Walls: The joy of sand

Rounded galets roulés, or pudding stones as they’re sometimes called, are the most emblematic soil of the Southern Rhône.

They’re the same size, shape – and sometimes colour – of bodybuilders’ biceps, which gives you a hint of what to expect from this powerful terroir.

There’s another type of soil however, little discussed and undervalued, that instead makes wines that emphasise finesse.

As tastes change – and the climate gets hotter – it’s time to seek out wines born of sand.

Scroll down for Matt’s choice of 11 Rhône wines from sandy soils

Rhône on Sea

Northern Rhône vineyards are largely built on an igneous rock – granite. In the Southern Rhône, various types of sedimentary bedrock are more common.

There are several types of sand here, some brought by rivers, others by wind – but the most interesting sand for viticultural purposes is that brought by the sea.

It’s incredible to imagine today, but the Mediterranean Sea marauded up the Rhône Valley not once but twice – during the Miocene era (23 to 5 million years ago) and the Pliocene (5 to 2 million years ago) – and while there, it deposited layer upon layer of sand that was gradually compressed into sandstone.

This rock is known in the local Provençal dialect as safre.

It’s a particularly compact type of sandstone. Philippe Lambert of Domaine des Pasquiers in Sablet says, ‘it’s almost harder than rock’.

Some vineyards here have slabs of it discarded around the edges, dredged out of the soil to allow the roots downward passage.

It weathers down naturally to produce a fine sandy topsoil. When the sun’s out, you could be sitting on the beach.

Where it’s found

Inconveniently for us, the sandy soils of the Southern Rhône don’t follow appellation boundaries.

Deposits can be found in varying amounts all over the region, including:

• The northeastern quarter of Châteauneuf-du-Pape around Courthézon.
• A band that skirts the western edge of the Dentelles de Montmirail passing through Séguret, Sablet and Gigondas.
• Huge deposits at the south of the Dentelles in Beaumes de Venise (Muscat loves sand) and smaller ones around Vacqueyras.
• To the north of the Dentelles, in the flatter parts of Roaix, Vaison la Romaine and Puyméras.
• At the base of the Lance massif in the far north east, around Rousset-les-Vignes, Saint-Pantaléon-les-Vignes and Valréas.
• A band that runs through the Massif d’Uchaux, Rochegude and Suze-la-Rousse.
• Important deposits are on the west bank too, in Laudun, Chusclan, Lirac and Tavel.

As such, when looking for wines grown on sand, you’ll have to search by producer rather than appellation; sometimes by individual cuvée.

Growing on sand

Sand is a poorer soil compared to, say, clay; it offers less in the way of nutrients to vines.

But one benefit – when not blocked by plates of hard safre – is that roots are free to delve down deeply.

Though water readily drains through sand, it’s not necessarily an arid terroir in dry climates.

Georges Truc, the renowned ‘oeno-geologist’, explains that water can percolate upwards by capillarity as long as there’s proximity to a water source.

‘Sand is very favourable to all varieties,’ he says, but it gives particularly interesting results with Grenache and Cinsault in red, and Grenache Blanc and Clairette in white.

Maurice Goetschy of Château Boucarut in Lirac says cultivars that prefer a more moderate heat, such as Roussanne and Viognier, can ripen very quickly on these terroirs.

Fine sand, fine wines

‘There’s a finesse you find from the sands of Lirac,’ says Edouard Guérin of Ogier.

By comparison, his says wines on nearby clay soils have sweeter, jammier fruit flavours. Truc agrees that ‘sand gives very fine tannins’.

Reds from vineyards composed of galets roulés tend to have muscular, rounded profiles.

Those from sand have lighter tannic textures reminiscent of fine, cooling sand flowing through your fingers.

Sand typically produces wines with a slightly paler colour, that are approachable young but can age well too.

They are usually less powerful and concentrated than wines from galets roulés – which can be a good or bad thing, depending on what you’re looking for.

Historically, sand has been less lauded than galets roulés, particularly in Châteauneuf.

But as more winemakers, and wine drinkers, seek elegance over strength, this is beginning to change.

That Château Rayas comes from sand is evidence enough that these soils can make the very finest wines.

Rhône wines made from sandy soils

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