Wine & vine: Vines thrive on poor soil
|
 |
|
| Old Vine | |
 |
|
| Red grapes | |
 |
|
| White Grapes | |
And a fascinating aspect of vine cultivation is that it thrives best on poor agricultural ground, where other choosier crops cannot survive.
One of the significant strengths of vine growing - viticulture - is that while the trained vine may be only a metre or so high, above ground, under the soil it's roots may stray for maybe another 30 metres or so, seeking nutrients unavailable at the upper level.
The harder the vine has to fight to get beyond infertile surface soil, the better quality and more complex the final wine should be. The older the vine, the longer the tap-root, and the finer the wine, presuming the wine-maker knows his stuff. But because older vines produce fewer grapes, the producer has to balance quality with quantity and, at a certain point, all vines have to be replaced.
On a French label, look for the phrase Vieilles Vignes, or "Old Vineyards". I've also recently tasted a top-range old vine Shiraz, from Australia's Barossa Valley.
In Germany's Mosel, the best wines come from the incredibly steep hillsides, where the schistous slate base would grow little else. Top-level rieslings have a characteristic taste reminiscent of slate, apart from the famous petrolly nose, which probably comes from the slate as well.
But, ironically, the success of top German wines has also paved the way for the naff reputation, which brands much of the country's huge output. This is because many vines - like the prolific Mueller-Thurgau cross - are now grown on arable, fertile, flatland soil with huge yields, easily harvested mechanically. The result - what the Germans themselves refer to as "zuckerwasser" - sugar-water - is dire.
The same can be said of a great deal of Tuscany's Chianti, possibly the one Italian wine which practically everybody has heard of. Because of the deserved reputation of Chianti Classico, the centre of the region, the right to use the name 'Chianti', has gradually extended far beyond the original area, so that there are now seven sub-regions.
Certainly, it is a fact that Chianti can be very variable in quality, depending, at least partly, on the soil-type on which the vines were grown. Again, the problem is that fertile soil produces huge quantities of indifferent grapes, resulting in mediocre wine. But Chianti Classico and Chianti Rufina are generally reliable, I find.
There's been a similar story in Australia's Coonawarra region, now firmly established as the home of some of the finest Oz Cabernets. The original district has very distinctive red soil - terra rossa - which, along with the climate, produces wines very much in the French style.
But because of the marketing potential of the name, growers in other adjacent districts, with quite different soil type, want the right to use the Coonawarra name, as well. There's also the fact that much of Australian wine-making involves using grapes, which may well have been trucked hundreds of miles to the winery.
So, what's in a name?
| Originally published on the Belfast Telegraph ©2004 Please note: The opinions expressed here belong exclusively to the author. |
|
Home • General Index • Contact Us • Search • News • About Us • Site Map |
