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Definitions of mineral:
In geology: solid, inorganic, naturally occurring, possess a crystal structure and fixed chemical composition. Example: feldspar, quartz, mica
In nutrition: mineral nutrients, as in “vitamins and minerals" are elements that are essential for lifeforms. Example: calcium, magnesium.
Ah, my favorite wine descriptor!
Like terroir, there is not a good definition of minerality - even surveys of consumers and experts haven't pinpointed a consistent definition. Basically no one used "minerality" until the 21st century. Even now, most food chemists don't use it.
• According to my dad: "It's a gritty feeling on the back of your tongue"
• According to a wine chef: "It's like oyster shells and rocks"
• According to the most experienced wine consumers: the perception of acidity, saltiness, astringency, or gunflint (ok, but what does gunflint taste like?)
Wine not only has aroma and taste, but also mouthfeel - descriptors like "creamy," "bitter," "jammy," and "velvety." These are sensations that are a bit more complicated than simple smell and taste. Mouthfeel is an interaction of taste with the texture and other physical and chemical properties of food and beverages. Minerality, at least according to those definitions listed above, is a mouthfeel, which could explain why it's so difficult to define.
Some places are known to consistently produce wines with minerality. The classic example is Chablis wines - Chardonnays grown in the Chablis region of France. Chablis wines have been described as “reminiscent of stones and minerals,” having a hard, sharp, gritty mouthfeel with “scything acidity,” and “important, strong, almost immortal" (what??).
Does minerality come from the soil?
This minerality sensation is often attributed to vineyard geology and soil. The word minerality sounds like it should be talking about rocks and soil, right? But the word "mineral" could refer to geology or to nutrition.
Geologic minerals such as feldspar have a strict definition and make up both rocks and soil. They generally do not have any detectable flavor or smell, and are too big to be taken up by grapevine roots anyway. I'm not saying that rocks and soil aren't important, just that they don't directly impact wine mouthfeel.
Mineral nutrients like calcium and magnesium are also in the soil and can be taken up by vines. They are essential for plant nutrition. But, these minerals nutrients generally don't contribute to wine taste. Also, the winemaking process removes a lot of mineral nutrients while adding others. Wine smell and flavor comes from a bunch of complicated chemical processes, which can differ due to variety, yeast, alcoholic fermentation, amino acid metabolism, and malolactic fermentation, ageing, and maturation. Basically, there's a lot of stuff going on, and mineral nutrients generally play just a small role.
The mystery of minerality
Something about Chablis is making wines that have minerality - if the soil isn't causing it, then what is? Researchers think it might be related to specific chemistry components like methanethiol, succinic acid, or an interaction of chemicals. But for now, we don't know.
Even though minerality is not well defined, wineries and modern wine journalism loves minerality! In 2013, Wine Spectator magazine used "minerality" more often than “oaky” and “fruity” descriptors. Personally, I think it's kind of fun that we don't know exactly what's causing minerality. It makes wine more interesting (and gives us researchers something to do!).
Conclusion
Minerality is a term that describes a wine mouthfeel (that's the usual definition at least). We don't know exactly what is causing it, but we know that some wines (like Chablis) have it. Find a wine with minerality and let me know what you think! Happy tasting!
Sources:
1. Ballester J, Mihnea M, Peyron D, Valentin D. 2013. Exploring minerality of burgundy Chardonnay wines: a sensory approach with wine experts and trained panellists. Australian Journal of Grape and Wine Research 19:140–152.
2. Baroň M, Fiala J. 2012. Chasing after Minerality, Relationship to Yeast Nutritional Stress and Succinic Acid Production. Czech J Food Sci 30:6.
3. Deneulin P, Le Fur Y, Bavaud F. 2016. Study of the polysemic term of minerality in wine: Segmentation of consumers based on their textual responses to an open-ended survey. Food Research International 90:288–297.
4. Folkenberg DM, Bredie WL, Martens M. 1999. What is mouthfeel? Sensory-rheological relationships in instant hot cocoa drinks. Journal of Sensory Studies 14:181–195.
5. Johnson H, Robinson J. 2013. The World Atlas of Wine. Octopus.
6. Maltman A. 2013. Minerality in wine: a geological perspective. Journal of Wine Research 24:169–181.
7. Morrison J. 2014. Human nose can detect 1 trillion odours. Nature News.
8. Parker AK, De CortáZar-Atauri IG, Van Leeuwen C, Chuine I. 2011. General phenological model to characterise the timing of flowering and veraison of Vitis vinifera L.: Grapevine flowering and veraison model. Australian Journal of Grape and Wine Research 17:206–216.
9. Parr WV, Maltman AJ, Easton S, Ballester J. 2018. Minerality in Wine: Towards the Reality behind the Myths. Beverages 4:77.
10. Physiology of Taste. VIVO Pathophysiology[Colorado State University]. as found on the website (http://www.vivo.colostate.edu/hbooks/pathphys/digestion/pregastric/taste.html).
11. Rodrigues H, Sáenz-Navajas M-P, Franco-Luesma E, Valentin D, Fernández-Zurbano P, Ferreira V, De La Fuente Blanco A, Ballester J. 2017. Sensory and chemical drivers of wine minerality aroma: An application to Chablis wines. Food Chemistry 230:553–562.
12. Styger G, Prior B, Bauer FF. 2011. Wine flavor and aroma. Journal of Industrial Microbiology & Biotechnology 38:1145–1159.
13. Walton S. 1998. The World Encyclopedia of Wine. Lorenz Books.
14. Wilson JR. Minerals and Rocks. Minerals and Rocks:163.
Like terroir, there is not a good definition of minerality - even surveys of consumers and experts haven't pinpointed a consistent definition. Basically no one used "minerality" until the 21st century. Even now, most food chemists don't use it.
• According to my dad: "It's a gritty feeling on the back of your tongue"
• According to a wine chef: "It's like oyster shells and rocks"
• According to the most experienced wine consumers: the perception of acidity, saltiness, astringency, or gunflint (ok, but what does gunflint taste like?)
Wine not only has aroma and taste, but also mouthfeel - descriptors like "creamy," "bitter," "jammy," and "velvety." These are sensations that are a bit more complicated than simple smell and taste. Mouthfeel is an interaction of taste with the texture and other physical and chemical properties of food and beverages. Minerality, at least according to those definitions listed above, is a mouthfeel, which could explain why it's so difficult to define.
Some places are known to consistently produce wines with minerality. The classic example is Chablis wines - Chardonnays grown in the Chablis region of France. Chablis wines have been described as “reminiscent of stones and minerals,” having a hard, sharp, gritty mouthfeel with “scything acidity,” and “important, strong, almost immortal" (what??).
Does minerality come from the soil?
This minerality sensation is often attributed to vineyard geology and soil. The word minerality sounds like it should be talking about rocks and soil, right? But the word "mineral" could refer to geology or to nutrition.
Geologic minerals such as feldspar have a strict definition and make up both rocks and soil. They generally do not have any detectable flavor or smell, and are too big to be taken up by grapevine roots anyway. I'm not saying that rocks and soil aren't important, just that they don't directly impact wine mouthfeel.
Mineral nutrients like calcium and magnesium are also in the soil and can be taken up by vines. They are essential for plant nutrition. But, these minerals nutrients generally don't contribute to wine taste. Also, the winemaking process removes a lot of mineral nutrients while adding others. Wine smell and flavor comes from a bunch of complicated chemical processes, which can differ due to variety, yeast, alcoholic fermentation, amino acid metabolism, and malolactic fermentation, ageing, and maturation. Basically, there's a lot of stuff going on, and mineral nutrients generally play just a small role.
The mystery of minerality
Something about Chablis is making wines that have minerality - if the soil isn't causing it, then what is? Researchers think it might be related to specific chemistry components like methanethiol, succinic acid, or an interaction of chemicals. But for now, we don't know.
Even though minerality is not well defined, wineries and modern wine journalism loves minerality! In 2013, Wine Spectator magazine used "minerality" more often than “oaky” and “fruity” descriptors. Personally, I think it's kind of fun that we don't know exactly what's causing minerality. It makes wine more interesting (and gives us researchers something to do!).
Conclusion
Minerality is a term that describes a wine mouthfeel (that's the usual definition at least). We don't know exactly what is causing it, but we know that some wines (like Chablis) have it. Find a wine with minerality and let me know what you think! Happy tasting!
Sources:
1. Ballester J, Mihnea M, Peyron D, Valentin D. 2013. Exploring minerality of burgundy Chardonnay wines: a sensory approach with wine experts and trained panellists. Australian Journal of Grape and Wine Research 19:140–152.
2. Baroň M, Fiala J. 2012. Chasing after Minerality, Relationship to Yeast Nutritional Stress and Succinic Acid Production. Czech J Food Sci 30:6.
3. Deneulin P, Le Fur Y, Bavaud F. 2016. Study of the polysemic term of minerality in wine: Segmentation of consumers based on their textual responses to an open-ended survey. Food Research International 90:288–297.
4. Folkenberg DM, Bredie WL, Martens M. 1999. What is mouthfeel? Sensory-rheological relationships in instant hot cocoa drinks. Journal of Sensory Studies 14:181–195.
5. Johnson H, Robinson J. 2013. The World Atlas of Wine. Octopus.
6. Maltman A. 2013. Minerality in wine: a geological perspective. Journal of Wine Research 24:169–181.
7. Morrison J. 2014. Human nose can detect 1 trillion odours. Nature News.
8. Parker AK, De CortáZar-Atauri IG, Van Leeuwen C, Chuine I. 2011. General phenological model to characterise the timing of flowering and veraison of Vitis vinifera L.: Grapevine flowering and veraison model. Australian Journal of Grape and Wine Research 17:206–216.
9. Parr WV, Maltman AJ, Easton S, Ballester J. 2018. Minerality in Wine: Towards the Reality behind the Myths. Beverages 4:77.
10. Physiology of Taste. VIVO Pathophysiology[Colorado State University]. as found on the website (http://www.vivo.colostate.edu/hbooks/pathphys/digestion/pregastric/taste.html).
11. Rodrigues H, Sáenz-Navajas M-P, Franco-Luesma E, Valentin D, Fernández-Zurbano P, Ferreira V, De La Fuente Blanco A, Ballester J. 2017. Sensory and chemical drivers of wine minerality aroma: An application to Chablis wines. Food Chemistry 230:553–562.
12. Styger G, Prior B, Bauer FF. 2011. Wine flavor and aroma. Journal of Industrial Microbiology & Biotechnology 38:1145–1159.
13. Walton S. 1998. The World Encyclopedia of Wine. Lorenz Books.
14. Wilson JR. Minerals and Rocks. Minerals and Rocks:163.