When it comes to growing crops, vegetables or fruits, we're always told the same thing: Make sure there's plenty of water, rich nutrients and fertile soil, otherwise nothing will grow! While this is true for 99% of agriculture out there, the same is not so for our beloved wine grapes.

In fact, what if I told you that some of the best wine in the world is produced from some of the poorest quality soil imaginable? Well, it's true.

Let's backtrack several centuries to a time when wine wasn't so readily available at our local grocery stores, to a time when religion was at the epicenter of civilization and the rich/poor divide was even greater than it is today.

Some of the earliest winemaking cultures were in Italy, Portugal and Greece, which is where our story takes us. In villages in these places, each family had a duty, and one of the most demeaning of which was to produce wine. See, no one really cared about the taste back then. Wine was produced as a sacrament to the church, with anything left over sold to local residents at a cheap price. Its purpose was simple: to be a healthy drink that provided calories and warmed the body.

So while rich families took all of the plush, fertilized land close to the rivers and streams, the winemakers were left with the hills, the chalky mountains and the barren land where nothing was ever expected to grow. But boy oh boy did the wine grapes do just that.

You see if you plant vines next to a river or a stream in nutritious soil, they develop what I call 'lazy grape syndrome'. They soak up all the water to grow their leaves and shoots to look the part, and although the grapes look plump, juicy and delicious, the real truth is they're just oversaturated with water! Have you ever opened a bottle of wine and it feels watered down, you're not getting too much aroma or taste? Well, that's probably because the grapes were too spoilt.

So why does poor soil create some of the best wine?

Instead of putting their focus into vibrant leaves and shoots, they push their roots deep into the ground in search for more nutrients and water. The rest of their energy goes straight into the grapes.

Here's where things get a little more technical. Photosynthesis from the sun creates a chemical called 'sucrose', which the hormones in the vines then convert into sugars. These sugars are then sent to the berries (which will later become grapes) and hydrolyzed into glucose and fructose. The more fructose and glucose in the berries, the more flavor and aroma producing compounds are created, making for a tastier wine. In simple terms, heavy sucrose (sugar) levels alongside minimal water concentration from a harsh environment allow the grapes to become full of life and body, thus making some mighty tasty vino juice.

When planted in poor quality soil, all a vine wants to do is escape from that soil environment, and that's why it spends so much focus and energy on its berries. The sweeter the grape, the more chance a bird will come along, eat it, and poop out seeds where the soil quality is much richer. So grapes basically sacrifice themselves for the greater good of their survival. Pretty thoughtful, huh?

So there you have it. Now you know why crappy soil produces some of the planet's best wine.