The soil of the Szekszárd wine region is usually filed under the category of loess however if you take a closer look you will find that the situation is not as simple as that. The soil of the 150 square kilometer Szekszárd Hills is mostly made up of sandy deposit and silt left by the Pannonian Sea.
The thickness of this layer varies between 100-200 meters and it emerges to the surface only in narrow ravines and deep loess roads. During the Lower Pleistocene a red clay cover was formed on this stratum with a thickness ranging from 30 to 80 centimeters however in many spots this blanket has completely eroded since then. Eventually most of the region was covered by loess – largely during the last glacial period – with a thickness ranging from 20 to 50 meters. In this loess layer one can often come across the shells of ancient sea creatures or less frequently the remains of larger mammals that lived here before the glacial period and then there are the curious limestone formations commonly called „löszbaba”. The amount of limestone which varies from one plot to the next lends wines more intense and complex aromas.
The differencies in soil are important factors in deciding which varieties to plant, i.e. in plots with higher limestone content one should expect to find white grapes mainly. In the best vineyards of the region it is common to find red clay which imparts excellent heat and water retention capacity to the soil as exemplified by the numerous great wines made from grapes grown in the Görögszó, Strázsahegy or Gurovica vineyards.