The soils of the region are diverse ranging from sand, limestone, clay and the famous polished galet stones.  On the whole, those vines grown in sandy soils tend to be light bodied and perfumy.  These soils drain water well.  Clay soils retain water resulting in big, rich wines with lots of structure.  Limestone soils impart a great sense of minerality and acidity to its wines.  But the most fascinating soils of all are those layered by medium sized, light colored, polished stones called “galets” (see above photo).  These are remnants of the receding Alpine glacier that have been smoothed over by the Rhone over the millennia.  The galets have the beneficial property of absorbing the heat of the day and radiating it out at night, thus reducing the chances of frost at ground level during the colder winter months.  While advantageous for north facing vineyards, those facing the south often have cleared them away, the night time heat radiating from the stones risking over ripening the grapes.  The wines from these soils are deep, muscular and high in alcohol.

Vines, especially those nearly a century old, tend to be craggy and gnarled, as if transported out of a Stephen King movie.  Yet it’s these vintage vines that tend to produce the most muscular and structured wine.  These are vines that have learned how to survive through the centuries, siphoning their energies into producing the best grapes.