Just a few of the huge granite boulders

I recently wrote about “terroir”, and that one of the factors influencing the Albariño of the Salnes Valley was the soil – giving our wine a distinct minerality and steely backbone.

Risking life and limb to illustrate the point I pulled on to the hard shoulder of the local Via Rapida (which is undergoing a major upgrade to give it full motorway status) and quickly snapped a few photos of the soil and rocks.

Above you can see some of the huge number of granite boulders that have been excavated, and which no doubt have slowed the digging work considerably. Below you have a clear cross section that illustrates not only the sand soils, but also the layers of rock below the surface. The Albariño vine clearly thrives on this, and as witnessed in many wine regions of the world, has to dig deep to find nutrients.

The sand and rock typical of the Salnes Valley