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Having spent 12 years in the wine trade, I’ve read my fair share of tasting notes but one thing I admittedly overlook and underappreciate is soil types.
Despite reading about it, I never really take on board what that actually means and translates to, when tasting the wines.
We hear the word ‘Terroir’ used a lot. It’s a key French term used to describe the combined effect that the environmental factors have on the taste of wine. In other words – soil, climate, topography (aka land surface or terrain).
Winemaking is made up of two parts: Viticulture and Vinification.
Viticulture is the agricultural side which comes first - the growing and the harvesting of grapes. This is where Terroir comes in. It makes sense that soil types are an instrumental factor.
Vinification is what happens to the grapes after they’ve been picked - the winemaking side of the process.
A particular wine producing region where soil gets a lot of focus, is Burgundy, in Central Eastern France. I’ve recently had the pleasure of meeting a fantastic winemaker from the Volnay region of Burgundy, for a tutored tasting on his 2023 Pinot Noirs. Here we’re talking about the same region, the same winemaker, the same vintage, the same climate and the same approach to winemaking. Meaning the primary difference between the wines we tasted was soil! And it wasn’t until I was halfway through the tasting that the penny dropped for me at just how much of a difference that made to the flavour and style of the wines!
Our tasting was with winemaker Etienne Chaix from Domaine Joseph Voillot – a family-run estate in Volnay. Volnay itself is renowned for producing very elegant, delicate Pinot Noirs. Domaine Voillot has parcels of vines in some of Volnay’s greatest vineyards: Les Champans, Les Caillerets and Les Fremiets. They also own vineyards in the neighbouring communes; Pommard to the North and Meursault to the South. Despite Domaine Voillot’s reputation for excellence and authenticity, what struck me most was how modest and humble Etienne was when talking about his wines and the winemaking. For him, the location and the soil – the terroir – and the care and attention paid to the vines is why the wines are of such high quality. The estate has a very minimal intervention approach, practicing organic, low-yielding vines to elevate the intensity and purity of the fruit, and all hand-harvested to ensure the highest quality fruit reaches the winery.
Two main soil types were prevalent talking points during the tasting. The first was soft limestone soil – generally found throughout Meursault whereby the Chardonnay grape is predominantly planted. The second was deep heavier clay soils – generally found throughout Pommard where richer, more masculine styles of Pinot Noir are made. Volnay, being perfectly positioned between the two equally famous wine communes, benefits from a transition of clay into limestone, creating these individual pockets of vineyards in Volnay producing very different styles of Pinot Noir.
2023 Volnay 1er Cru Les Fremiets was the most elegant of the tasting. Soft, silky, fragrant and delicate. Despite the position of the vineyard being closer to Pommard, the soil is soft, powdery limestone, aiding this elegant, fragrant style. Generally, it’s felt among many winemakers that limestone soils tend to produce a bright acidity, freshness and minerality. We could certainly testify to that when tasting this wine.
In contrast, 2023 Volnay 1er Cru Les Champans, in the middle of Volnay was richer, sumptuous and more powerful. The soil here has a higher proportion of clay compared to limestone. Clay retains water, resulting in heavier soils that also contain a lot of nitrogen which keeps the vines healthy and produces flavourful fruit.
We also tasted their ‘2023 Bourgogne Pinot Noir Vielles Vignes’ and their ‘2023 Volnay Vieilles Vignes’. Where the term ‘Vielles Vignes’ is used, it simply means old vines. For the Bourgogne Pinot Noir, the fruit comes from two plots on the outskirts of Volnay. This is Volnay in all bar name, with predominantly limestone soils and a youthful, vibrant, fresh style of Burgundy (unbelievably good value for money!). The Volnay Vielles Vignes came from 6 plots that lay in front of 1er Cru Les Champans, and have that high proportion of heavy clay soils that produces that rich, luxurious wine with higher intensity.
Overall, this was a horizontal tasting but not in the traditional manner whereby it’s the same region and vintage but different winemakers, this tasting meant we could zoom in even further to compare specific vineyards and plots, and truly see the impact that soil types have on wines.
As many wine producers will emphasise – viticulture is key!
‘A good winemaker can’t make good wine with poor quality grapes!’
But what makes ‘good soil’, and how do the many different soil types affect the flavour of the wine? Admittedly that’s probably too big a question for me to answer today.
Rachel Hart,
Regional Account Manager
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