The Napa Valley’s Uniquely Diverse Soil Profile
By Antoine Chaya
Antoine Chaya is a longtime San Francisco Bay Area technology executive who engages with Oracle Corporation as senior director of strategic accounts. With a longstanding interest in wine, Antoine Chaya leverages his proximity to Northern California vineyards to explore grapes grown in regions such as Napa Valley. A 2014 article in the Smithsonian examined the links between earthquakes and the quality of wines produced in Napa. The valley is situated in a uniquely active transform fault zone, located between two small mountain ranges and within the San Andreas Fault. In addition, it inhabits a location where the ancient Farallon plate subducted under another plate and deposited rich soil that contains sedimentary rock, limestone, and sea floor fragments. With volcanic rock also present due to magma seeping up to the surface to fill tectonic gaps, Napa presents a unique confluence of soil types spanning more than a hundred variations. One major example of its effect on wine cultivation patterns is that the volcanic soils of the north are ideal for cabernet grapes, and the calcium rich southern soils are ideal for pinot noir.