Wine science
With several millennia of cultural history, wine is older than chemistry or even alchemy. It ranks among the earliest human endeavours in fermentation, together with beer and bread, and counts as a foundation of biotechnology. Cultivating grapes in different types of soil and climate, growers have produced an almost infinite variety of complex tastes and flavours – as described by the flowery language in wine reviews.
Water warning
The author, journalist Tim Smedley, has written numerous articles for leading UK newspapers such as The Guardian, The Sunday Times and the Financial Times and has also worked for the BBC. His first book Clearing the Air highlighted the global consequences of air pollution and was shortlisted for the Royal Society’s Science Book Prize. This book, Smedley’s second, received The Times’ Book of the Year award for 2023.