The Wine Pair Podcast

Minisode #16: What is minerality in wine, and why is it controversial?

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Is there such a thing as minerality in wine? Our taste buds tell us yes, but the science tells a different story. Is it a myth? Have the wine nerds and snobs brainwashed us to believe that minerality is a real thing? Is that really rock or seashell or gasoline or gunsmoke we are tasting in wine, or is it a bunch of hooey? In this minisode, we attempt to break down the facts and separate the evidence from the pseudoscience. But can we deny what our own palates tell us? Or have we fallen victim to a catfishing scheme against our own senses? The truth is out there - if we can face it. 

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Show Notes 

Minisode #16: What is minerality in wine, and why is it controversial?

00:00

Hi everyone, and welcome to this special mini-episode of The Wine Pair Podcast! I’m Joe, your sommelier of reasonably priced wine, and this is my wife and my wine pairing partner in crime Carmela. And we are The Wine Pair.

If you are new to The Wine Pair Podcast, these minisodes are just shorter versions of the regular podcast that we put on weeks where we might be traveling or handling other life stuff, and instead of tasting and reviewing two to three wines under $25 that are easy to find, which is what we usually do in our longer episodes, in these minisodes, we focus more on things like wine etiquette, wine education, and wine tips. And, we try to make it fun and understandable to regular, everyday people like us! We are proud to say our podcast is recommended by Decanter magazine. Which is pretty fun.

So, for this minisode, we are going to tackle the controversial topic of minerality in wine. Now, for many of you this may not be a controversial topic, but let’s just say, Carmela, in the world of wine nerds, minerality is grounds for a fight!

But before we get to the controversy, we have to start a little bit further back with just what the fuck minerality is in the first place. Minerality refers to aromas, flavors, and textures of wine in the mouth. We often talk about minerality in more plain and understandable terms, like the wine is salty, or tastes like licking a rock, or has some gunpowder on it, or tastes a little chalky. Some other words you might hear are wine-nerd or wine snob words like earthy, stone, flinty, and graphite or pencil lead or pencil shavings, petroleum or gasoline, metallic, gravelly, and oily. Some of these sound bad, but are actually mostly positive when related to wine.

There are many more, and you can find them in the show notes for this minisode, but the interesting thing is that the range of descriptors within the concept of minerality is very wide. Which is one of the reasons why the term is controversial, because the description or experience is considered very subjective and it is not well or not strictly defined. For instance, sometimes it is described as more of a textural thing, like dense or smooth or gritty or chalky or oily, while others describe it as more taste-oriented, like rock or pencil lead or gasoline. And sometimes both.

So, now that we are heading there, let’s really get into the controversial part. Many people consider the tastes, aromas, and sensations of minerality to be highly related to terroir, which again is a fancy way of saying “the place,” For instance, if the wine is grown in volcanic soils like we talked about with Greco di Tufo, or if the wine is grown in clay soils.

But here is really the interesting thing - there is no scientific evidence to support a direct transfer of geological minerals to wine. In other words, although people talk about these tastes and sensations, scientists have not found that the soil a grape is in matters to its taste from a minerality standpoint. Isn’t that interesting!

Minerality is also a relatively new wine term, with some sources saying that it really only gained traction in the 1980s, and that while it is used quite often today as a descriptor, there is no single agreed upon definition. It is so controversial, in fact, that some have called minerality in wine a myth. Perhaps a myth-conception. Ha ha.

So, what does the science actually say? 07:03

  • Scientists are clear that vines do not directly absorb geological minerals from soil or rocks through their roots. ("The science is quite clear that the vine is not literally picking up minerals from the soil and transferring them into the wine.”)
  • Instead, vines absorb dissolved chemical elements from the soil, which primarily come from organic matter and include essential nutrients like nitrogen, potassium, calcium, and iron. There is research that suggests that minerality is tied to high acidity and sulfur dioxide levels in wine. ("The vines roots do not take up blue slate or limestone they take up stuff like magnesium potassium copper or iron.")
  • These nutrient minerals, while necessary for the vine, do not have a direct taste or aroma and are present in such small concentrations in the finished wine (far less than 1%) that they are unlikely to directly impart flavor.( "In any case the minerals found in wine are below the threshold of sensory perception.")
  • Despite the lack of direct mineral transfer, many people perceive what they describe as mineral flavors, such as “wet stone” or “flint” and textural sensations like chalkiness or slate. I know we do when we taste wine. And this is a key point of contention, because the experience of whatever minerality actually is does exist, and least for some tasters, including us: “this does not mean that experiences that tasters may have and describe as minerality do not exist”.


So, generally, the scientific community says minerality has very little or nothing to do with the vines or the soil, but there may be things in the wine making process that may impact the sensations described as minerality. For instance, wines that have less exposure to oxygen are more likely to be considered mineral - that means using closed top stainless steel tanks and minimizing racking and stirring. Also, wines that are less fruity and have higher levels of acid are said to have more minerality. Which is why many times white wines will give these tastes and sensations, since they are often fermented and stored in stainless steel. 

Ultimately, the scientific community tends to view minerality as a term without a scientific basis, but wine lovers do experience something in the wine that they use specific terms tied to minerality as descriptors. 

And wine nerds will say that the terroir matters a lot when it comes to wine, and they use the term a lot - when referring to things like like the soil composition and how much water stress the grapevines get (remember, wine grapes like water stress), and rockier and chalkier soil are said to cause more stress, which means they may impact the sensation of minerality, even if it’s not about the rocks themselves getting into the vine.

Finally, there are some varietals that are more associated with minerality, especially white wine varieties, which makes sense because they are usually higher acid, and include wines like Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Gris, and Chardonnay (especially from Chablis), and red wines like Syrah and Pinot Noir. There are also wine regions that are well known for having wines with minerality like 

  • Chablis (France): Limestone soils, flinty, chalky. (unoaked Chardonnay)
  • Sancerre (France): Limestone and flint soils, wet stone, gunflint. (Sauvignon Blanc)
  • Priorat (Spain): Schist and slate, rocky, earthy. (Priorat - Grenache)
  • Mosel (Germany): Slate soils, stony, petrol-like. (German Rieslings)
  • Santorini (Greece): Volcanic soils, volcanic, earthy. (Assyrtiko)
  • Chianti Classico (Italy): Limestone and clay soils, earthy, dusty. (Sangiovese)
  • Muscadet (France): Granite and gneiss soils, crushed rocks, sea spray. (Melon de Bourgone)


And, it is not a surprise to me to find that many of the wines Carmela and I really like are high mineral wines!

So, here’s the thing. Minerality is a broad term that wine nerds like to use, and so you should know it, and know some of the tell-tale vocabulary, like slate and gunsmoke and graphite, and flint, and oyster shell, but what is most important is that you start to see if you can taste, smell, and feel some of these sensations in wines that you drink. For me, and this is really nerdy, one of the reasons I think I started to really like white wines is that, when they are good, they have some of this interesting mineral complexity to them that makes them fun to taste, and also why I tend not to like oaky Chardonnays. Your chemist and botanist friends will tell  you that there is really no such thing as minerality, but the wine tasting purists in your life will like that you can nerd out with them about these esoteric flavors, smells, and sensations.

And that’s the story. If you want to see the sources for our content today and get the links to learn more, come to our website, look for this minisode, and open up the show notes. 

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