Pure salt? TN 2005 Argiolas Monica di Sardegna Perdera

[Jan Schultink]

An unusual "salty" sensation in a wine, so strong you can almost pinpoint the location of your senses on the palate ("3D salt" ). How can a wine develop salty notes?

2005 Argiolas Monica di Sardegna Perdera - Italy, Sardinia, Monica di Sardegna (7/19/2008)
Impenetrable black. Opening up with slightly unripe red fruit sliced up by lively acidity. A balanced/structured wine with (still) firm tannins showing more earthy/dusty/mushrooms, believe it or not, some rubber, and warm spices on an almost salty texture with hints of licorice that lingers on on the very long but slightly thin finish. (88 pts.)

Posted from CellarTracker

[Daniel Rogov]

Jan, Hi….

The trait of saltiness is most common of course to the wines of Jerez but is not unusual in wines based on Monica grapes. On Sardinia, where Monica vines are often raised not on usual trellises but allowed to climb on trees, they are exposed to two distinct factors – the deep clay and chalk soil and the sea breeze that carries with it a distinct salty tang.

Some adore that salt-factor, others despise it. A good way to check one's potential for enjoying "salty" wines before investing is to take, e.g. a glass of Primitivo or Zinfandel, to dip a finger into the wine, to place a single grain of salt on the finger, to let it sit for a minute or two and then to lick the finger.

As to the wine in question, our tasting notes are not that far apart. My own follows.

Best
Rogov

Argiolas, Monica di Sardegna, Perdera, Sardinia, 2005: Primarily Monica grapes blended with small amounts of Carignan and Bovale Sardo. Dark, almost inky garnet in color, medium- to full-bodied with firm tannins and spicy wood needing time to integrate but already showing fine balance and structure. Opens slowly but as it does it reveals generous plum and berry fruits, those backed up nicely by licorice and distinctly salty minerals and, on the long finish, a hint of chocolate. Give this one a bit of time. Best after 2009 and cellaring comfortably until 2012. Score 88. (Tasted twice with consistent notes 22 Jun 2008)

[Jan Schultink]

Thank you Rogov

[Gary J]

take, e.g. a glass of Primitivo or Zinfandel, to dip a finger into the wine, to place a single grain of salt on the finger, to let it sit for a minute or two and then to lick the finger.

More brilliant and unique advice from our winexpert Rogov.

I'll be trying this at some point...then looking out for a "salty" wine.

THANKS!

[Daniel Rogov]

One of the descriptors I use for wine is "gun metal" (especially for unoaked Chablis). I'll never forget the time when someone asked how one could recognize that taste. My response was to simply take any gun (rifle, pistol, even a cannon on a tank or in the park) and touch one's tongue to it. Literally in influex of letters and emails to my editor telling them that I was suggesting that people commit suicide. (I was not)

Or of the time I suggested changing the name of a wine to "a night in a Paris sewer". Or, of course, comparing the capsules that hold some of the foods prepared by in molecular cuisine to a condom, and everyone wondering if I'd ever tasted a condom. Etc, etc.....

My philosophy about tastes and smells - taste and smell absolutely everything you encounter that will neither poison nor give you an allergic reaction and that will not offend your gods.

Best
Rogov