Coonawarra's reputation rests on a band of red earth barely a few hundred metres wide in places. Here is what makes terra rossa over limestone so special.
A soil with a name
Terra rossa — literally 'red earth' — is a shallow, iron-rich clay loam that sits directly over soft limestone. In Coonawarra it forms a famous cigar-shaped strip, in places only a few hundred metres wide, that growers can trace by the colour of the dirt alone.
Why Cabernet loves it
The combination is almost ideal for Cabernet Sauvignon. The free-draining red soil stresses the vines just enough, while the limestone beneath holds moisture and lets roots reach deep. The result is fruit of even ripeness, fine tannin and the cassis-and-cedar character that defines the region.
Tasting the difference
The surest way to understand terra rossa is to taste across the strip in a single day. Move from one cellar door to the next and a thread emerges through all the house styles — a structural backbone and length that the soil, more than any winemaker, provides.
