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Land And Wine: The French TerroirStock informationGeneral Fields
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DescriptionFor centuries, France has been the world's greatest wine-producing country. Its wines are the global gold standard, prized by collectors, and its winemaking regions each offer unique tasting experiences, from the spice of Bordeaux to the berry notes of the Loire Valley. Although grape variety, climate, and the skill of the winemaker are essential in making good wine, the foundation of a wine's character is the soil in which its grapes are grown. Who could better guide us through the relationship between the French land and the wine than a geologist, someone who deeply understands the science behind the soil? Enter scientist Charles Frankel. In Land and Wine, Frankel takes readers on a tour of the French winemaking regions to illustrate how the soil, underlying bedrock, relief, and microclimate shape the personality of a wine. The book's twelve chapters each focus in depth on a different region, including the Loire Valley, Alsace, Burgundy, Champagne, Provence, the Rhone Valley, and Bordeaux, to explore the full meaning of terroir. Reviews"Who knew that the crispness of Sancerre stems from the unique succession of sedimentary strata buried in the limestone soil of the upper Loire Valley, or that a splendid Cote-de-Brouilly is a by-product of volcanism? The author is a geologist by training but an oenophile by avocation, and the combination of those interests makes Land and Wine an indispensable manual for wine connoisseurs interested in why the grapes of France taste as they do. Terroir, for Frankel, has a meaning that goes deep beneath the surface." (John Varriano, author of Wine: A Cultural History)" |