Faces of Terroir: From Chablis to Sablet to Solex | Lincoln Siliakus

A sense of place. With characteristic Australian naiveté, Lincoln Siliakus hopped on his 1966-model Solex in May 2009 for a slow six-week trip from Chablis to Sablet in Provence, his new home, to ask eighty vintners about terroir. He should have known that nothing is that simple in France. Wines made in exactly the same way from plots merely metres apart did taste very different, but the explanation was always the same : « c'est le terroir, Monsieur ». He was going around in circles. Worse still, all of the vintners claimed to be doing quite different things in the winery.

This book profiles those remarkable vintners ; some famous, others on the way to becoming famous, others quite happy to remain obscure. All are driven by the desire to make the best wine they can, les vins de terroir. Yes, but what does it mean ? Lincoln will answer that question in an upcoming, more detailed book, le Bonheur est dans le Nez.