On 30 May 2003 01:25:36 -0700, (Control) wrote:

Not sure if this is the right place for this question. If you know of
a better place for it, please do tell me.

The Question: I assume that when a certain site is used for a long
time as a vineyard, there will be some typical changes in ground
chemistry due to leeching of deposition effects of the plants. Some
might also come from fungicide treatments, or similar. What might
these typical 'signatures' be?

Typically, if the soil has been used for a number of years for
growing of wine, there would be an elevated copper content
signature in the soil.

If I'm trying to find out if wine was
planted on a field sometime in the last 100 years or so, what would I
look for?

If planted for just a few years, maybe 100 years ago, I think there
is probably very little to find of physical evidence in the soil
chemistry that it ever happened. Without records it could be an
unknowable.

Any literature references are greatly welcome.

Re copper in vineyard soil, you might like to contact
Remi Chaussod at INRA in France.