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Soil reaction is the amount of acids (acidity) or bases (alkalinity) present in a soil and is indicated by a term called “pH”. By definition, pH is the logarithm of the reciprocal of the hydrogen ion (H+) concentration, or When a number has a smaller superscript number with it, the number is raised to that power which is called the “logarithm.” Raising a number to a power means multiplying that number by itself the number of times indicated by the superscript. . . . Examples: 102 means 10 x 10 = 100; 103 means 10 x 10 x 10 = 1,000. The logarithm (log) is 2 for the first example and 3 for the second. . . . Logarithms are used as these are more convenient in expressing the amount of hydrogen ions present. Under neutral solutions the pH is 7.0. Any pH that is less than 7 is acid and any pH above is alkaline. When changing from a pH of 7 to a pH of 6, the H ion concentration increases ten times, and when going from a pH of 7 to a pH of 5, the H ion concentration increases 100 times because pH uses a geometric scale and not an arithmetic scale. Thus, pH changes by steps of ten times the next adjacent number. The logarithmic scale used for pH is the same type, but opposite in direction, as that used to measure earthquakes. For each larger number of earthquake, the severity increases ten times; for each smaller number of pH, the acidity increases ten times. Some plants can tolerate very low pH (4.5) and others can withstand a pH of 8.3, but the optimum range for growth of most plants and microbes is between 6 and 7. Availability of most nutrients is affected by pH changes. Charts have been constructed to show this relationship. On these charts the pH at which most nutrients are readily available is from 6 to 7. At extremes of pH, availability of nutrients to plants often is reduced considerably.

As outlined in chapter 1, “determining the site” in old established wine regions such as Burgundy, Tuscany, and the Rheingau has been achieved through centuries of acquired knowledge of the interaction between climate, soil, and grape variety. Commonly, vines were planted on the shallow soils of steep slopes, leaving the more productive lower terraces and flood plains for the cultivation of cereal crops and other food staples, as shown, for example, by the vineyards along the Rhine River in Germany. The small vineyard blocks of the Rhine River, the Côte d’Or, Valais and Vaud regions of Switzerland allowed winegrowers to dif­ferentiate sites on the basis of the most favorable combination of local climate and soil, which underpinned the concept of terroir. In much of the New World, by contrast, where agricultural land was abundant and population pressure less, vineyards have been established on the better soils of the plains and river valleys, as exemplified by such regions as the Central Valley of California, the Riverina in New South Wales, Australia, and Marlborough in New Zealand. Apart from the availability of land, the overriding factor governing site selection was climate and the suitability of particular varieties to the prevailing regional climate. In such regions, although soil variability undoubtedly occurred, plantings of a single variety were made on large areas and vineyard blocks managed as one unit. Soil type and soil variability were largely ignored. Notwithstanding this approach to viticulture in New World countries, in recent time winegrowers aiming at the premium end of the market have become more focused on matching grape varieties to soil and climate and adopting winemaking techniques to attain specific outcomes for their products. For established vineyards, one obvious result of this change is the appearance of “single vineyard” wines that are promoted as expressing the sense of place or terroir. Another reflection of this attitudinal change is the application of precision viticulture (see “Managing Natural Soil Variability in a Vineyard,” chapter 6), whereby vineyard management and harvesting are tailored to the variable expression of soil and local climate in the yield and sensory characteristics of the fruit and wine.