Last week, I officially started by WSET Diploma adventure. The first unit is Viticulture, the study of grape cultivation.
Things are about to get sciency.
I was never much of a geology student. Sure, I took Geology in college. But only because a lab science was required for graduation — and biology, chemistry, and physics seemed like excellent and terrifying ways to tank my GPA. It was a three-hour night class, and the only thing I can remember is gaining an exhaustive appreciation for exactly how long three hours can be.
Now that I’ve figured out geology is tethered to wine, I’m a lot more interested. For the past couple of days, I’ve been trying to mentally sort out the various types of vineyard soils (and there are a great big pile of them). In the process of my soil sorting, I came across this very educational and amusing post from Gargantuan Wine: Wine Geology 101.
Limestone is a sedimentary rock made from the skeletal remains of marine organisms.
Limestone soils support the vineyards of many of the world’s greatest wine regions — Champagne, Loire, Burgundy, Piedmont, and the Limestone Coast of Australia to name a few biggies.
Gargantuan’s description of limestone is on point (and just the levity I needed):
Salud!
