Alluvial Fans

Often times, when we have visited, albeit vicariously, various wine regions to again vicariously, taste their wines, we have noted that the area sits on or is an alluvial fan. But, what's up with alluvial fans? Aren't they something we learned about in middle school/junior high school science for a single test and then thankfully forgot about these follish things? Not for people looking for places to plant grapes.

For those who have forgotten and it's entirely possible that I have misremembered from more than 50 years ago, alluvial fans are accumulations of sediments from a water source that spread out in the shape of a fan or cone. They are frequently found where there is runoff from mountains or smaller peaks and tend to be in climates that are dry for most of the year allowing the sediment to settle and remain.

Because the sediment has been placed by the movement of water, there is a complete lack of uniformity to the soil. This tends to have the effect of producing a very fertile base for grapes often consisting of mud, sand, gravel, silt, and small stones. So, as the soil on which we stand might be soft and silty, the soil on which our partner with whom we are speaking stands, perhaps a meter/barely more than 3 feet away might be firm with a gravel base. Having been deposited by water, they tend to have outstanding natural drainage.

What all this gets for the grape grower and winemaker is a tremendous diversity on which to plant vines. Within a small block of a vineyard, we can plant grapes that will have extraordinarily different characters that in the hands of an excellent winemaker can be blended to create quite unique wines.

In Napa Valley, for example, both Los Carneros, at least the eastern part of it, and Coombsville, sit primarily on alluvial fans. In Coombsville, in particular, this allows winemekers to create wines with a true melange of character much like a chef working with a full array of seasonings.

So, if you see on a bottle's back label that the grapes have been grown on an alluvial fan, expect a wine that is quite interesting, if nothing else.

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