Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 1.10
The gradational
profile of a Brown Earth under
vines in the Goulburn Valley
region, Victoria, Australia. There
is a band of precipitated calcium
carbonate at depth. See color
insert.
Calcium carbonate band
where successive generations of monks identified, by trial and error, the spe-
cial character of wine made from individual parcels of land (
goût de terroir
).
Cultivars were winnowed out until the first choice was Pinot Noir in the Côte
d'Or and Riesling in the Rheingau. Gamay was found unsuitable on the soils
of the Côte d'Or and “banished” by order of Duke Philippe of Burgundy in the
late 14th century but subsequently found its natural home on the schist and
granite soils of the Beaujolais region to the south. Subsequently, Chardonnay
was planted on the hard limestone soils of the southern Côte d'Or, extending
into the Chalonnais region, and farther south to parts of the Mâconnais region
where the beautifully structured Brown Earths around the Roche de Solutré
and Roche de Vergisson produce excellent white wines (figure 1.12).
Having identified the best combinations of cultivar and soil, the winemak-
ers strove to maintain consistency in quality and character for individual labels
by blending wine from small blocks in different proportions, depending on the
vintage. Thus were laid the foundations of the concept of
terroir
, which expresses
in one word the complex interaction of soil, local climate, cultivar, and the wine-
maker's skill in determining the character or individual “personality” of a wine.
After the French Revolution of 1789, Napoleon ordered the large monastic
