o i l s t r u c t u r e
Winemakers who want to produce excellent wines highly value and carefully nurture older vines and old vineyards. The roots of old vines are deep in the ground and there they find minerals and nutrients that young vines that have roots only on the surface cannot reach. On average, the roots grow to a depth of about half a meter per year, depending on the availability of nutrients and water. Even the best winemakers give up fertilizing vineyards because they know that nutrients on the surface cause the roots to stay on the surface, which is good for quantity but not for quality.
Production of excellent wines
r a c e r o w i e
The character of the wine is shaped by several different factors, the composition of the soil being just one of them. Most of the vine is invisible to us because it is located below the surface of the earth, but it is even more important, and the roots can reach more than 15 meters in depth.
geological structure of soil
o i l f o o p r n t
So, can we determine by the taste of the wine on what soil the vine grew?
The answer is not easy, as we need to know that in Slovenia we have an exceptional diversity of different soils and geological structures. If we look only at the surroundings of Maribor, we find at least 5 different types of soil. The world-famous wine regions have much less soil diversity, or larger areas with the same soil composition, so the “soil footprint” in wine is known in advance. If we think of the famous Maribor wine hill Piramida, our view first reaches Pohorje, which is otherwise best known for its ski resorts. If you have ever skied on the slopes of Pohorje towards spring and you inadvertently slipped your ski against a rock protruding from a thin snow base, you have come into contact with the Pohorje tonalite. It is a rock of volcanic origin, as about 38 million years ago lava eruptions formed today’s hill.
geological soil structure
o l c a n i c s o l
And how is the wine made from a vine that grows on a volcanic base? Great of course! The sunny Pohorje slopes are less fertile, as the slopes were exposed to erosion after the forests were cleared. Thus we come across a thin layer of brown earth, and under it we find a brown-gray-black rock with an abundance of iron. Winemakers who do not fertilize the vineyards thus force the vine to take its roots deep into the stone cracks, where they also find enough water. Such wines are less aromatic due to the rather barren soil, but very mineral, which can be tasted as a pleasant salinity in the wine. Volcanic soil is also found in Goričko, as you might already heard of Goričko volcano and “Vulcania”?
geological soil structure
a n n o n i a S a
If we look to the left from the hill Piramida, towards Osrednje Slovenske gorice, we come across an even more geologically diverse soil composition. This part of the Podravje region was marked by the Pannonian Sea, which touched the Pohorje volcano in the area of today’s Maribor. The Pannonian Sea was shallow and full of life here, so even today in the soil in this area we find a huge number of remains of shells, coral and other marine life. In wine, marine sediments or the limestone composition of the soil emphasize the aromatic structure of the variety (especially noticeable in the Sauvignon variety) and the barely perceptible milder acidity.
geological soil structure
i r a m i d a h i l
The former flow of Drava river has been flowing under the Piramida hill for millions of years, and during a quiet run, clay sediments formed, which adhered to the marl after thousands of years. The whole thing was then once again mixed with tectonic shifts and earthquakes.
geological soil structure
i e t o f f f r n o i l s
Thus, we only superficially scratched the surface under our feet. The next time you visit a good winemaker, just ask what the soil structure of the vineyard is and how old the vines are and so roughly estimate the depth of the roots. And the answer to the question of whether, in addition to the variety in wine, we can also recognize the composition of the soil? True wine masters can do it, but only if the vine is minimally loaded, and the winemaker has the feeling that the wine shows the “terroir” or characteristics of the area. But we become masters with practice! Cheers!