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What is mineral wine?

Quite often at tastings, in wine shops, in the speech of the sommelier, in the descriptions of wines, one can find the term “mineral wine”. In addition, not only this term has become extremely popular, but also the “mineral wines” themselves.

How can a beginner, who is not versed in wines, understand what minerality is, and most importantly, how to recognize it after one sip of wine? Can we say that such wines are related to minerals and vitamins?

Which wines have minerality? And do mineral wines have the ability to age for a long time? Experienced sommeliers have identified a range of aromas and flavors that would fit this fashionable term. So, let’s take a closer look.

The term “mineral wine” is quite new, it became widespread only in the 80s. However, there is now a decline in the popularity of this characteristic of wine.

Experts perceive minerality in different ways. So, some use this term when describing aromatic properties, some – when describing the taste characteristics of wine.

Wine experts describe the minerality of wine as “the smell of wet stones”, “the smell of gunpowder”, “the taste of hot stones”, salinity, iodine content, “iron taste”, “chalk taste” and more. What do scientists think?

The myth that the taste of grapes is influenced by minerals that enter the vine from the soil has been criticized. From the point of view of science, this is impossible. This is comparable to the fact that the aroma of fruits and flowers appears in the drink, even though nothing else was added in the making of wine besides grapes.

You can do a little experiment: if the minerality of the wine comes from the nutrient minerals that come from the soil, then you can make the wine more mineral by adding a little more to it. However, this does not work.

Another version: mineral wines have a specific taste and aroma that appear as a result of the evaporation of volatile sulfur compounds.

Also, one study indicated that the minerality of the wine comes from a weak brackish succinic acid, but this has never been proven.

Considering all versions of the minerality of wines and some discrepancies in their definition, science continues to search for what exactly is the cause of minerality.

Typically, minerality is felt in white wines with less aroma, low alcohol content and high acidity. It is possible that sulfur compounds, which are formed with the help of yeast during fermentation, can act as a source of mineral tone in wine.

Mineral wines have a very subtle aroma and are more difficult to perceive, you can easily not smell it behind the aroma of fruits, berries or oak in red wines.

Again, this confirms the idea that the pronounced minerality in wines is associated with a lack of other aromas.

There is also an opinion, for which there is no scientific basis yet, that many mineral wines have a longer aging period than non-mineral wines. This is especially true for white wines. These wines are more expressive, and develop their flavor and aroma properties well when aged in bottles.

White mineral wines go well with seafood and white sea fish. Another winning combination is mineral wine with oysters.

Newbie tip: Train your receptors to learn to discern minerality. Taste and smell fruits, berries, herbs, vegetables, spices, chocolate, coffee, cocoa, dried fruits. Also inhale the scents of wet stones, moist soil, sea air. I would like to mention that there were such sommeliers who risked even licking sea pebbles, trying a piece of oak bark and so on. Try different wines and enjoy!