Wine list sorted by SOIL type (leave it to Randall Grahm!)

This must start some interesting conversations:

Yes, the wine world needs more pseudo-science and superstition.
It’s all for fun, right?

P Hickner

Husk in Charleston SC set their list up this way a year or so ago…
http://www.huskrestaurant.com/about/wine

That’s cool Hardy. Thanks

That looks like a GREAT restaurant. Their website is the most informative I’ve seen re ingredients and suppliers.

For better or worse, Randall is always ahead of the curve. I think its great that soils are coming to the forefront of the discussion. Kudos to Husk for doing this as well. Per the Husk list, the Santa Lucia Highlands are not primary rock. They are for the most part alluvial fans from the sedimentary rock of the Salinas Range. Just shows how difficult this can be in practice.

Husk beat them to it. A delicious low county meal to be had there.

Personally, I can’t imagine trying to select my wine for dinner based on soil type–that seems silly to me. Do I care if the wine I’m drinking came from the same type of soil as the vegetables I’m eating? Nope, a completely irrelevant consideration for me. But it’s nice to see interesting “outside-the-box” wine lists.

Bruce

For a short list like Husk, I think this is great. I am not sure how this would work for a 20 page wine list where it may be more difficult to navigate through the choices.

Neither “primary rock soil” nor “alluvial fan” were familiar terms to me, so I did a bit of reading.

The term “primary rock soil” seems to be used mostly, if not exclusively, in Austria, to describe low fertility soils composed of weathered primary rock. The best definition I could find of “primary rock” is: “Rock which has formed through crystallization from a melt or precipitation of a solution, e. g. igneous rocks, some limestones, salt deposits, etc.”

That matches well with what Husk says on its wine list: “Primary Rock is a term used to describe rocks being first formed containing crystalline and no organic remains. These soils usually warm quickly and hold heat well, they allow the vines to dig deep to find nutrients needed for growth & have the best possible drainage.”

And it matches well with the description, on Talbott’s website, of the Sleepy Hollow vineyard (the only Santa Lucia Highlands wine listed under “Primary Rock”): “Sleepy Hollow’s soils are composed of sand, gravel and granite. These soils force the vines to dig deep and pick up subsoil minerals that increase flavor complexity. They are sparse and well drained…”

Maybe Talbott should plant Riesling or Gruner at Sleepy Hollow. [cheers.gif]

Randall was at our place last night for a wine tasting for 50. He and Wes did 40 minutes on Biodynamic farming. Wes took the con position. It doesn’t get much geekyer than to hear those two debate the issue. Adjectives, adverbs and analogies were flying all over the place. Randall may have meet his match in eloquence and rhetoric.

I saw Wes’ posting about that event. Was the discussion videotaped, by chance? I would love to watch it, or even read a transcript of the discussion!

Bruce