What Does ‘Salinity’ Mean in Wine

Think about a chilly, snowy night in January. By 4:45 p.m., the solar has set. You open a crisp Assyrtiko or Muscadet, alongside contemporary paella. Out of the blue, it’s summer season.

Paula Rester Salinas, beverage director of Side Street Hospitality Group in Fredericksburg, Texas, describes this form of pairing as magical, “as a result of it transports you elsewhere.”

Excessive-acid wines like Assyrtiko, Vermentino and Muscadet supply an impression of salinity, which suggests “the type of piercing acidity {that a} spritz of lemon would have, and a touch of brine or salinity {that a} squeeze of lime and pinch of salt would give a dish,” says Nils Bernstein, contributing meals editor at Wine Fanatic.

“[Saline-forward wines] are such good pairing companions throughout the board as a result of they nearly season the meals in a way,” he says.

Salinity is a tasting descriptor and a frequent extension of the time period “minerality.” Each can seek advice from how our palate perceives the pH of the wine.

“Minerality is the place we’re speaking about chalk and stone and graphite,” says Bernstein. “And salinity falls into that realm very simply, for those who lengthen minerality to seashell, and lengthen seashell to salinity.”

Seashell is a mineral composed of calcium carbonate. In wine, like different minerals, it registers as an aroma, not a style.

“With seashell, it’s concerning the scent of the seashore: saltwater, moist sand, seaweed and every little thing that exists alongside seashells, which solely have a scent when contemporary,” he says.

This aroma helps saline-forward wines emphasize flavors with a bit extra tang and brightness.

Usually, in wines with ample saline traits, salivary glands would possibly gently activate within the corners of the cheeks, just like when a squeeze of contemporary lemon hits the tongue.

Salinity in a wine is usually related to the proximity of vineyards to sea, sand and salt air. Many such wines originate from grapes grown close to or inside coastal areas.

However salinity doesn’t essentially depend upon publicity to sea breezes or mirror the presence of salt within the wine or soil.

“The saline style in wines has to do with how the grapes ripen, how they’re fermented and the intricate play between acidity, pH, and yeast and lees,” says Roman Roth, winemaker at Wölffer Estate in Sagaponack, New York.

Whereas some soils have an effect on how grapes ripen, Roth believes that crucial ingredient for evoking salinity is a balanced winery with good solar publicity on the fruit.

In response to Roth, if fruit is picked too inexperienced, there may be solely acidity. In the event that they’re picked too ripe, tropical, richer and fattier flavors develop, he says. When wine is made with ripe fruit and its mouthfeel is contemporary and presents a softer end, the wine exhibits salinity.

Manufacturing processes also can play a task in salinity.

For instance, in a light-weight, dry Manzanilla Sherry, flor, a yeast cap, types throughout fermentation. The tip consequence expresses salinity.

Along with Manzanilla Sherry, which have to be from vineyards close to the coastal metropolis of Sanlúcar de Barrameda, Vermentino additionally expresses salinity alongside notes of citrus. It grows in Provence (identified domestically as Rolle), in addition to in Liguria and Piedmont in northwest Italy and Sardinia.

Picpoul (or Piquepoul) thrives within the Languedoc area of southern France, and some from the Texas High Plains additionally supply crispness and good acidity.

Muscadet, a Loire Valley white created from the Melon de Bourgogne grape in Pays Nantais, is an ideal oyster pairing, refreshing and acid-forward.

Probably the most mineral-driven and saline-expressive Assyrtikos originate in Santorini, Greece. For one more aroma of sea breeze and salt air, search for Albariño from Rías Baixas in northwest Spain.

Roth says {that a} good wine ought to all the time have “various issues competing in your consideration. Is it acidity? Is it minerality? Is it tannins, or creamy yeast characters? Is it salinity? Nothing ought to stand out. They need to all be in a harmonious steadiness, making the wine attention-grabbing and giving it finesse.”