Minerality in Wine: Fact, Fun or Fiction?

[Jenise]

Ian wrote,
What other words might be used as descriptors for mineral?

Besides those mentioned by Graham (“sour” and “bitter”) and Neil (“salty”) one can use “sweet”, or “savory”. I guess minerals dissolved in water and depending upon their concentration can contribute to all the “basic human taste sensations”.

Salute

A mineral taste I've run into--and not often, only when I'm very very lucky --is 'iron' which sometimes reminds me of the taste an iron skillet imparts to meat, and at other times which I might express as 'red dirt' as I can be reminded of the smell of red dirt stirred up by dust storms or pushed in front of a rain system headed my way. Well aged Ridge Monte Bellos often have that character. Somewhat related and also rare for me to run into but something I've run into more than once is 'clay', which is not playdough but more like 'terra cotta clay tile'--a term I remember using for a British Columbian Marechal Foch that tasted of that in a good way.

Btw, welcome back, Graham! It's good to see you again.

[Jenise]

I forgot to mention 'vitamin'. It's something I run into in two ways, 1) the chewable type of multi-vitamin I was given as a child, and 2) more of a straight Vitamin B6 thing. Neither comes up real often, but often enough to not be rare or unique.

Ian wrote,
What other words might be used as descriptors for mineral?

Besides those mentioned by Graham (“sour” and “bitter”) and Neil (“salty”) one can use “sweet”, or “savory”. I guess minerals dissolved in water and depending upon their concentration can contribute to all the “basic human taste sensations”.

Salute

A mineral taste I've run into--and not often, only when I'm very very lucky --is 'iron' which sometimes reminds me of the taste an iron skillet imparts to meat, and at other times which I might express as 'red dirt' as I can be reminded of the smell of red dirt stirred up by dust storms or pushed in front of a rain system headed my way. Well aged Ridge Monte Bellos often have that character. Somewhat related and also rare for me to run into but something I've run into more than once is 'clay', which is not playdough but more like 'terra cotta clay tile'--a term I remember using for a British Columbian Marechal Foch that tasted of that in a good way.

Btw, welcome back, Graham! It's good to see you again.

Hi its nice to be back. I see some of the old names here still active.

A mineral taste I've run into--and not often, only when I'm very very lucky --is 'iron' which sometimes reminds me of the taste an iron skillet imparts to meat,

Good point, Jenise. A few years ago, I read a scientific article in which they pinned down the molecules associated with "metallic" odors. What they found was that the smell we associate with metals is due to oils from our skin oxidizing on the surface of the metal (it acts as a catalyst) to produce oxidized fats that are responsible for the odor. This also explains why some fish can impart a "metallic" taste to wine: those same oxidized fats can be found in certain fish preparations (usually, smoked fish).

Mark Lipton

If so few mineral elements have taste, it's amazing to me that Gerolsteiner, Badoit, San pellegrino, Vittel , etc have such different profiles. I'd actually be much more confident in my blind tasting ability to nail mineral waters than wine (I freely admit I'm a pedestrian taster). I should organize a blind water tasting.

The results of blind watger tastings have been puiblished , by Decanter. The point was not to try to identify the waters, but they were scored - and London tap water outperformed most bottled waters, coming in at numnber 2 or 3 IIRC.

In a wine tasting course I went on many years ago we scored a glass of water a solid 10 on the 20 point scale.

One thought on iron mentioned above. Professor Robert White has noted in various books that while iron is relatively abundant in many types of soils, its "form" is the most important thing. He pointed out in a long discussion on "Grape Radio" that if iron soils appear strongly red brown (ie rich in iron), such as the red slates in Germany, then this oxide form is not soluble in water and largely unavailable to the grape vine.

Although most rocks and for that matter mineral ions are almost tasteless, there are some rocks that do have taste. Geologists actually taste rocks to help identify them (so I understand).

Just found this list on a rockhounds website. Seems licking rocks can be interesting but also dangerous:

These are some of the more common minerals that have a significantly distinct taste:
◦Borax (sweet alkaline)
◦Chalcanthite (sweet metallic & slightly poisonous)
◦Epsomite (bitter)
◦Glauberite (bitter salty)
◦Halite (salty)
◦Hanksite (salty)
◦Melanterite (sweet, astringent and metallic)
◦Sylvite (bitter)
◦Ulexite (alkaline)

Just checking in to say what a great discussion here! The Brits were quite interested too...>

http://www.wine-pages.com/ubb/ultimateb ... 034055;p=2

Here is what the Auswine forumites say about the subject.

http://forum.auswine.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=12533