Grapevines are capable of growing on a wide range of soil types however many soil factors are critical for a vineyards success. Soils are the result of the weathering of bedrock. New York soils are geologically young and the result of the weathering of glacial material. Glaciers and there melt water produced large rivers and lakes which left deep deposists of water sorted sands and gravels which are the parent material for the soils in some of New York’s most important grape growing regions. The traditional Concord grape production region of Lake Erie is largely founded on deep gravel beaches of a large post glacial lake. Long Island is essentially a giant sand bar left behind by a retreating glacier. Three primary types of soils form the bulk of New York vineyards (Pool personal communication). The northern Finger Lakes and portions of the Hudson Valley have moderate to high limestone content, have surface pH’s in the 6.0 to 7.0 range and pH increases with depth. These soils have high water holding capacity, and so long as they have not been allowed to erode tend to have good depth of rooting. The remaining soils of the finger Lakes and Hudson Valley are acid, silty clay loams with moderate to shallow rooting depth. Many of these have suffered considerable sheet erosion. The sands and gravels of Long Island and Erie/Chautauqua tend to be very acidic (pH 4-5) and to have very low water holding capacity, however they do tend to be deep. Arnold and Roach (1971) have published studies on suitable soils for grapes in the main viticultural regions of upstate New York. Soil analysis was made with a 1km scale database. The soil suitability map presented here is a combination of other soil suitability maps. It should be noted that this map is designed to give an overall summary of soil suitability for grape cultivation and should not be interpreted in absolute terms.