Food & Beverage · August 2026
Maltman is a geologist, and he was asked point-blank whether you can taste the soil in a wine. He answers that the premise fails at the chemistry: rocks have no flavour to transmit. The turns immediately after show him softening on the word minerality itself, which he says people like precisely because it gestures at a connection to the soil without committing to anything specific.
Transcript
Can you taste the soil in the wine?
Very good question. Nothing wrong with the question. Rocks are tasteless. So this idea that, yeah, I can taste the granite, well, scientifically, it's a non-starter.
So the dreaded question, the minerality.
It is such a good word, and people like it. Because people like the soil. The people like the idea of a connection with the soil. And mineralogy has got that, you know. People on the web say I'm an anti-terroirist or something, because I am not. It's this useful word that sums up everything that's relevant without being specific. I used to see phrases like, well, our wine is so good because we have terroir. He doesn't have terroir. Well, of course he has, terrorists. It's a different terroir. But this is what you used to see. We have the terroir.
Hi, everybody. This is Agnes from No Sediment, and welcome to No Sediment Wine Podcast. Today, my guest is Emeritus Professor of Geology, Alex Maltman. And around 15 years, you have been growing your own wine and making your own wine. So you really know what you're talking about. Welcome.