What’s Minerality in Wine? Plus California Wildfires

Dec11th

Introduction

What it minerality mean when it comes to wine? Is it a taste? A feeling? Or some bogus concept meant to keep wine mysterious? What’s the latest with the devastating wildfires in Sonoma wine country? Why are winemakers wary of cannabis producers? It’s not what you might think. And what is a new wine group doing to help with a balanced life?

On today’s episode of Unreserved Wine Talk, I’m taking a deep dive into the controversial concept of minerality, assessing the impact of recent wildfires on California wine country, discussing the controversy between cannabis producers and winemakers and sharing a resource I recently found for helping you live a balanced life as a wine lover. Enjoy!

 

Highlights

  • What impact has the Kincade Fire had on Sonoma County?
  • How will that affect the wines we drink in the future?
  • Why were most of the Sonoma grapes safe from the fire?
  • Which of the Sonoma wineries were affected by the Kincade Fire?
  • How does the Kincade Fire compare to the 2017 Tubbs Fire?
  • How important is California as a wine region?
  • What caused these devastating wildfires?
  • How can you support wineries impacted by the Sonoma wildfires?
  • Where can you support victims of the California wildfires?
  • Should cannabis producers be allowed to use wine appellations?
  • How is cannabis added to wine?
  • What effects should you expect to feel from drinking cannabis-infused wine?
  • How does your biology affect your experience with cannabis?
  • What do you need to know about soil and wine?
  • Why do geologists say you can’t taste minerals from the soil in your wine?
  • What are you experiencing when wine is described as having great minerality?
  • How is wine affected when you add rocks into the fermenting process?
  • Does geology influence grapes and wine?
  • How do you define minerality?
  • How is wine the ultimate chameleon?
  • Why is it important for you to think about how to live a healthy and balanced life with wine as part of it?
  • How can A Balanced Glass help you live a balanced life when abstinence from wine is not an option?
  • What are some simple tips you can use to keep your wine consumption in balance?

 

Resources

 

Wine Reviews

 

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Thirsty for more?

  • Sign up for my free online wine video class where I’ll walk you through The 5 Wine & Food Pairing Mistakes That Can Ruin Your Dinner (and how to fix them forever!)
  • Join me on Facebook Live Video every second Wednesday at 7 pm eastern for a casual wine chat.
  • You’ll find my books here, including Unquenchable: A Tipsy Quest for the World’s Best Bargain Wines and Red, White and Drunk All Over: A Wine-Soaked Journey from Grape to Glass.
  • The new audio edition of Red, White and Drunk All Over is now available on Amazon.ca, Amazon.com and other country-specific Amazon sites; iTunes.ca, iTunes.com and other country-specific iTunes sites; Audible.ca and Audible.com.

 

Transcript & Takeaways

Welcome to episode 54!

Miles and I are working our way through the entire series of the television show Justified about a US marshall in Kentucky and all the odd ne’er do well characters he has to chase down… we’re on season six. It’s so good.

Someone help me! It’s as addictive as those chocolate-covered almonds.

Do you ever get so caught up in a show that you just want to binge-watch it all weekend?

That’s what one of my new students told me two days ago about The Wine Smart Course.

That made my week!

I just relaunched this new course and I poured everything into it. Pun intended. It’s a Full-Bodied Framework to help you taste, pair and buy wine like a pro.

Now in the main audio of this podcast, I say that I will be relaunching it… that’s because this is from a Facebook Live Video from a few weeks ago.

But it’s here now!

But wait, there’s more ;)

You find out more about this in-depth curse during my new, free online class:

The 5 Wine & Food Pairing Mistakes That Can Ruin Your Dinner (and how to fix them forever!)

Just go to nataliemaclean.com/class to pick your class time and you and I will taste some wine together. Tis the season!

It’s a great time to take some time for yourself during the holidays and relax with a glass of wine or three and me.

One other note about the audio is that I talk about the Sonoma wildfires as still not under containment, but it now is. However, the impact to wine country was substantial.

I’ll include links to the articles I mention, my latest wine reviews, the video version of this discussion and the link so that you can signup for my free wine class in the show notes at nataliemaclean.com/54.

Alright, let’s dive into our topics today.

 

You can also watch the video on Wilfires in Wine Country, Cannabis Wines that includes bonus content and behind-the-scenes questions and answers that weren’t included in this podcast.

 

Well, there you have it! You’ll find links to the articles I mention, my latest wine reviews, the video version of this discussion and the link so that you can signup for my free wine class in the show notes at nataliemaclean.com/54.

What was your favourite tip or quote from this episode? Share that with me on Twitter or Facebook and tag me @nataliemaclean, on Instagram I’m @nataliemacleanwine.

If you liked this episode, please tell a friend about it, especially one who’s interested in learning about minerality in wine. My podcast is easy to find, whether you search Google on its name Unreserved Wine Talk, or on my name.

Finally, if you want to take your ability to pair wine and food to the next level, join me in a free online video class at nataliemaclean.com/class.

I can’t wait to share more wine stories with you next week.

Thank you for taking the time to listen to this one. I hope something great is in your glass this week, perhaps a terrific, mineral-rich wine!

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