Chalk: The golden disc for European wine

Chalk deposits in soil give some of the world’s best wines their distinctive character

Ireland, or most of it, seems to have been absent when one of the great fundamental bases for good wines was being doled out by mother Earth.

The missing element is chalk.

If you live in England, south of London, and look up, you will never fail to note that for thousands of years, the bored, the pornographically-minded or the simply horse-loving ancient artists have been drawing in chalk. White chalk outline carvings ...