THE SOIL: ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT FACTORS TO GET HIGH QUALITY WINES

When we talk about "terroir" we are referring to a group of terms involved in the winegrowing. One of them is the weather. Obviously rainfall conditions, daily hours of sunshine or average temperature in a particular area, are characteristics that set the future qualities of the grapes harvested. Another factor is, of course, the vines. If an area has lighting or thermal conditions, some varieties of vines are suitables than others to offer the best  quality wines. We can talk about other factors, on the other hand very important, as the human activity, called viticulture, but it´s not part of the "terroir". Viticulture is the group of actions that human do in the vineyard to improve the final results we´ll obtain naturally. Into the concept of "terroir", we briefly discuss one of the most forgotten, but on the other hand, one of the most important factor that set the most important parameters of the wine. This is the soil. Soil characteristics, give the wine the  aging potential. In our area of ​​winemaking (Gimileo - Rioja Alta), we have one of the most popular and sought soils worldwide to get high quality wines: the calcareous clay soil.

Soil sequence in Viña Hermosa vineyard at Bodegas SANTALBA

The profile of this soil type is very simple and consists of an initial layer of gravel with abundant clay matrix. No more than one or two meters deep, appear the weathered rock. Weathering is the effect of rock disintegration by the effect of erosion phenomena, in this case is water and which also generates a draining effect, very interesting to avoid waterlogging into the vineyard. Under this rock appears the bedrock, or intact rock. This layer, with hundreds of meters in depth, is the real key for this soil quality, because the roots of the vines do not stop here, they look for cracks in the rock and they advance drilling through the rock. As result we have slow-growing vines, with hard conditions that offer high quality grapes. We have always said that this soil type is very simple, but more complicated is to find it in union with adequate rainfall conditions, sufficient sunshine and an appropriate thermal gradient. But this is very interesting and we´ll talk about in following chapters.

BAR CODE IS USEFUL IN SANTALBA

SANTALBA team continue innovating in every way surrounding the world of Rioja quality wine, of course maintaining the traditional character that they always give to their wines.

So, thinking to close wine to younger people, SANTALBA has decided to implement in collaboration with A.E.C.O.C. (Association of Manufacturers and Distributors in Spain), a pioneer  smartphone application that reads the bar code in some wine labels, and allows to get information about the wine, the technical card, the pairing, etc...

The mobile application developed is called "eScan" and allows consumers to obtain information  capturing the bar code printed on the back label  with the smartphone. So far, the service provides information and products from other international companies like Danone, Eroski, Pepsico and Central Lechera Asturiana, besides Bodegas Santalba.

Jordi Mur, A.E.C.O.C. CEO has said that "eScan is an example of the great quality offered by the traditional bar code and its enormous potential in combination with mobile technology". He added that "this is the way to get the online communication between businesses and consumers, offering advantages to both. The enterprises hav the opportunity to communicate directly with 10 million potential consumers, while consumers can get good information, truthful  from the source wherever you are".

Laura Ijalba, head of the Finance and Marketing Department at SANTALBA has helped to implement "eScan" in her winery. She has said that "the application also offers advantages in terms of marketing, allowing consumers easy access to specials, recipes, pairings and information about SANTALBA wines".

The development of "eScan" has been made possible by a partnership between the companies SANTALBA, A.E.C.O.C. and Scanbuy, which has adapted the application called "bidi" for smartphones "enabling the reading of the traditional bar code and giving access to product information provided".

THE "GUARDAVIÑAS"

Do you know what´s a "guardaviñas" in spanish? We're not talking about a person, but a rural building. Since the late nineteenth century, farmers in La Rioja have raised a kind of huts made with stones and with many utilities in their daily work in the vineyards. It is a circular structure with vertical walls and converging at a central point by a dome. Some, the biggest, have an opening at the top of the dome in order to let out the smoke when they cooked inside.

The "guardaviñas", also called "chozos" in spanish, were used as shelter during the cold winter, shaded in the summer,  as a storehouse for winegrowing tools, and even they were an burglar alarma because if there were a "guardaviñas", could be one person inside. Normally, a tree was planted right next door, to enhance the shadow over the hut during the summer and to tie the animals while the winegrower was resting inside. The "guardaviñas" were built with the stones founded plowing in vineyards, mostly pieces of sandstone, so typical and common in this part of La Rioja.

Anyway, two weekends ago riding our mountain bikes my brother an i were surprised by a rainfall so typical in this season. Fortunately, the stronger it was raining we saw a "guardaviñas" on the vineyard next to the path and we do not hesitate to shelter inside. Then, although we had seen it so many times, we really realized that  when there were no cars, no tractors and when winegrowers spent lot of hours working in the vineyards, these "guardaviñas" offered them an important role: a rudimentary but necessary shelter to adverse situations.

Raining outside, we took our sandwiches and we ate relatively comfortable sitting on some rocks inside. The while we spent in that beautiful hut, we appreciated that the current owner had kept it so clean and well maintained. We want to congratulate to all those winegrowers who have now a "guardaviñas" in their vineyards, preserved and well maintained. After all, the "guardaviñas" or "chozos" are a symbol for Rioja wine.