convincing connection between geology and the wines of any of those regions’.
The geology of any area covers the rock types, the weathered rock and soils and the formation of the landscape. That’s it. It cannot relate any facet of these elements back to the taste of a wine. ‘Terroir’ gives many plausible examples of why vineyards close together produce wines of different flavours and it does confirm how that relates to the geology. This type of information is specific to each area because geology is so variable, meaning the information gleaned is also not directly transferable. Geology sets the scene but it cannot suggest that this wine tastes like slate or tastes of specific minerals in a way that can be related back to the rock geology. Naturally these explanations come well after each area was planted and it is doubtful if detailed ‘geological’ surveys would be of much use in a continent that had not seen vines. Better to find where the grape likes to grow by trial and error. The geologist in this case came along well after the event when the different tastes had already been worked out. What is does do is give us a better understanding and confirms why areas are different. In the new world this is still not decided and these sorts of studies may have much more use.
Wilson’s book is interesting in another way as well because it shows how rapidly wine commentary is evolving. On reflection it is now obvious that the Hugh Johnson wine atlas published in 1971 altered the way we imagine wine and this book continues the trend. The third edition of ‘Alsace its Wine Garden, Cellars and Cuisine’ by S.F. Hallgarten published in 1978 has less to say about Alsace than this book, confirming that a map tells a thousand words.
It has though left me with one query. Since aspect is so important for European vineyards why is it that the great vineyards of Burgundy and Alsace must face East but the lonely area in between, Chablis, has its best vineyards facing South West?