Writer and environmentalist Isabelle Legeron is in France to see how cultivating a healthy soil, teeming with fungi and microbes, can enhance the flavour profile of food and drink - from cheese to coffee to wine. She explores the fundamental role soil plays in the notion of “terroir’ - the conviction that the natural environment in which plants are grown, can be experienced in the taste and texture of the food and drink made from them.
 
Isabelle speaks to a cast of soil microbiologists, land managers and taste experts - Lydia and Claude Bourguignon (France), Anne Biklé (USA), the Le Puy vineyard in Bordeaux, Barry Smith (UK), Darek Trowbridge (USA) and Hans-Peter Schmidt (Switzerland).Presenter: Isabelle Legeron
Producer: Sasha Edye-Lindner
A Cast Iron Production for BBC World Service(Photo: A vineyard)

On the Border: Maastricht

Surprising stories from unusual places. With ideas too big for a single episode, The Compass presents mini-series about the environment and politics, culture and society.