What is terroir

In a nutshell, terroir is the phenomenon when climate, soil, grape variety, rootstock and cultural practices converge in harmony, influencing the vine to exude the full phenotype, and the extraordinary wines resulting from such sense of place are an expression of terroir.

The Quatro Terras four hectares property is composed of four contiguous plots of land with a thermal sum of efficacy of ~2000 degree-days ‘C’ emulating Bordeaux and Napa Valley climates.

The land is divided in the middle by an east-west seasonal creek, separating two opposite slopes. One the north side with a narrow meadow strip along a seasonal creek forming a land saddle and the other two on the south side fully separated by a chestnut grove

The north half of the property includes a 20% south slope consisting of marl, with ~15% weathering shale pebbles, ~10% calcic tufa and 10-15cm thick blue clay layers in the C horizon.

The antibacterial blue clay, dating back to the Triassic period (Over 200 million years ago), contains chemically reduced Fe2+ iron, as opposed to the oxidizing Fe3 form, which provides the familiar red color associated with soil. - Additionally, the doughy blue clay that remains moist underground through summer, accumulates concentrations of different minerals deposited from the upper soil, that would otherwise, permeate below the root zone and be lost by gravity.

The south half includes two ~12% Northwest sloping parcels, separated by a chestnut grove. - The soils are acidic light beige quartzite loess, interleaved with potassium rich ~5 to 10mm Illite clay layers that turn greenish-charcoal when wet.

The calcareous north half is planted with Merlot and Cabernet Franc, while the acidic south parcels are planted with Cabernet Sauvignon and Roussanne, aiming to produce four distinct wines, - three reds and one white.