TERROIR, GEOLOGY AND WINE: A TRIBUTE TO SIMON J. HAYNES

Simon Haynes, Professor of economic geology at Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada, was founding editor of the acclaimed Geoscience Canada ‘Geology and Wine’ publication series. Simon published some of the first papers on terroir in North America, on wines of Ontario’s Niagara Peninsula, source of ~85% of Canada’s wines. Prior to his early death from cancer in 2002, he inspired all who knew him with his infectiously enthusiastic approach to geology, wine, and life. Author of the first two papers in the Geoscience Canada series, on the concept of terroir (1999) and the geological foundation of terroir in the Niagara Peninsula region (2000), he also edited the series’ third (Terroir, Walla Walla, Washington; L. Meinert and A. Busacca, 2000) and fourth papers (Origin and Odyssey of Terroir, by James Wilson, 2001, esteemed author of the book “Terroir: the Role of Geology, Climate and Culture in the Making of French Wines”, 1998). Ensuing published series papers cover the provenance of Okanagan Valley wines, Canada (V. Taylor et al, 2002); Terroir, Red Mountain Appellation, Washington (Meinert and Busacca, 2002); and Geology and Wine, Western Cape Province, South Africa (C. Bargmann, 2003). As a tribute to Haynes’ pioneering work, this session will focus on advances in the understanding of terroir and applications to regions of the world known to produce fine wine. Some of these advances are based upon use of the classic methods of field geology such as mapping of lithologic units and detailed stratigraphy. Others are more “high tech” with the utilization of GIS, GPS, MCICPMS, and other acronyms of modern instrumentation. Studies range from climatic overviews of entire appellations to application of the newest microsensor technology to measure grapevine by grapevine variations that can be linked to computers for real-time analysis. The proceedings of this session, along with the earlier published papers will be published in a commemorative volume by the Geological Association of Canada. For details, contact the above authors.