Is minerality a figment of wine-tasters’ imaginations? The M-word is much used by wine critics but is little understood. Ask three wine writers what they mean by minerality and you’ll get three different answers – or they’ll say that it is something they can’t put into words!
But despite this lack of consensus about the term minerality, its use is on the rise. In 2009, Burgundy-based Jordi Ballester and fellow researchers noticed it was appearing more frequently and was no longer restricted to the classic wines of Chablis and the Mosel Valley.
“We found that very intriguing, in particular because we had only a vague idea of what minerality means and we did not even agree on that,” says Ballester.
Since embarking upon his research, Ballester has confirmed that wine experts have different notions of minerality. While he believes that minerality exists, there’s no scientific basis for it as yet and he thinks tasters are misusing the word.
“I feel like there are people abusing this word – putting it in wine notes just because it is a nice evocative word, with no relationship to the sensory properties of the wine,” he says.
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