Soils Flashcards
Alluvial ?
Fertile soil that has been transported down a slope, usually by a river or stream.
Gravel
Sand
Silt
Napa valley + foot of Mayacamas
Basalt ?
Cooled lava from volcanic rock (Igneous)
Calcium
Iron
Magnesium
Willamette Valley
Calcareous ?
Alkaline soil
Calcium
Magnesium carbonate
Considered ‘cool’, they retain water and delay ripening, thereby leading to more acidic wines
Chalk ?
- Sedimentary
Very porous, soft limestone soil that vine roots can easily penetrate. A classic soil in Champagne.
Clay ?
- Sedimentary
- has good water retention ability but poor drainage. Often very ‘cool’ and high in acidity.
Right bank bordeaux
Flint ?
- Sedimentary
Siliceous stone (sedimentary rocks that contain silica from silica-secreting organisms such as diatoms and some types of sea sponges) that reflects sun and heat well.
Pouilly-Fumé
Galestro ?
- Metamorphic
Schist-based soil found in the Tuscany region of Italy.
Gneiss ?
- Metamorphic
Coarse grained form of granite
Granite ?
- Igneous
Hard, mineral-rich soil that is composed of 40% to 60% quartz. The soil warms quickly and retains heat well. Thus, granite soils are ideal with acidic grapes like gamay.
Beaujolais, Cornas
Gravel ?
Soil that is loose and pebbly and has good drainage and poor fertility. Vines planted in this type of soil must penetrate deeply to find nutrients in the subsoil.
Graves and Sauternes
Greywacke ?
- Sedimentary
- formed by rivers depositing quartz, mudstone, and feldspar.
Germany, New Zealand, South Africa
Hardpan ?
Dense layer of clay or other material that is impermeable to water.
Limestone ?
- Sedimentary
Wide range of sedimentary-based soils consisting of calcium carbonates, many of which are formed from the skeletal fragments of marine organisms. Limestone is consistently alkaline and is generally planted with grapes of high acidity levels.
Burgundy, Champagne, Loire
Llicorella ?
- Metamorphic
Mix of slate and quartz that is very porous and drains well.
Priorat
Loam ?
- Sedimentary
- Warm, soft, fertile soil composed of roughly equal amounts of silt, sand and clay. Typically too fertile for high-quality wines.
- Particles measuring around 2mm or so across are sand, finer ones are called silt, and the very finest clay. A mixture of all three is termed loam.
Loess ?
- Sedimentary
Very fine, silt-based soil composed of wind-borne sediment that is typically angular and decalcified. The soil has good water retention and warming properties
Top Austrian, Washington state vineyards
Marl ?
- Sedimentary
Calcareous clay-based soil that is ‘cool’ and thus delays ripening, resulting in wines with prominent acidity. Marl is typically deep and lacking in stone fragments.
Piedmont
Quartz ?
- Igneous
Common in sand and silt-based soils
The high pH of quartz can reduce the acidity of the resulting wines. But quartz also stores heat, so it can increase ripening of the grapes.
Lower Nahe
Sand ?
- Sedimentary
Warm, airy soil composed of tiny partucles of weathered rocks. Drains well but not good retention.
No phylloxera
Santa Barbara
Schist ?
- Metamorphic
Laminated, crystalline rock-based soil that retains heat well and is rich in magnesium and potassium, but poor in organic nutrients and nitrogen.
Alsace Andlau region (upper slopes)
Shale ?
- Sedimentary
Fine-grain sedimentary-based formed from mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals and tiny fragments (silt-sized particles) of other minerals, especially quartz and calcite.
Shale is characterized by its tendency to split into thin layers (laminae) less than one centimeter in thickness. This property is called fissility.
Shale is the most common sedimentary rock
Moderately fertile and retains heat well.
Finger Lakes
Silex ?
- Flint and sand-based soil type, found primarily in Loire valley, formed by a mix of clay, limestone and silica.
- The word silex also appears in wine writings in English although it is simply the French word for flint.
Silt ?
Fine-grained deposit that offer good water retention but poor drainage. More fertile than sand.
Slate ?
- Metamorphic
- platelike rock formed when shale, clay, or silt-stone is subjected to pressure deep within the earth.
Soil retain heat well and warms up relatively quickly.
Mosel, Germany
Terra Rossa ?
Sedimentary soil, known as ‘red earth’, formed after carbonates have been leached out of limestone. The breakdown leaves behind iron deposits that oxidize and turn the soil a rustic red color.
Coonawara
Tufa ?
- Igneous and/or Sedimentary
Highly friable calcareous soil created from exploding volcanic rocks flung into the air.
Loire valley
Volcanic ?
- Igneous = lava-based volcanic soil is the product of molten lava flows from a volcano. Ninety percent of lava-based soil is basalt.
- Sedimentary = Vent-based volcanis soil is formed from rock material or molten globules that have been ejected at high velocity into the air and then have cooled before settling to the earth (such as tufa).
Name an example of igneous rock.
- Granite and Basalt, volcanic lava flow.
- Igneous rocks are solidified by melt. Colling and solidification of magma. They are composed of tight cells interlocking and lack of layering, fossils, etc.
- Igneous = lava flows = basalt = fertile soils
- Intrusive Igneous = melted lava that cools before reaching surface = pockets of granite
Name an example of Metamorphic rock.
- Schist, Slate, Marble, Gneiss
- Metamorphic rocks are sedimentary or igneous rocks that are formed by heat and pressure. (For example, a sedimentary mass travels inward earth, as it goes deep, it melts with other sediments accumulating above it. Ions rearrangements occur and new minerals are formed. It becomes a Metamorphic rock.)
Name an example of Sedimentary rock.
- Limestone, marl, clay, chalk, shale, sandstone, etc.
- A sedimentary rock is formed by multiple sediments that have been transported by wind (eolian) or by water (alluvial and marine). Those sediments bond in a single mass and become a sedimentary rock. The type of soil formed depends on its composition and how tight are the bondings.
