Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
0
10 miles
0
20 km
Paris
FRANCE
Medoc
Area of
detail
Cognac
St.-Est
ephe
Pauillac
St.-Julien
Beychevelle
Blaye
Blaye
Haut-
Medoc
Bourg
Bourg
Margaux
Bourg
Lalande de
Pomerol
I s l e
Bordeaux
Pomerol
Fronsac
^
Cotes de Francs
Libourne
St.-Emilion
Bordeaux
Bordeaux
^
Cotes de Castillon
Castillon
St.-Emilion
Graves
de Vayres
Pessac
r
`
Premieres
Cotes de
Bordeaux
^
Ste.-Foy-
Bordeaux
Leo
gnan
Léognan
Entre-Deux-Mers
^
Cotes de Bordeaux
Cerons
Loupiac
Barsac
St.-Macaire
St.-Macaire
Ste.-Croix-
du-Mont
N
Sauternes
Langon
Marmande
Map of the Bordeaux appellations (redrawn from Wilson 1998).
Figure 9.1
in dry years, the water supply from the soil is very important. Good drainage is
also important in normal to wet years.
The rocks and sedimentary deposits of the region are of Tertiary and Qua-
ternary age. There were several marine deposition phases during the Eocene
through Miocene epochs (see table B1.2.1). The most important of these deposits
in the Bordeaux region was the “starfish limestone”—Calcaire à Astéries—of
Oligocene age, which outcrops in places such as in the center of the St. Emilion
appellation (fig. 9.2). But this is primarily a region of molassic and alluvial de-
posits of the late Pliocene through to glacial and interglacial periods of the Pleis-
tocene. There are extensive fans and terraces of alluvial gravels and sands with
variable clay content, whose physical composition, elevation, and thickness largely
determine the quality of the soils for viticulture.
 
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