Soil is not just soil, believe me. Friday 12 June I had a chance to see something we normally only get to read about: the soil under the grapevines, one of the most basic elements of terroir. If at any point in your wine-drinking life you’ve pooh-poohed terroir as being an over-rated French notion, and if in particular you think the difference that soil makes is surely exaggerated, think again.
I joined a group of growers to examine closely what looked like two freshly dug graves, great gaping holes a couple metres deep, next to a row of vines.
The idea was to see what goes on under the vines.
The winemakers of Féchy, whose grapes grow around a spectacularly pretty village on the hillside in Vaud, have been through a turbulent winter of arguments over changes to the AOC system in Switzerland. New regulations went into effect 1 June and the producers here have pretty much decided to make sure they end up with premier grand cru wines.
To do this, they need a deep (sorry for the pun) understanding of their own soil, microclimate and all the other ingredients that are part of the idea of terroir.
I joined them for a winemakers’ continuing education session. We spent the afternoon with wine and soil management specialist Hervé Detomasi of Cully, Vaud, who showed us the difference in soil – and thus in root growth, among other things – at the top and bottom of the Les Marchandes area, a long slope that runs down the western side of the village and that gives its name to some beautiful local wines.
The soil here is glacial moraine which sits on molasse (the harder stuff left when mountains were created) but Detomasi noted that the layer of moraine is so deep that this is what gives this terroir its specialness: the moraine is largely clay with silt, which crumbles dry in your hand.
Vines are lazy things, as a Geneva grape grower told me last week, and they don’t bother to push their roots much unless conditions are dry. These vines at the top of the hill have tiny roots running everywhere, deep and wide and vigorous. I knew that vines are thirsty, but I was astonished to learn from Detomasi that it takes 500 litres of water to grow the one kilo of grapes that makes one litre of wine.
Further down the slope, towards the bottom of the hill the same soil is heavier, almost greasy, and the water we saw sitting at the bottom of the hole higher up has been disappeared here. The chunks of soil we hold are streaked with fine black threads, baby roots that died off because they weren’t needed here. And the wines from these areas are not the same: the one from the top of the hill is racier, with notes of quince while that from further down the hill is a rounder, fatter wine.
Nearby is Bayels, home to one of my favourite Vaud wines, En Bayel made by Raymond Paccot. This is one of the best areas in the region for Chasselas and I discover
Under Detomasi’s tutoring I see why: the soil here is classic, Lake Geneva region deposits left by glaciers.
The soil is lighter than that of nearby Marchandes. It is sandy, gravelly, some loam, and the vines put out fatter roots. The soil here keeps a little water in reserve and during dry years the vines simply slow down their growth rate.
That’s not a bad thing: with vines, if the growth rate is shorter, the maturation period for the grapes tends to be longer. The grapes are, under these conditions, top quality.
And even in dry years, when the vines are under stress, the grapes are of very good quality, but the harvest will be smaller.
Mastering the soil is a good start but mastering soil plus weather is better, if you want the best wines.
It all comes back to terroir, and the difference shows up in the glasses we raise.
Related:
New AOC wine rules spark battle for top slots, GenevaLunch news, 16 June 2009
Dinner with Fredy Girardet, The Rambling Epicure blog, GenevaLunch, 16 June 2009
[…] blogs: Dinner with Fredy Girardet (The Rambling Epicure blog) and Terroir: Getting down and dirty in Féchy (Among the Vines blog) Posted by :: Ellen Wallace on 16 June […]