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Geology and Wine

Vineyard in former quarry on the Kaiserstuhl volcano (Miocene), Rhine graben, Germany	Red Willow Vineyard, Washington, USA, with the Horse Heaven Hills (Columbia River Basalts, Miocene) behind. The ridge is part of the Yakima Fold Belt. Images: Roger Suthren	Côtes du Roussillon vines growing in poor soils on Pleistocene river gravels, France.	Trellised vines around potato fields, mulched with pumice from Plinian fall deposits. Tenerife, Canary Islands.

General links on geology and wine

• The Terroir concept - Terry Wright
• Understanding the Mysteries of the Grape (Geotimes article by Larry Meinert)
  
• Terroir, Geology and Wine - A Tribute to Simon J. Haynes - papers from the 2003 GSA meeting
• The book published after this meeting: Fine Wine and Terroir - The Geoscience Perspective
  
• Terroir: The Role of Geology, Climate, and Culture in the Making of French Wines (amazon.co.uk). Interesting book, but a lot of errors in the Languedoc chapter.
• The soil component of terroir
• Soils for Sommeliers
• Wine Education site
• Jancis Robinson.com Many interesting articles - use the Search. Some are available only by subscription.

Wines from volcanoes

• Vesuvius
• Etna
• Mount Hood, Oregon
• Mount St Helens
• Santorini, Greece Wikipedia entry

Geological wines

This is just a small selection of wines and wineries with geological names.

• Cinnabar (California)
• Olivin (Austria)
• Syncline (Washington state, USA)
• Terroir des Dinosaures (Languedoc, France)
• Braided River, New Zealand

U.S.A.

• Terroirs in Sonoma County, California
• Napa Valley, California Geology & Wine
• Oregon terroirs
• Geology of Vineyards in the Willamette Valley, OR
• Willamette Valley terroirs
• Washington state wine
• Relationship of geology to wine in Washington state
• Washington grapes and vineyards
• Cadence Winery, WA

France

I regularly give a talk on Geology and Wine in Southern France to student geological societies and amateur geology and other groups. One recent talk and tasting was at a meeting of the Shropshire Geological Society. Here is a list of the wines we tasted in September 2022.

• Map of wine regions of France
• Find the Vine (French regions)
• Good land for wine: how geology can influence the quality of wine (BRGM - the French Geological Survey)
• Classification of French wines
• Terroir-France - French wine guide
• Regional wine guides
• Vins de Pays
• La Vigne et le Vin (in French). A lot of information on wine regions and grape varieties
  • Grape varieties (major and minor - in French)
    
    

Beaujolais

• Les Roches Bleues
  
  

Bordelais (Bordeaux region)

• Bordeaux regional guide
  

Bourgogne (Burgundy)

• Burgundy vineyards
  
  

Languedoc-Roussillon

• Languedoc appellations map
• Languedoc AOC Wines
• Languedoc (article by Jancis Robinson)
• Languedoc-Roussillon wine region - link to a series of articles from Decanter magazine
• St Chinian
• Corbières
• AOC Corbières
  • Vignerons de Camplong
  • Château St Estève
• Minervois
• Faugères (in French)
  • Terroir de Schistes (beware: the French word schistes translates as shales)
• Maury - sweet wines
• Roussillon wines
• Roussillon (article by Jancis Robinson)
• Côtes de Roussillon
• Rivesaltes - sweet wines
• Pays d'Oc IGP (in French - lots of facts and figures)
• The Geology of the Eastern French Pyrenees: from Mountain Belt to Foreland Basin
• Geology, scenery & culture of Languedoc-Roussillon
• Article on Languedoc-Roussillon Geology and Wine

 

Rhône Valley

• Côtes du Rhône (in French)
• Costières de Nîmes (in French - geological cross section)

U.K.

• English and Welsh Wine

South Africa

• South Africa (pdf)

Further Reading

ANGLADE, P. 1990. Larousse Wines and Vineyards of France. Ebury Press, London. A comprehensive encyclopaedia of the grapes, wines and vineyards of France, including some information on geology and soils.

FRANKEL, C. 2014. Land and Wine. The French Terroir. The University of Chicago Press. An interesting and informative tour around the main French wine regions.

POMEROL, C. (ed.). 1989. The Wines and Winelands of France. Geological Journeys. Robertson McCarta, London. Guided itineraries to the main vineyard areas, linked to the Guides Géologiques Régionaux 'red guides' published by Masson.

WILSON, J.E. 1998. Terroir. The Role of Geology, Climate and Culture in the Making of French Wines. Well illustrated and interesting account of the influence of geology on winemaking, written by a petroleum geologist. Somewhat marred by frequent geological and geographical errors in the Languedoc chapter.

SUTHREN, R.J., FOWLER, M.B. & GUION, P.D. 2006. Terroir, wine and geoscience fieldwork education in Languedoc-Roussillon, southern France. In Macqueen, R.W. and Meinert, L.D. (eds.): Fine Wine and Terroir, The Geoscience Perspective. Geoscience Canada Reprint Series 9, 233-246.

This page is maintained by Roger Suthren. Last updated 27 November, 2022 5:57 PM