The Place

Evidence suggests that Syrah grows well in all soil types but too well in rich soils. Hermitage itself is a mosaic of differing soil types. Like many varieties of wine grape, the vine needs to struggle if the fruit is to deliver complexity and finesse to the end product. In the absence of rich nutrients the roots will search further and deeper, away from the topsoil zone, encountering mineralised veins of underlying subsoil. The more the vine struggles for its toehold, the greater the chance that the ratio of fruit to canopy will be in balance, for this is a normally vigorous vine and over-cropping diminishes colour, tannin and flavonoid compounds.

Soil is substantially the product of weathered rock. With several significant exceptions, most of the island’s vineyards are separated only by thin layers of soil and clay from gargantuan sequences of Jurassic strata that range from 145 to 158 million years in age. In the case of The Hay Paddock the base is graded sandstone. During the weathering process the original rock fabric has been largely converted to clay minerals (Top left).  The uppermost levels (‘rotten rock’) are generally composed of a stiff hard soil, often criss-crossed with mineralised veins and stained with iron and manganese oxides. The topsoil tends to shrink and crack and then swell again with the change of seasons, due to its high clay content (Top right). Heavy cracking encourages deep root penetration. Vineyards may vary, but are generally highly mineralised and naturally low in pH and phosphate, with a high porosity and low permeability.