Well, Antipodes Water says the type of water you drink to cleanse and hydrate between sips of wine does indeed have an effect on the way we perceive wine. The company started in 2007 after scouring New Zealand’s natural aquifers in consultation with Kumeu River winemaker, Michael Brajkovich MW, to find the most complimentary water for wine.
To test how different types of water affect our palate, we gathered together some leading winemakers and sommeliers – including winemakers Erinn Klein of Ngeringa, Adam Foster of Syrahmi, and Matthias Utzinger of Utzinger Wines; and sommeliers Clint Fox from the Scott Pickett Group; Andrea Infimo from Marmelo and Mr Mills; Coralie Gelot from The Windsor Hotel Group; Sacha Imrie of Daughter In Law; and Katarina Lange. Award-winning wine writer and our Vineyard of the Year Awards judge, Max Allen, also joined the tasting panel.
“Where it’s from, the climate, the geography, the rocks around the underground aquifer all add to the sense of ‘terroir’.”
“Where it’s from, the climate, the geography, the rocks around the underground aquifer all add to the sense of ‘terroir’,” explained Melinda Wright from Antipodes Water.
Wright said the total dissolved solids (TDS) in water defined its level of minerality. The higher the TDS, the greater the number of minerals in the water, and the greater the ability to taste and feel these minerals on the palate.
For the water comparison, our panel tasted three waters: the Antipodes sparkling water; a bottled sparkling water from Victoria; and an Italian sparkling water. These waters were sampled alongside the 2022 Ngeringa Single Vineyard Summit Pinot Noir from Adelaide Hills. The panel would taste one water, followed by the wine, noting the changes in perception along the way.
The sparkling waters were tasted in their progression of TDS scores as declared on their company websites: with Antipodes (130 mg/L) in glass #1; the Victorian sparkling water (380 mg/L) in glass #2; and the Italian sparkling water (853 mg/L) in glass #3. Note that this was not a blind tasting.
Sommelier Clint Fox opened the discussion. “The mouthfeel changes,” he noted. “The Antipodes water is a lot softer, almost silky, whereas water #2 (the Victorian water) is a little more aggressive.”
Melinda Wright said, “You talk about ‘silkyness’ with Antipodes – there is a reason for that. In water #2 the dominant minerals are things such as magnesium and bicarbonate. That’s why you’ll also get a heavier bead. With water #1, natural silica brings that silky texture.”
Winemaker Matthias Utzinger asked if there was a difference with the pH? (As wine enthusiasts know, pH is a measure of the acid or alkalinity in wine: the lower the pH level, the higher the acid; the higher the pH, the more alkalinity a wine expresses.)
“Antipodes is pH neutral,” explained Wright. “The Victorian sparkling water is more alkaline.”
After tasting water #2 and trying the pinot again, sommelier Katarina Lange said: “I think the pH is more at play in the wine. The wine seems more acidic after the alkaline water.”
While sommelier Andrea Infimo thought the wine looked better with water #1, tasting the more alkaline water provided a wine-matching idea. “I think more alkaline waters would work well with whole-bunch wines because of the potassium component in whole-bunch wines. The alkalinity in the water could help mask the hard minerality of the wine’s potassium. By having a water with higher pH [lower acid; higher alkalinity], wines with lower acid could seem more balanced. But that’s just a theory,” he said.
“The tannins in the wine are more accentuated after water #2,” added Utzinger.
Winemaker Erinn Kleinn noted that the Antipodes water allowed his wine to show itself more fully – “It tastes like it has a bit more body and a bit more going on.”
“The fruit has a little more life to it,” added Fox.
“Chalky”, “salty” and “very textural” were common descriptors of the water’s taste from the panel, who thought the pinot noir exhibited vegetal and less fruit characters after tasting the third water.
Of sparkling waters in a dining setting, sommelier Coralie Gelot said: “I don’t like a water with a lot of minerality. It has too much taste to enhance the food and wine.”
On water #3’s impact on the perception of the wine, Andrea Infimo added, “The acids and tannins are exacerbated.”
“I liked the way water #3 played around with tannins, though,” commented Fox.
“I definitely enjoyed the wine most with water #1,” sommelier Sacha Imrie said. “I found water #3 so overwhelming that the wine didn’t reset for me.”
Wright recalled a dinner with a Spanish sparkling water with a TDN score of over 3000 mg/L. She said the saltiness of the water worked immensely well with steak – but had an equally adverse effect on the meal’s wine.
“There is no such thing as ‘the best water in the world’. Each water is unique in its flavour profile and characteristics,” Wright explained.
“If you want a wine that is fruit forward and the predominance is the fruit, then I think Antipodes is the water that works best,” concluded Infimo.
The Wineslinger Awards, the wine guru’s guide to the best haunts in Australia right now, has crowned the 2020 Wineslinger winners – as voted on by over 100 of the country’s leading sommeliers, winemakers, hospitality tastemakers and journalists.
With some of Melbourne’s finest palates in attendance, Best’s winemaker Justin Purser was kind enough to guide us through five decades of their ‘Old Vine’ Pinot Meunier. This was a rare chance to see just how well it ages in ideal conditions.
What is natural wine? Unpack what natural wine is meant to be, and how the firm philosophical foundations of the movement have been muddied by what has become an explosive and often confusing trend. Clear crown-sealed bottle, colourful hand-applied label, orange-hued hazy wine… natural? Not necessarily…
Please sign in or create account as candidate to bookmark this job
Please sign in or create account to save this search
Please sign in or create account as candidate to create a resume
