Picture the coastline at Dover. Can you see it before you? That huge white chalk mass rising from the sea is a silent witness from times gone by. Times when dinosaurs dominated the world and global temperatures were much higher than they are today. With a high sea level, eventually flooding whole parts of today's Europe with salt water. TEXT HUIB EDIXHOVEN
These shallow warm seas have been home to endless generations of marine animals for many millions of years. From tiny single-celled creatures to voracious monsters seventeen metres long. Two things these sea dwellers had in common: at some point they died, and when they died, they sank to the seabed where only their skeleton(s) remained. In the vast span of time these ancient seas existed, the thick chalk layer that is so brilliantly visible today along the southern English coast was thus formed. But WINELIFE is not a monthly magazine for the curious geologist or palaeontologist. So why dwell on this particular phenomenon here? Because WINELIFE is a magazine for the curious wine lover! And in many vineyards, this soil, which was so unusually formed at the time, leaves its mark on the living conditions of the grape. With this, the Cretaceous, as this prehistoric period is very appropriately called, directly affects the wine in our glass. Let us see how and where this phenomenon affects our wine.
Paris basin
When we talk about the Cretaceous, we are talking about the period from about 145 million to 66 million years ago. At that time, the place where present-day Paris is located was the centre of a relatively low area called the Paris Basin. In this shallow sea, which covered practically all of northern France, gigantic chalk layers, sometimes more than three hundred metres thick, formed in the above manner. Even parts of the south of the Netherlands belong to this primordial sea. Just think of the marl quarries in Limburg, which are actually also composed of chalk or limestone. In the remaining 65 million years after the Cretaceous, the sea level drops and new layers of rock deposit on the thick chalk layer. But because relatively speaking - besides the 4,500-million-year-old earth - it is still a recent time, the chalk layer is rarely very deep. The most famous example of a wine region that lies on top of it is Champagne. The best way to witness the huge chalk package here is to visit the cellars of champagne houses. These are ancient quarries dating back to Roman times. Entire cities like Reims were built from the limestone. Underground spaces, sometimes the size of cathedrals, are used today to store champagne.
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