Can You Taste the Earth Move?

                    Burgundy's Grand Cru hills were created by earthquakes

Some of my favorite wines from around the world are from soils that were created by cataclysmic earthquakes.  The most famous earthquake vineyards are probably those in Burgundy.  Millenniums ago a tremendous earthquake in the area created Burgundy’s Grand Cru vineyards.  The limestone of the Cote’d’Or (the “golden hill”) was forced out of the bowls of the earth by such a seismic event.

Not far from Burgundy are Alsace’s vineyards---they were also created by an earthquake.  The small wine town of Ribeauville sits almost on top of one of the main fault lines.   In fact, there are two main fault lines that criss-cross with several smaller ones in Alsace.  This may be a reason why there is a huge difference among wines that come from vineyards that are relatively close together---different soils have brought to the surface from varying fissures in the earth’s crust.

Further south in France are the earthquake vineyards of Gigondas located in Provence.  But, earthquake vineyards aren’t limited to Europe.  New Zealand was created from powerful underwater earthquakes that caused the seafloor to push up.  Located at the intersection of two of the world’s major tectonic plates, both islands of New Zealand are earthquake in origin.

Let’s not forget the American continents.  The San Andreas fault in California is responsible for the soils of the Central Coast and Napa/Sonoma.  Chile has produced some of the largest earthquakes in the world (a 9.5 in 1960 and the more recent 8.2 in 2014).  The movement of this same tectonic plate millenniums earlier created the Andes, the world’s longest chain of mountains.  Both California and Chile are known for wines created from these earthquake vineyards.

While there is no scientific evidence that fault-line vineyards directly affect the quality of the wine, there is thought that geology does play some kind of role.  For example, it is known that shifting faults lines not only juxtapose different types of bedrock in the soil, but that they affect ground water and can form valleys.  Indirectly, this can effect micro-climates which do have a profound effect on the wine.