Le terroir de Muscat de Lunel

The vineyards of our cooperative, Muscat de Lunel Vignerons, are cultivated on terraces full of alluvial deposits, that have been formed at the beginning of the Quaternary about 1,5 to 3 millions years ago.

During this era and before the formation of Rhone‘s delta, Durance and Rhone, both violent rivers, deposited on the plain a lot of pebbles brought from the Alps. Those grounds are now called terraces « fluviatiles villafranchiennes » (Alpin Diluvium).

Afterwards, horizontal strata at various depth levels have been composed of very fine elements’s deposit and of crushed pebbles brought by rain waters.

Today, it results from it a granular ground with gravel and pebbles that cover at the top of terraces the largest part of the soil.

Vine roots’s cultivation is really influenced by the texture of the strata, its density and its clay contents.

This "villafranchien" area extends from 20 to 60 metres above the sea. Rain waters allow this soils to a deep implanting and supply water during all the dry season.