(VinePair) - It only takes a few minutes of reading anything about wine for soil to come into play. Whether it’s a long feature on Germany’s Mosel region, or the shelf-talker at Bevmo, experts, sommeliers, and marketers love throwing in tidbits about the ground that makes their wares extra special.

Luckily, you don’t have to go licking rocks (though some sommeliers do) to understand how fancy lingo like “clay loam” and “well-drained limestone” make grape-growing possible and the resulting wine delicious.

Soil does two things for wine. It impacts how grapes absorb (or don’t absorb) nutrients, and it provides drainage for the roots of grapevines.