Soil Type Glossary

More than just dirt.

Glossary:

• Albarese
• Albariza
• Alluvial soils
• Alluvial fans
• Altitude (IVDP)
• Arenas
• Barros
• Basalt (red)
• Bedrock (IVDP)
• Boulbenes
• Calcareous-clay
• Chalk
  
  • Belemnite Chalk
  • Micraster Chalk
  • White Cliffs of Dover
• Clay
• Combes
• Crasse de Fer
• Exposure (IVDP)
• Fossils
• Friable
• Galestro
• Gneiss
  • Gföhler
• Granite
  • Igneous granite
• Gravel
  • Alluvial gravel
• Grés de Vosges
• Igneous
• Iron-Pan
• Limestone
  • Calcium-based limestone
  • Portlandien
  • Argillaceous
  • Limestone-clay
• Location (IVDP)
• Loam
• Loess
• Marl (e.g. Kimmeridgian)
• Metamorphic
• Monts de Beaujolais
• Poor soils (low-nutrients, ebbs vine vigor)
• Porous
• Rough matter (IVDP)
• Saline (elevated content)
• Sand
  • Alluvial sand
• Sandstone
  • Pink
  • Red
• Schist
• Shelter (IVDP)
• Silt
• Slate
  • Blue Devonian Slate
  • Red Slate
• Slopes
  • Low-mountains
  • Slope (IVDP)
• Soil-stress
• Strata
• Subsoil
• Terra Rossa
• Terraces
• Tuffeau
• Volcanic soils (well-drained)
• Volcanic Tufa

Famous Soil Types, around the world:

• Alsace
  • Mixed: granite, limestone, schist, clay, gravel, chalk, loess, pink sandstone (Grés de Vosges)
• Australia
  • High-saline
• Hunter Valley
  • Alluvial, sandy
• Yarra Valley
  • Grey-brown sandy loam, red basalt
• Coonawarra
  • Terra Rossa
• Riverland
  • High soil salinity
• Hawkes Bay
  • Greywacke gravel, heavy silt, sandy loam
• Gimblett Gravels
  • Deep shingle soils
• Marlborough
  • Sandy, alluvial loam topsoil over gravel (good drainage and vine vigor)
• Grande Champagne, Petite Champagne
  • Soft chalk (good for Cognac). Outlying areas have hard limestone, sand and clay.
• Merlot
  • Clay-based soils preferred, delaying natural vigor.
• Cabernet Franc
  • Enjoys limestone-based soils.
• Cabernet Sauvignon
  • Enjoys gravel soils
• Bas-Médoc
  • Clay-heavy soils.
• Haut-Médoc
  • Gravelly soils.
• Pauillac
  • Deepest gravel soil of the Haut-Médoc
• Margaux
  • Diverse soil, including more clay.
• Graves
  • Similar to Médoc, more sandy toward the south.
  • Sand, gravel and light clay is called “boulbenes“.
• Saint-Émilion
  • Côtes: steep limestone slopes
  • Graves: gravelly limestone plateau, similar to the Médoc
• Pomerol
  • Sand, clay and gravel. Iron-pan subsoil and rich clay (crasse de fer).
  • Merlot loves the clay-based soils.
  • At Château Petrus, the subsoil clay rises close to the surface.
• Chablis
  • Kimmeridgian marl. Limestone/clay mixture, laced with oyster fossils.
  • Portlandien limestone (younger rock strata)
• Côte d’Or
  • Limestone and clay combo.
    • Argillaceous limestone (higher limestone content)
    • Marl or Calcareous-clay (lower limestone)
    • Grand crus: soils are deeper and more nutrient rich, and well-drained.
    • Combes – dry, transverse valleys. Conduits for cool breezes and hailstorms.
      • Alluvial fans at the mouths of the combes.
  • Beaune: less limestone, more marl.
  • Côte Chalonnaise
    • Similar to Beaune, with weathered limestone and clay.
  • Mâconnais
    • Limestone-clay
  • Beaujolais, north
    • Granite
    • Monts de Beaujolais (craggy hillsides)
  • Beaujolais, south
    • limestone-clay, similar to Mâconnais
  • Tuscany
    • Chianti Classico 1: soft, friable marl-like galestro.
    • Chianti Classico 2: sandstone albarese.
  • Sangiovese
    • Loves the galestro soils.
  • Montalcino: galestro in high-altitude sites.
  • Lago di Corbara DOCG
    • Tuffeau soils
  • Falerno del Massico DOC
    • Volcanic tufa, of lower mountain slopes
  • Basilicata, Mount Vulture
    • Volcanic soils
  • Mount Etna
    • Volcanic soils, well-drained
  • Vermentino di Gallura DOCG, Sardinia
    • Poor, rocky, granitic soil (halts the vigor of Vermentino)
  • Champagne
    • Chalk subsoil, Limestone subsoil
    • Porous, belemnite chalk subsoil, absorbs heat. Derived from fossilized cephalopods. High limestone content.
    • Micrasater chalk, from extinct sea urchin.
    • Aube: clay is dominant
  • England
    • White Cliffs of Dover, chalk subsoil
• Coffee: Guatemala
  • Volcanic soils, hillside terraces, in Antigua and Cobán
• Madeira
  • Fertile volcanic soils
• Jerez
  • Albariza: chalky, porous, limestone-rich, friable, water-retentive
  • Barros: clay, in low-lying valleys
  • Arenas: sandy. Also found in Chipiona.
• Germany
  • Poor soils > serious wines
  • South-facing slopes
  • Soil stress
• Bernkastel
  • Blue Devonian Slate
• Pfalz
  • Red sandstone, calcium-based limestone, loess, red slate, basalt, igneous granite, alluvial gravel
• Austria
  • Loess
  • Gföhler (gneiss)
  • Alluvial sand