Minerality??

I found the link to this interesting article posted on another website. http://www.enologyinternational.com/articles/Minerality_reprint.pdf

Great read Howie...more, more!

[Robin Garr]

Fascinating article, Howie. I enjoyed a quick skim ... not enough time in the work day for me to read it slow.

I really do think he spends an awful lot of his thousands of words pointing out that many people think minerals come up from the soil and manifest themselves as aromas/flavors in the grapes/wine, then observing that science shows that this is not true. Well, yeah! No news there. But I do agree with his conclusion:

Minerality probably does not
describe a specific sensation but a
class or category of sensations found
in wines with high acidity and low
fruit expression; although the fruit-scented
German Rieslings are an
exception to that rule. Because it has
become associated with high quality,
we tend to look for it.

I was delighted to see his reference to petrichor. I think that's the first time I've seen or heard the term since I wrote about it in an E-letter maybe a decade ago, after I ran across it in an etymology (not wine!) journal.

I cannot figure why this discussion/argument persists. Most understand that the taste of blueberries does not mean the grapevine roots took up blueberries. Why can't most understand that "minerality" is a descriptor?

I cannot figure why this discussion/argument persists. Most understand that the taste of blueberries does not mean the grapevine roots took up blueberries. Why can't most understand that "minerality" is a descriptor?

I'm 100% with you, Thomas.

I find "minerality" a useful descriptor and even more useful if one can narrow down the mineral, e.g. flint, clay....., just like "cherry", "mango"......with "fruit".

This articles contains a lot of words but nothing new.

I will try and look out some TNs which pre-date the widespread use of "minerality" to see how the writers coped.

Shouldn’t the descriptor itself be a “significant term” (one with a particular meaning indicative of something the majority of us could relate to)?

Salute

I find "minerality" a useful and easily understandable term in the same way as "fruit". It's easier to be more specific with fruit, "cherry", "strawberry", "lemon"......,than with minerals, "flint", "clay"...., because of greater everyday familiarity. Nevertheless I get amusement from noting the wide differences in specific fruit analogies found by different tasters of the same wine .