Volcanic wines – fact or fiction?

Do wines produced from vines grown on volcanic soils have any shared characteristics? Finding a tentative answer to this question was the purpose of a tasting organised by the Institute of Masters of Wine in London last month.

The event was in two parts. First a presentation that focused on wines from four very different volcanic sites/regions – Etna, the Auvergne, Soave and Rangen de Thann in Alsace – introduced by invited speakers, as described in greater detail under these subheadings below. (This photo of Etna, courtesy of NASA/Johnson Space Flight Center/Image Science & Analysis Laboratory, was taken...