Soil Types in Wine: A Visual Guide

In Champagne, the outcrops of sedimentary rock are 75% limestone, composed of chalk, marl and limestone proper, and this porous subsoil allows for good drainage. Chalk is made up of fragments of marine micro-organisms deposited millions of years ago; being highly porous, it acts as a reservoir storing 300-400 litres of water per m3, which ensures that the vines have a steady supply of water even in the driest summers. Chalk also draws in water through capillary action, naturally regulating the vine's water consumption. The story goes back 90 million years, when oceans covered the land and sediments settled on the seabed. Depending on whether the soil is marl, chalk or hard limestone, one variety is chosen over another: Chardonnay is mainly grown in the Côte des Blancs and Côte de Sézanne, Pinot Noir in the Montagne de Reims, the eastern Marne Valley and the Côte des Bar, and Meunier in the western Marne Valley. In Chablis, Professor Georges Chappaz noted in 1904 an abundance of tiny comma-shaped oyster fossils called Exogyra virgula in the subsoil, combined with gray marl, and classified it as Kimmeridgean soil, a strata observed for the first time in Kimmeridge in England. Chablis Grand Cru vines grow on marls and Kimmeridgian limestones formed during the Upper Jurassic, some 150 million years ago, and the Chablis Grand Cru appellation is one of the few French AOCs to define itself in terms of its geology. In Vosne-Romanée, the communal appellation's soils are limestone mixed with clayey marls.

• Champagne: 75% of the outcrops are limestone (chalk, marl and limestone proper); chalk stores 300-400 litres of water per m3
• Chablis: Kimmeridgian marls and limestones with exogyra virgula oyster fossils, formed some 150 million years ago
• Chablis: more than 5,400 hectares of Chardonnay are planted on Kimmeridgean soil
• Vosne-Romanée: limestone mixed with clayey marls, from some tens of centimetres to 1 metre deep

Soils that contain a lot of clay will usually be cooler as they absorb and retain water, which can be extremely useful in drier climates. In Pomerol, the soils of the plateau are a mixture of clay-gravel and sandy gravel, with density varying from one plot to the next, over a subsoil rich in iron oxide known locally as "crasse de fer" (ironpan), which is the key to Pomerol's distinctive character. In the Langhe, the most common and widespread formation in Barolo and Barbaresco, the Sant'Agata Fossili Marls, is composed almost entirely of marly layers with little sand, giving soils with a significant percentage of fine sediments, silt and clay. The Lequio Formation, found in the central-southern part of Serralunga and on the eastern slope of Monforte, alternates layers of clay marl with lesser layers of sand, and its soils are silty, with a fair percentage of clay and sand, and decidedly calcareous.

• Clay-rich soils are usually cooler because they absorb and retain water
• Pomerol: clay-gravel and sandy gravel over an iron-oxide subsoil called crasse de fer
• Barolo and Barbaresco: the Sant'Agata Fossili Marls, the most widespread formation, give soils rich in fine sediments, silt and clay
• Serralunga and eastern Monforte: the Lequio Formation alternates clay marl and sand

In the Graves, gravel and pebbles from the Pyrenees were carried by the Garonne, and these "graves" soils store heat from the sun's rays during the day and release it at night in the vineyards; the appellation's name comes from the old French "grava", meaning a gravelly terrain. Under the surface, stones, gravel, sand, silt and clay lie atop a limestone, iron hardpan and clay subsoil, giving well-drained soils. In the Médoc, the Garonne deposited aggregates and sediments which, with erosion, formed clay limestone layers or "Pyrenean" gravel hillocks in localized areas that provide the vines with perfectly drained soils. Châteauneuf-du-Pape, in the Southern Rhône, sits on terraces of galets roulés (rolled pebbles) along the left bank of the Rhône, and its stony soils give back at night the heat the pebbles stored during the day, favouring full ripeness of the grapes. The appellation area also covers soils with numerous rolled pebbles mixed with red clay, as well as sand and sandstone soils, and Grenache noir is the dominant grape variety.

• Graves: gravel soils store the sun's heat by day and release it at night
• Médoc: Pyrenean gravel hillocks deposited by the Garonne give perfectly drained soils
• Châteauneuf-du-Pape: terraces of galets roulés that give back at night the heat stored by day
• Châteauneuf-du-Pape: rolled pebbles mixed with red clay, plus sand and sandstone soils; Grenache noir dominant

Santorini's soils are volcanic, a combination of basalt, volcanic ash, sand, pumice, andesite and various other volcanic rocks, and the vines are planted on a white layer of lava, Therean ash and pumice whose depth varies from 30 to 50 meters. This layer enriches the soil with calcium, magnesium, ferrous iron and silicium but is poor in potassium, which Wines of Greece suggests may serve to explain the especially high acidity the grapes have at ripeness. Because the soil is sandy with a very small percentage of clay, the PDO Santorini vineyard is self-rooted and was never affected by phylloxera, and its old, ungrafted, basket-trained vines sit in many cases on 300-year-old roots. The blending formula for dry PDO Santorini allows for at least 85% Assyrtiko. On Mount Etna in Sicily, the soils are sometimes pebbly and gravelly, sometimes sandy, or rather, ashes, and their volcanic composition determines the distinctive mineral flavour of Etna wines. The volcanic soils have also made the vines immune to phylloxera, so ancient vineyards are often ungrafted, and the main indigenous varieties are Nerello Mascalese, Nerello Cappuccio, Carricante and Catarratto.

• Santorini: basalt, volcanic ash, sand, pumice and andesite, on a layer 30 to 50 meters deep
• Santorini: rich in calcium, magnesium and ferrous iron but poor in potassium, which may help explain the grapes' high acidity
• Santorini: self-rooted because the soil is sandy with very little clay, so never affected by phylloxera. Etna: the volcanic soils have made the vines immune to phylloxera, so ancient vineyards are often ungrafted
• Etna: the volcanic composition of the soil determines the wines' distinctive mineral flavour

Some 400 million years ago, in the Devonian period, today's Mosel valley was covered by an ocean in which enormous quantities of sediments were deposited; when the sea floor was compressed under enormous pressure and high temperatures, the sediments metamorphosed into slate. Half of the vineyard areas are on Devonian slate along the Saar, Ruwer and Middle Mosel from Trier to Zell. Pure slate is found in shades from grey and blue to brown and red, the dark Devonian slate is prevalent, and red slate soil is found only at the beginning of the Middle Mosel near Schweich. One major feature of slate is its ability to store heat, which is particularly advantageous on cool autumn nights. The steep slate slopes above the rivers store the sun's heat during the day and release it again at night, and the vines' roots penetrate deep into the ground to seek water and minerals. Near Ürzig there is a particularity: Red Rhyolite, a stone of volcanic origin. In Catalonia, the DOQ Priorat is the territory of llicorella, the local name for the slate rock that characterises the appellation; nearly 90% of the subsoil of its villages is slate, with low organic matter and high stoniness and permeability, and the dark colour of the llicorella absorbs radiation and returns the heat to the plant. Carinyena (Carignan) and Garnatxa (Grenache) are Priorat's most important native varieties, and average yields are less than 1 kg per plant.

• Mosel: Devonian slate formed 400 million years ago covers half of the vineyard areas along the Saar, Ruwer and Middle Mosel
• Mosel: slate stores heat, particularly advantageous on cool autumn nights; red slate soil is found only near Schweich
• Mosel: steep slate slopes store the sun's heat by day and release it at night
• Priorat: llicorella is the local name for the slate rock; nearly 90% of the villages' subsoil is slate

German vineyard soils run from loose sandy subsoil to loam and loess to brittle slate or hard granite. More than 300 soils have been identified in Beaujolais: the south's soil is often clayey, sometimes chalky, while in the north, where the communal AOCs (the Beaujolais crus) are located, the soil is often sandy, half granitic in origin. Ninety percent of the Fleurie terroir is pink granite undergoing slow erosion, and Fleurie vines grow in sandy soil formed by its weathering. Inter Beaujolais links granitic soil with powerful and deeply-coloured wines from the gamay grape. In Moulin-à-Vent, the vines draw nutrients from the manganese in the pink granite soil. In the Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie is granite with three distinct terroirs, mica schist to the north, gneiss to the south and migmatite in the extreme south east, on a bedrock with a large number of fissures and fractures that allow roots to find water and other nutrients. Cornas soil is chiefly decomposed granite, giving sandy clay soils known as "gores", and the main component of the Saint-Joseph soils is granite.

• Beaujolais: the crus are in the north, where the soil is often sandy, half granitic in origin
• Fleurie: 90% pink granite; Moulin-à-Vent: vines draw nutrients from the manganese in the pink granite soil
• Côte-Rôtie: fissured bedrock of mica schist, gneiss and migmatite lets roots find water
• Cornas: decomposed granite gives sandy clay soils called gores; Saint-Joseph: mainly granite

Most of the Douro Demarcated Region, particularly along the Douro River and its tributaries, is schistose, with some granite around the edges. In the great majority of the land under vines, growers built terraces by digging down deeply and forcing the vertically-layered rock to break up, creating a soil designated aric anthrosoil. Most of the topsoil consists of clay mixed with particles of broken schistous rock that also penetrate between the vertical layers of rock; this protects the soil from water erosion, enables water to seep down to great depths to the roots of the vines, and holds the heat from the sun, which avoids wide ranges of daytime temperature and helps the grapes to mature. The soil contains little organic matter (1.5%) and is predominantly acid, with a pH (H2O) between 4.6 and 5.5.

• Douro: mostly schistose, with some granite around the edges
• Terraces were built by forcing the vertically-layered rock to break up, creating aric anthrosoil
• Broken schist lets water seep down to great depths and holds the sun's heat
• Little organic matter (1.5%) and predominantly acid soils, pH (H2O) 4.6 to 5.5

Colares, which Wines of Portugal counts among the country's most original and alternative appellations, has vineyards of the Ramisco variety planted by the sea on very loose sandy soils, in the sand dunes west of Lisbon. There the vines are planted ungrafted, on their own roots, deep into the sand, because the phylloxera bug cannot survive in sand; Ramisco produces wines with hard tannins and high acidity that, if well made, are capable of long ageing in bottle. On Santorini the soil is sandy with a very small percentage of clay, and for this reason its vineyard was never affected by phylloxera. In Barolo, the Diano Sandstones are sandy layers originating from submarine landslides, giving soils very rich in sand, less calcareous and with a low clay content, widespread in Monforte, Castiglione Falletto, Barolo and Diano d'Alba.

• Colares: Ramisco vines planted ungrafted, deep into the sand, because the phylloxera bug cannot survive in sand
• Colares: vineyards by the sea on very loose sandy soils, in the sand dunes west of Lisbon
• Santorini: sandy soil with very little clay was never affected by phylloxera
• Barolo: the Diano Sandstones give soils very rich in sand and low in clay in Monforte, Castiglione Falletto, Barolo and Diano d'Alba

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