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VULCANIA SOAVE 2012 and more (2)
* Please read all the previous and next articles about VULCANIA SOAVE 2012, about the SOAVE and the COLLI EUGANEI regions *
VOLCANIC SOIL… BIG DEAL OR MARKETING?
Of course, being different is always linked to marketing, to a better positioning and image. Nothing bad about it, if you want consumers to buy your wines and come back again, you need to be different. In the huge mass of wines produced all over the world, you can try to be different with full respect for the cradle of your wine, what the French call ‘terroir’. The essential meaning of ‘terroir’ has been widely extended in the past decades, mostly by the trade and the press, while this originally simple principle has existed for thousands of years. From the micro meaning (soil, climate, exposition etc.) came the meso (same as before + varietal) and even macro interpretation (same as meso + mankind + tradition). This is all a question of definitions. The real terroir is thousands, even millions years old; the small scratches mankind will provoke on its surface will not affect it so tragically, surely comparing with the real evolution and weathering on the planet, the actual ‘makers’ of the terroir. On the opposite, mankind and tradition, as well as the right grapevine as good translator of the terroir potential are of course essential in the wine production, together with the real terroir. No doubt about it. I just see it as a big whole, a holistic circle with all its elements and players. In that context, volcanic soils are definitely more than a cheap and hollow marketing phrase.
Volcanic soils represent only 1% of the whole surface in the world, but with these 124 million hectares, they offer sustenance to 10% of the world’s population!
Typical Soave ‘terroir’ – © Consorzio
BIODIVERSITY AND ECOLOGY
Volcanic soils are generally fertile and healthy, reducing the need of fertilizers and pesticides. In Soave for instance, the black basalt soils are full of iron, natural sulphur, magnesium and a multitude of micro-organisms who will give the wines that typical tangy mineral saltiness. The lava soil is porous and absorbs water (1 liter water per kilo basalt!), gases and oxygen, which will be all used by the vine roots. It absorbs also the heat of the sun and releases it slowly for a better ripening of the grapes. This can be tasted in the best wines of Soave, worth to age at least 3-4 years to release their full aromatic complexity. No, surely, this is not only marketing, it is also an important item inducing more sustainability, biodiversity (fauna and flora) and ecology… At least it should.
Soave, a wine with a view… © Consorzio
Communicating about a fantastic and unique terroir, about biodiversity, environmental stabilizer, sustainability, ethically acceptable agriculture … is one thing; the use of herbicides instead of terroir-respectful hard (plough) work, like we noticed in some vineyards, was not really convincing. If Soave wants to play the biodiversity and ecologic card, they will have to play it right. Besides, how could one still speaks about ‘terroir effect’ while using industrial yeast selections? There are many ways to use indigenous yeast cultures without any hazard… making a pre-batch of the good natural yeasts and inoculate the most with it is a possibility, but one can also let the good natural yeasts from their own vineyard safely reproduced in certificate labs and of course, use certificated organic yeasts if desired. Volcanic soils can surely be a great added value to viticulture, but it has to be honestly played. If Soave wants to communicate on the rightly terroir story, it must be a convincing story from A to Z. It must be a vision, a statement… indeed much more than marketing. I strongly believe in that story, but not yet about the way some producers seem to interpret it.
* Please read all the previous and next articles about VULCANIA SOAVE 2012, about the SOAVE and the COLLI EUGANEI regions *
