the soils (more information)

In the beginning, there was the sea…..
During the tertiary era, we know that this region was covered by a shallow sea.
As the sea receded, it generated the appearance of sedimentary rocks, particularly "le safre", an aggregate of sandy sediment, and banks of clay and limestone.
Thus was born the roche mère, literally the "bed rock".
Then came the quaternary ice ages, followed by a warming that brought about the melting of the Alpine glaciers. The subsequent hollowing out of the sedimentary rock created the Rhône Valley.
At the same time, pebbles or quartzites were uprooted from the Alps, swept along, then rolled and rubbed until they were transformed into the smooth galets that formed a layer on top of the roche mère.
Four new ice ages succeeded one after the other, each followed by the melting down of the glaciers transformed into torrents of water, sweeping in their path elements from the Alps and carrying them to the valleys below.
There were periods of erosion and alluvial periods. For this reason, today we find alluvial terraces overhanging the Rhône at different altitudes.
This is how the 90 hectares of the Château La Nerthe domaine were formed.