My Winning WINE Magazine Letter!

Posted by Brandon Marc

October 20, 2008

If you can recall I wrote an article entitled ‘It Must be Something in the Water’ posted on September 22nd 2008. In this article I shared my theory regarding the apparent ‘earthy’ characters present in some South African wines, as pointed out by UK wine critics.

Well, I took my theory a step further and presented it to WINE Magazine in the form of a letter to the editor, Christian Eedes. My letter was subsequently chosen as the winning letter for the October issue of WINE Magazine! Even though I was awarded with a magnificent magnum of 1999 Dom Perignon Champagne, it is the positive recognition of my theory that is most rewarding to me.

So here below, for the My Wine Cellar family only, I have included the unedited version of my letter to WINE Magazine. To see the published version check out the October issue of WINE Magazine…

Cheers!

Brandon Marc

It Must be Something in the Water

Currently there is a heated debate raging through the South African wine community that has distinct bearing on the direction of the South African wine industry. I am, of course, referring to the ‘earthy characters’ detected on the nose of many South African wines.

These unusual aromas could be a result of many different offenders responsible for wine faults such as a basic reduction, Brett, mercaptan or, as indicated by Michael Fridjhon in WINE July 2008, the endemic virus problems currently present in Cape vineyards. However, I believe there is one potential offender who has been overlooked, not even receiving a mention.

It was back in a university Microbiology class where I first learnt of Geosmin. Geosmin is a metabolite of several classes of bacteria, one being Cyanobacteria, or more commonly blue-green algae, and is responsible for the ‘earthy characters’ detected in fresh mountain water for example.

In this particular lecture we were asked if we had recently noticed this ‘earthy character’ in our tap water at home. We all raised our hands. Our lecture then went on to explain this phenomenon. As we had had a particularly dry summer that year, 2005 I believe, more sunlight was penetrating our dams and reservoirs. This sunlight was stimulating the proliferation, and therefore the increased metabolism, of the so called blue-green algae. The result? Large amounts of Geosmin was being released making its way into our tap water giving it the characteristic ‘earthy taste’ that we all had detected at home.

Therefore, considering the last few years have been some of the driest years experienced in the Western Cape, could it be possible that Cape vineyards have been irrigated with Geosmin rich water? Surely, this would result in higher concentrations of Geosmin in the wine produced from those vines ultimately producing wines with more pronounced ‘earthy characters’. Could it be that the elusive offender lurks within our water?

Brandon Marc
www.brandonmarc.com

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