Taste the Limestone, Smell the Slate

A geologist wanders through the world of wine

By: Professor Alex Maltman

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Hardcover | 30 April 2025

At a Glance

Hardcover
304 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
25.2 x 19.7 x 2.7

Hardcover

$75.75

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"Rocks and soils haunt our thinking about wine. We see links, sniff origins, taste connections, digest differences. Is this cause and effect -- or fantasy? Alex Maltman is ghostbuster-in-chief. This wide-ranging and clearly reasoned book shines a torch through the cobwebs." â" Andrew Jefford
Burgundy thrives on the limestone remnants of a warm, shallow sea while Sancerre and Pouilly wrap their roots around flint. The finest Pomerols bloom in a âbuttonâ of blue clay, and Beaujolais famously begins life in granite. Cabernet Sauvignon loves just about any sandstone and Champagne gets on gloriously with chalk. But is the secret to great port really schist? Alex Maltman, Emeritus Professor of earth sciences at Aberystwyth University, finds himself between a rock and a vineyard place as he explains how a wineâs flavours relate to the geology at foot, and discovers that there is more to âmineralityâ than mud, rocks and the earthâs stark materials...

Terroir is as intrinsic to the quality of a wine as the grapes it comes from or the intentions of the wine maker. This beautifully produced and illustrated book looks at the many factors that influence, or don''t, how a wine tastes. Professor Maltman poses lots of questions and answers, while busting some myths along the way.

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