Let’s get all science-y this Sunday and explore the topic of minerality. It is one of those buzzwords that winemakers as well as sales people and wine drinkers love to throw around. In that context, it is usually used with slate-y soils that somehow are supposed to translate into minerality aromas in the wine.
The Wine Doctor looked into that in September and starts out by pointing out that that is most likely not the direct cause for this aroma to appear. His take in this post is that it might be connected to reductive winemaking practices. The connector to soil is that he believes these chemical reactions are more likely achieved in wines from rather rocky soils. So there is a connection, but no direct link.
While I have no clue about chemistry (literally: I got an F in every single term paper I wrote in chemistry and dropped it as soon as I could), I did appreciate this article and how it was explained. While the mystery of what is minerality remains, I know I sure enjoy it when I find it!
Have a great Sunday!!
the winegetter 