We are here, once again, to upset the wine snobs. Flavour experts are now saying the secret to a great glass of wine is a pinch of salt, and we’re open to suggestion.

Before you go reaching for the smelling salts, hear us out. We know that a pinch of salt enhances what we consume – we even tried it in a cup of tea recently – because salt reduces bitterness while increasing sour, sweet and umami flavours. The same logic applies to our drinks.

Wine already contains sweetness from natural grape sugars, as well as tannins from the skins that provide mouthfeel and bitterness. A little salt in your wine helps to broaden its flavour profile, enhancing the sweet notes, reducing the bitter notes and providing a rounded depth that some wines may lack.

It’s a similar practice to wine pairing – certain foods served with certain wines can enhance or detract from the overall experience because of how we perceive tastes and texture. A pinch of salt in your glass is like cutting out the middleman.

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So where does this newfangled notion of salty wine come from? As it turns out, we can thank our ancient ancestors for this one. Recipes from sites around Greece, Italy and other Adriatic regions indicate that seawater was a common addition to crushed grapes both before and after fermentation.

To put it to the test, researcher Attilio Scienza, who helped to revive Da Vinci’s lost vineyard, recently experimented with an ancient Greek practice of soaking grapes in baskets beneath the waves to great effect, adding a minerality and salinity to the otherwise typical vino.

And Scienza isn’t alone in this oceanic oddity – modern winemakers and collectors are increasingly utilising the sea in their practice, with a growing trend of ‘underwater wine cellars’ sweeping Europe, like the floating wine bar in Montenegro where you can dive for your drink. Space is abundant, temperature is consistent, and the porous surface of amphora pots (clay wine vessels) absorbs a small amount of the briny deep.

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Without having to don your snorkel or build a time machine, you can put the theory into practice the next time you have a less-than-amazing bottle of wine on your hands. Esteemed Portuguese winemakers Anna Jorgensen and Anselmo Mendes, who joined Scienza in his pursuit of saline knowledge, determined that a salt level of one percent is optimal when enhancing the flavour of a wine (though they did try up to 10 percent which, unsurprisingly, was gross). 

In a standard 150ml pour, that equates to about a quarter of a teaspoon of salt.

So, should you add salt to your wine?

Of course, one could argue that adding anything to your wine is a bit of a no-no, considering a winemaker has carefully crafted the flavour of the wine and it should be enjoyed in its unadulterated form. But if the Spanish can add Fanta, we reckon a little salt is okay.

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