Summary: Clay is very familiar: in garden soils, for modelling toys, baked as bricks and tiles, pots and plates. It’s very widely used commercially: in landfill linings, drilling muds, animal housing, insulation, explosives, medicines, cosmetics, etc. etc. And yet it’s a rather mysterious substance. What is it exactly? What is it made of? Why does it behave in such unique ways?In this WSG Live I will explain the

Summary: Of all the vineyard soils of the world, a dozen or so have acquired a designation of their own. Examples are New Zealands Gimblett Gravels (with their astonishing rise to fame), the albarizas of Spains sherry district (made of tiny but crucial architectural marvels), Californias enigmatic Rutherford Dust, the cherished Kimmeridgian of Chablis, and the spectacular terra rossa of Australias Coonawarra. The names probably mean little to most people but to wine

Summary: This webinar will dig into the basics of rocks and soil, and their respective roles in defining a site’s terroir. This discussion will give you the terms, tools, and scientific foundation to discuss terroir like a pro. We will explore the different types of rocks, how they form, and in which wine regions across the globe you can expect to find them.

Summary: Minerality is now the single most widely used wine descriptor, yet its meaning remains elusive. Are we talking about a smell, a mouthfeel, a taste, or what? Does it depend on the grape varietal or wine style? It’s all very debatable, and in this webinar I will summarise studies illustrating how opinions vary.There are various suggestions on what may be prompting minerality but many commentators invoke a

Summary: In order to understand better the specificities that led not only to the present-day landscape but also to the soil and subsoil nature and diversity of the French vineyard, a travel in the past times is necessary. In order to understand all the key events that occurred during the hundreds of million years of geological history. Being aware that a lagoon, a tidal-influenced

Summary: Marc-André explores the factors that really contribute to what we call 'terroir', including the soil, the climate and the microbiology at play. In this enlightening webinar he will bust myths and explain the science that truly contributes to the wine that we taste. About Marc-André Selosse: Marc-André is a French biologist specializing in botany and mycology. He has worked on symbiosis, particularly in the areas of evolution

Summary: Terroir has often been defined as an untranslatable French concept with somewhat mystical attributes. Some wine experts view terroir as an over-hyped myth, while others consider it to be primarily responsible for the unique sensory characteristics and distinctiveness of wines. This webinar will explore how the concept of terroir has evolved

Summary: In this webinar I will address some of the intriguing questions you submitted. Varied they were, but many had a common thread: what is it about a particular soil that is so important for certain wines? I will look at some general ideas about such claims, and then consider some specific examples, such as slate in the Moselle and Priorat, granite and diorite in Beaujolais.What exactly is the difference