Best of the Best

Much bottled water is really bottled municipal tap water—in the United States, government and industry estimate that municipal water makes up twenty-five to forty percent of the bottled water sold. For example, wells across southern Maine pump water to be sold as Nestlé’s Poland Spring, which is sourced neither from Poland Spring nor any spring. It’s helpful to make a distinction between municipal or pumped water sources and natural sources of bottled water.

Bottled Water - The Next Wine:
Naturally bottled waters are very special waters and they express terroir. Bottled at the source, they may be naturally carbonated and are treated only minimally (if at all). Contact with geological formations imparts a unique mineral composition to the water; many of these compositions are reputed to have healthful properties. Some waters may have been formed only thirty days before bottling, whereas others are more than twenty thousand years old.

Many companies and individuals care deeply about the water they sell and its source. I talk to them every day, and they could certainly talk about their product all day. They are proud of delivering natural bottled water and obsessed with protecting its source. Some of these companies are new, but sometimes the waters have been used since Roman times, more than two thousand years ago.

Sources of Water:
At first glance, waters may not seem to have the individual characteristics that distinguish wines. But through comparison with the flavors in water, subtle but distinct differences in flavors become apparent. The source of the water plays an important role.

Rain (and other precipitation) is the origin of all water. But after rainwater falls, geological and meteorological factors influence the next step in the journey. The Water Connoisseur today has a wide choice of sources for bottled water: Spring, Artesian, Well, Rain, Glacier, Iceberg, and Deep Sea.

Bottled Water Etiquette:
Similar to wine there is a bottled water etiquette that deals with matching water and food, proper stemware, and drinking temperature.

The Best Waters:
In the same way as there is no best wine there is no best water! There are about 3000 brands of water in the world today of which are about 200 available in the US. The following waters express terroir of the source and the place created and represent their particular category very well.