One gram of soil

When we walk through vineyards, our eyes are drawn to the long rows of vines, the canopy and the shoots, the color of the ripened fruit, and the sky embracing the entire landscape. Yet the true soul of this scenery is not found before our eyes, but beneath our feet. In one gram of soil, more than one billion microorganisms may be living.

Azotobacter, Trichoderma, Streptomyces, Amoeba proteus, Vorticella, Heterorhabditis bacteriophora, Methanobrevibacter, Starmerella bacillaris, springtails, centipedes, and millipedes are just some of the names of families working on our behalf. Bacteria, fungi, yeasts, protozoa, nematodes, and archaea form a hidden multitude—far greater than the human population of Earth—that continuously and silently transforms matter into humus, contributing to land fertility.

This interdependent community not only decomposes organic matter but also establishes complex relationships with vine roots, facilitating access to nutrients and water. It also contributes to both the balance and resilience of different ecosystems. All of this underground activity is indirectly nourished by solar energy. It is this light that drives photosynthesis and sets vitality in motion through plants, animals, and the organisms that inhabit the soil.

One aspect that is often overlooked is the slow pace at which substrate is formed and the speed with which it can be destroyed. At Vinyes d’Olivardots, we consider that vineyard plots begin to be truly restored only after the first ten years of conscious stewardship of their terroirs.

According to some sources from the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization), it can take up to a thousand years to produce just 2 or 3 centimeters of fertile topsoil. By contrast, the degradation of this layer can occur within only a few years due to natural processes such as wind and water erosion. However, it has been observed that this degradation increases and accelerates significantly—up to a thousand times faster—as a result of human activities such as intensive agriculture, deforestation, and overgrazing.

It is important to remember that earth is a finite resource and that high erosion rates threaten biodiversity and can lead to serious hydrogeological risks. Every five seconds, an area equivalent to a football field is eroded. Global food security is at risk, making sustainable agricultural management essential for protecting the well-being of people and all other living beings.

The aim of biodynamic and regenerative agriculture is therefore to protect and foster the conditions that allow this underground web of life to thrive. Spontaneous cover crops, the reduction of unnecessary soil disturbance, harmonious coexistence with surface-dwelling animals, and biodynamic preparations all form part of our synergistic approach to working with the vines and the landscape that surrounds them.

Beyond the mineral components that make up the soil, the ceaseless activity of a sublime universe goes unnoticed as it transforms death into life, and life into nourishment for a new life that will one day return to death. This phenomenon deserves both our gratitude and our care.

It is within this world invisible to the eye, and within the accumulated memory of the land, that the story of our wines begins each day.

Bibliography

  • De Peus a Terra – Font, Francesc
  • Sensibilidad e inteligencia en el mundo vegetal – Marcuso, Stefano
  • Le sol, la terre et les champs – Bourguignon, Claude
  • La mitad oculta de la naturaleza: las raíces microbianas de la vida y la salud – Montgomery, David R. & Bikle, Anne
  • La vida secreta de los árboles – Wohlleben, Peter

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