Hardscrabble Journal

Rocks

Rocks are good for vines, but not so good for growers. We’ve been doing a lot of shoveling this week. Replants. If a vine dies, it needs to be replaced. To do this requires manually digging a hole. Digging holes in rocks will wear you down. Hardscrabble Vineyard was appropriately named.

Rocks make the best wine. This is especially true in regions where it rains. In humid areas we try to restrict root growth, as vines tend to be a bit too exuberant. We can’t simply will this, but our soils can. Rocks play a critical role. Where there are rocks, there is not soil. Roots get nothing from rocks. This can be a good thing as struggling vines make the best wines. Roots also give channels for water to drain. The less water availability, the more stressed are the vines. There’s a theme here.

These are physical, restrictions that help balance vine growth in a rainy region. Mosel slate, Chateauneuf cobbles, Medoc gravel: same idea. But the marketing folks have hijacked a simple scientific fact and romanticized it. Rocks make for great photos, but really boring copy. I’ve glazed over at way too many descriptions of soil formations with strange names that one could mistake for lesser known dinosaurs.

Take home lesson: Vines and wines like rocks. Growers don’t.

• Subscribe to Linden Updates for the latest vineyard and cellar information.

Linden Vineyards / Learn More / Latest at Linden | Journal: April 14, 2020