18 Different Soil Types at Lomond
If wine is a painting, then the soils on the farm are the artist's palette.
The more diverse the palette, the more expressive the masterpieces that are created.
One can stand amongst the vines on Lomond and easily appreciate the palette from which our wines are crafted. Simply look down at the soil beneath your feet. Walk 10m in any direction, and look back down.
The 18 different soil types found on Lomond enable a diversity in wine characteristics that one would expect to only be possible when comparing one entire region to another. Here on Lomond, these variances take place within each vineyard block.
Over thousands of years, the ancient soils that cover the mountains surrounding the farm have eroded away and mixed together on the hills creating a tapestry, where the vines are planted. The rising and falling sea level over the centuries has worn away at the landscape, infusing the soils left behind with minerals and organic matter.
A complete mapping of every soil type found on the farm has been an extensive but vital project. The results of this meticulous task have been paramount in fully understanding the capabilities of our grapes.
Instead of harvesting by block, we now harvest by soil type. This ensures that the grapes arrive at the cellar at optimal ripeness. We vinify these grapes separately, therefore preserving the unique characteristics that each soil type brings to the wine.
From koffieklip to clay to sand - each produces unique qualities in the fruit and ultimately the wine. By focusing on soil, we bring the full spectrum of the farm into our winemaking.
And along the way, this farming philosophy has revealed pockets of vineyard with unbelievable quality and flavour.
