How the minerality is expressed in the wine? In my opinion you can taste it in your wine in flavors like flint, graphite and even chalk flavor in the back of the fruit and floral flavors; it’s a good way to complemented the wine, this characteristic gives complexity to the wine. This minerality has synergism to food by adding strength and highlighting food flavors that are normally more difficult to handle like deep and rich dishes, such as Indian food, or Chablis as a companion for oysters. These examples of white wines are the best examples of how minerality can changed the experience, and in some cases show a new expression in a traditional grape.
Assyrtiko – Originally from Greece, this wine is an interesting example of how a high acidity wine can gain complexity with a note of minerality. Notes of of lime, passion fruit, beeswax can be identified; is important to mention that minerality is expresses in this wine as a salty flavor. It pairs perfectly with seafood such as octopus or baked tilapia.
Albarino – This is the staple wine from the Spanish region of Galicia. This wine has a flavor profile of lemon zest, grapefruit, honeydew melon, nectarine, and the expression minerality in this wine is also expressed as salinity. This wine has a high acidity with a little bubbling in the tongue which creates a wine that can handle a more complex seafood sauce, such as tomato-based sauce, or even a little spicy sauce; it’s an amazing pairing with the classical Spanish dish Gambas al Ajillo.
Sauvignon Blanc – This grape is called Sancerre in the Loire Valley, the expression of this grape has a lower level of the acidity compared to other countries, but gains the mineral flavor profile, still tastes gooseberry, the grassy notes, lemon (but less than its New Zealand counterpart), gooseberry. The minerality in this wine its expressed as wet stone taste); The good thing about the Sancerre is that it ages perfectly and gains complexity over time. This wine its perfect for a cheese board or some scallops with cappers and a butter sauce.
Chardonnay – In the northern part of Bourgogne there are two soils: The Kimmeridgian (only the Grand Cru nomination of this wine is planted 100% in this soil), and Portlandia. The Chardonnay planted in this part of Bourgogne is called Chablis. The composition of these soils are small fossils that gave the Chardonnay grape the distinguished minerality. The Chablis has a flavor profile of citrus, white flower pear; the expression the minerality gave the wine a chalky flavor. this wine is one of the classical pairs with oysters, the minerality of the wine and the salinity of the oyster created a unique experience.
Resling – this German and Alsace (France) grape is a very acid grape with a flavor profile of lemon, lime, pear, petrol if aged, with is minerality flavor expressed as graphite (pencil lead) flavor. This wine is one of the most versatile wines in the list, in my opinion it is one of the few wines that can take two of the hardest food wine pairing without a hitch: the Chinese and Indian cuisine.
Don’t be afraid to expand your wine palate