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 There
are more living organisms in a yard of healthy soil than all
the humans on earth. Soil is nature transforming through the
process of weathering the rocks and minerals on the earth's
surface. This process is different in every place, because
the rocks and minerals are not identical, and the weathering
process is anything but a straight line process. Which explains
why there are so many different soil types, even in a single
vineyard, let alone an appellation.
There are more soil types in the Russian River
Valley than all of France. This diversity is key to the appellation,
and why so many stellar wines are produced here. Some of the
familiar types of soil in the appellation are:
Yolo - well-drained silt loams to silty clay
Goldridge - sand/silt clay, quite well drained
Arbuckle - older alluvial bench
Laughlin - sandy clay loam on top of sandstone and shale
Sobrante - cobbly, clay loam
The job of soil is to provide water and nutrients
to vines. An important factor to a vine is drainage—how
well does it retain water (retention) or allow water to drain
(permeability). Too much drainage results in stunted growth,
and too little drainage gives wet feet and potentially too
much growth. Clay soils tend to hold water, while sandy soils
favor drainage.
Soils Map
of the Russian River Valley (pdf)
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