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Volcanic wines: just a brand?

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Given the volcanic soil, one cannot help but speak of minerality.
The current opinion of scholars tends to support the weakness, if not the non-existence, of a direct correlation between soil and the minerality of wine.

 

“These observations, which – on the basis of now substantial and robust experiments – can today be considered substantially acquired, have nevertheless come to to close the stable door when the oxen had already bolted” he wrote Constance Fregoni, on an ad hoc number that The Veneto Sommelier had dedicated to the topic in June 2016. In fact, the denial of a direct correlation came only after years of claims that went in the exact opposite direction, in which the “mineral” tone of the wines had been motivated by the absorption of certain substances by the plant which would then transmit them to the grapes.

Authorities of the calibre of deny this direct correlation. Attilio Science, Alex Maltman of the University of Aberystwyth (Wales), the joint study of the Spanish company Excell and Outlook Wine – the results of which were anticipated by an article in The Drinks Business by Darren Smith entitled New study strengthens case against soil-based minerality. An influence, if there were one, should be attributed to the microbiological component of the soil, which has recently returned to the spotlight.

On the other hand, however, there are studies such as that of Mariano Mercury of the University of Sannio who in his 2014 research entitled A 'Geo-Pedo-Fingerprint' (GPF) as a tracer to detect univocal parent material-to-wine production chain in high quality vineyard districts, Campi Flegrei (Southern Italy) notes how there are two isotopes of strontium that can pass from soil to wine.

The study, carried out by a joint team of geologists, chemists and pedologists on Piedirosso, investigates the identity of the geo-pedological imprint of this vine on the Campi Flegrei.
The data shows that the87Mr and the86Sr have values ​​that remain unchanged from the soil to the grapes and the wine, contradicting studies that deny this possibility.

The research on Mercury is part of a series of studies initiated by Sandro Conticelli on strontium as a key element for the geo-pedological footprint – see the 2013 volume Isotopic Analysis of Strontium.
The controlled origin index: an intrinsic geochemical parameter that links the wine to its terroir of origin.
The geo-pedological footprint allows us to trace the entire material-soil-vineyard-wine chain, thus allowing us to trace the wine back to its area of ​​origin and offering a further tool for designations of origin but also for the fight against counterfeiting.

 

Also addressing the issue of the link between volcanic soil and wine is John Szabo, Canadian Master Sommelier who in his book Volcanic Wines In addition to investigating this correlation, it also analyses it from a commercial and brand point of view.
Certainly, the brand volcanic wines also works on its own, as a descriptor with a strong evocative power – as many Romantic writers had already anticipated.

The popularity and success of volcanic wines can be ascribed to the work of the Soave Consortium, which in its work of valorising its territory, was able before others and as had never been done before, to put the spotlight on a component with strong direct and indirect value.
In fact, volcanic soil often means ungrafted vines and native varieties, which are therefore harbingers of a genetic heritage of great importance.

Two corollaries that are particularly sought after today: and if the first is more of a topic for insiders, the second has infected a wider audience that, through wine tourism, wants to drink again, once back home, the local native wines.
(read previous blog post about it).
The Volcanic Wines brand developed a few years ago by the Soave Consortium and then extended to the rest of Italy has had another important echo in the almost sudden popularity of Etna, to which other factors have certainly contributed (well-known and international producers, strong ties with exports to America, in this case New York, where trends are set) but which finds the volcano as its driving force.

"This trend has seen a continuous and increasing trend.” testifies John Ponchia, current director of the Colli Berici Consortium and employed at Soave as the consortium's oenologist in the years in which the Volcanic Wine project was born.
“This typology is attractive to countries that do not have a volcano, but also to those that have an active volcano or have extinct and inactive ones.”
The consumer likes the idea of ​​tasting something that comes from a visceral, “on the edge” context, like that of a volcano.
Among the countries where volcanic wines have great resonance we must include Great Britain, but also Belgium and Holland” explains Ponchia.

But also Japan, which has found its counterpart in Sicily – another island, another volcano; it is no coincidence that many corporate websites of Etna are translated into this language.
The person who investigated the rebirth of the denomination was Benjamin Spencer, founder of the Etna Wine School, whose book The New Wines of Mount Etna: An Insider's Guide to the History and Rebirth of a Wine Region will be out soon.

But beyond their strong evocative power, do volcanic wines really have more cards to play?
“Chemically, wines from volcanic soils contain significant quantities of magnesium, potassium, phosphorus, while organic matter depends on the age of the soil” explains Ponchia, who has long dealt with the volcanic soil of Soave – yes, the Veronese denomination has part of the volcanic soils.
“Among these, I would identify the first two as potentially more incisive elements, and perhaps it would be worth starting more in-depth investigations from these very points of view”.

 

 

Alea recommends some themed readings:

_The Veneto Sommelier –“Beyond Minerality” ,
June 2016

_Darren Smith – “New study strengthens case against soil-based minerality”
The Drinks Business, 2015

_Alex Maltman – “Minerality in wine: a geological perspective”
Journal of Wine Research, 2013

_John Szabo – “Volcanic Wines: salt, grit and power”
Jacqui Small, 2016

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