St. Zini at the Zinquisition has been banging this drum for a while now, Jamie Goode has his suspicions about where minerality in wine comes from, and today Wines and Vines published a little blurb about the debate over mineral flavors and aromas in wine. Terroir-ists will be disappointed to see that their side of the debate isn’t represented at all. Here’s the conclusion from the article, along with the scrooge-ish final take away:

Without an agreed-upon standard, theories about where minerality comes from are bound to remain speculative. But the possibility that minerality stems not from the fixed characteristics of the vineyard but from compounds that can be controlled in the cellar should be cause for optimism. If emanations of slate can only be derived from slate soils, most of the winegrowing world is out of luck. But if this desirable property is due to the level of acidity or the presence of one or another sulfur compound that can be encouraged or discouraged, so much the better.

The prospect: less romance, more minerality.

I don’t know many folks in the industry rallying for less romance in wine. Isn’t that what we keep marketing to the masses? There’s a pretty bright line between shining the light of truth on old misconceptions and completely disavowing a place for romance in wine and I’m not sure why the author feels the need to cross it.

And while I wouldn’t normally describe St. Zini as a terroir-ist, in this instance Zini thinks that minerality is in fact created in the vineyard. He writes that

Though I won’t discount that the various low-level sulfur compounds Jamie Goode proposes may have some effect, I think most of the minerality I have tasted results from higher levels of acid salts present in the finished wines, and is therefore primarily dependent on climate & viticultural practices.

So, minerality: a product of the land, the vine and the farmer’s hand, or is it the result of cellar practices and sulfur compounds? If forced to choose I’d rather St. Zini’s view be the correct one, but I’ll take a little mystery and romance over both any day of the week.