigine Contrôlée system. Which is why those who collect and enjoy French wine do so through the names of vineyards and villages, as opposed to, say, grape varieties. Broadly speaking, we know that certain soil types suit certain grape varieties. Chardonnay grows well in limestone and marl-rich soils, while Cabernet Sauvignon is particularly suited to sandy gravel. Its no coincidence that many of the best Cabernet Sauvignons in Bordeaux are grown on the Left Bank in the Médoc, which is made up of sandy gravel. How this affects the wine, however, is a bit trickier to understand. When I took my exams with WSET Wine & Spirits Education Trust in London in the late 1990s, the prevailing wisdom was that the vines roots acted as a sort of vacuum pump, sucking up nutrients from the ground, thus giving the wine its distinctive mineral character. In the recent update of his book Wine Science, biologist Jamie Goode highlights the process of cation exchange, whereby roots trade hydrogen ions with cations attached to negatively charged soil particles. But recent studies have focused more on the importance of vines water retention, saying that constant access to water—but not too much or too little—is the key to producing good wine. Too much water and the vine will produce lots of lush, green leaves but not great grapes. As Dr. Goode argues the ideal situation is to stress the vine a little by planting it on soil where the water table is naturally controlled, thus producing more concentrated fruit. And a study by researchers at the University of California at Davis last year looked at the role of bacteria and fungi—what they call microbial terroir. Despite all the research and advancements in technologies, there is still so much we dont know about soils relationship with the vine. Two things are certain, though: In Bordeaux you can drive past vineyards in villages that share the same climate but whose wines taste completely different; and when asked why, those who have worked the land for many years will shrug their shoulders and reply the soil.
Posted on: Sat, 15 Mar 2014 15:51:48 +0000