WHAT IS NATURAL WINE?
Wine comes from grapes, which come from nature…therefore isn’t all wine “natural”? This is a valid question that is not uncommon for anyone new to the term. What does “natural wine” mean? Is it just another marketing gimmick that has hooked the yuppie, artisanal-everything crazed who are on board? The answer is, to a certain extent, no.
Though legally there is no definition or certification, natural wine is wine made without adding or removing anything in the process. Aka organic (though not always certified) farming, no additives, solely native yeasts in fermentation, naturally occurring or minimal use of sulfur dioxide or sulfites, and no sterile filtration. “Low-intervention, quoi…”, the French might say (probably with a shoulder shrug).
The aim is for the wine’s natural expression to shine through. It does so through the grapes, the soil which the grower is able to nourish in their process—through organic, biodynamic, or sustainable farming—and the “terroir”, or land whence it grows. Each terroir’s unique geological and physical factors bestow character that can be more or less palpable through the whole process—both viticulture and viniculture.
Winemaking began naturally, but the 20thcentury, with its “Green Revolution” of industrialized farming, greatly changed the connection between farmers and winemakers alike to their land and its yield. Some natural growers call it “textbook farming”. The mechanized nature is great for consistency, but disconnected and controlled.
Making natural wine is not the path of least resistance and arguably a noble pursuit. However, traditional modern methods have their challenges and advantages as well. It all comes down to personal preference. That said, natural winemaking is certainly more sustainable in the long-run as levels of chemical degradation and soil erosion from agriculture climb.
Natural winemaking does require a lot of love and dedication, a sensitivity for the living organism that is the vine, and the delicate ecosystem of an entire vineyard. Sébastien Riffault, a natural grower in Sancerre, France, expresses how the vines are like people and have varying needs at varying times. It takes a passion that requires openness to the possibility of nuance between vintages and occasionally bottles, and an excitement for the exploration of character produced—on the part of the grower and buyer at any level.
ORGANIC, BIODYNAMIC AND SUSTAINABLE FARMING
People generally see the sort of hierarchy of “natural-ness” in wine as the following:
This is a bit of a misconception, however, as some sustainable farms take measures above those of certified organic wine requirements, although they are not certified organic. There are also natural winemakers who find that term off-putting and prefer not to be labeled as such. It’s not all black and white, but the following classifications provide some guidance.
SUSTAINABLE
Sustainable farming is concerned with the overall health of the land and soil, and recognizes the importance of the interconnected ecosystem to yield grapes of the highest quality.
Sustainable growers may instill various practices in order to accomplish this. One such method is the use of compost to enrich soil fertility. Another is growing various plants in addition to the grape vines that attract helpful insects and encourage biodiversity. They may also limit the use of machinery, therefore reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Some sustainably-farmed wine may be organic but not certified yet, or even in the process of becoming certified organic. These producers are otherwise known as “organic in-conversion”. There are also “practicing organic” producers who operate like an organic farm, but for any number of reasons have not gotten certified. The cost of certification can be a large factor for small-batch producers, as many natural growers are. Some vintners have been doing what they do for so long that their reputation for quality precedes them, and they don’t necessarily need the validation of certification to sell their wine.
The state of California created a certified California Sustainable Winegrowing Alliance (CSWA) which encompasses water conservation, energy efficiency, soil management, waste reduction and management, air quality, community and social responsibility, and more. For more information on this, please visit: https://www.sustainablewinegrowing.org/swpworkbook.php
ORGANIC
Organic wine, like other organic produce and widely sold items, is essentially wine made from grapes that adhere to organic farming standards. Therefore, they are grown without the use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, or fungicides. These practices only consciously arose in the 1940s as a response to industrial farming and patented products and chemicals which had become widespread.
The certifications vary country to country and organization to organization. Some potential outlets include but are not limited to: the Soil Association, Nature & Progrès, Ecocert, Australian Certified Organic, USDA Organic.
The simplest distinction between U.S.A. and European Union standards is that both growing andcellar processes in the U.S. must include only certified organic materials. For instance, certified organic yeast may be added as part of the conversion process. However, the USDA states that:
“Any non-agricultural ingredients must be specifically allowed on the National List of Allowed and Prohibited Substances and can’t exceed 5% of the total product.”
In addition to this, while the USDA recognizes organic wine may contain some naturally-occurring SO2, no sulfitesmay be added to certified organic wine in the United States.
The E.U. has less strict requirements. Only farming practices need be organic to be certified. The European Commission allows sulfites to be added in the cellar, but the quantity of SO2 contained must be at least 50 mg/l less than conventional wines to be labeled organic.
BIODYNAMIC
Biodynamic farming is an approach developed by an Austrian named Rudolf Steiner in the 1920s. He was a philosopher, social reformer, literary critic and architect who created the Anthroposophy movement, which attempts to marry science and spirituality.
Biodynamic farming arose from a growing concern around soil fertility and sees the farm—or vineyard—as a self-sustaining, living organism in which measures of prevention, rather than treatment, can be taken to create harmonious conditions.
Similar to sustainable farming, biodynamic farms allow the land’s natural biodiversity to grow without intervention (aka weeds, wildflowers, etc.—all welcome!) to provide a fully functioning and inherently resilient ecosystem. They may introduce additional fruits and vegetables or other vegetation to increase biodiversity further. The farm produces its own animal feed (with animal welfare of high consideration), manure or compost fertilization, and the vineyard exists as a stand-alone unit. Like sustainable farms, biodynamic growers’ efforts may extend beyond the vineyard for community responsibility as well.
In addition to organic and sustainable practices, biodynamics considers external forces such as gravity, light, planetary cycles, and the moon as well as the sun. This is where it gets a little “woo woo”… Often biodynamic farms are harvested around the lunar cycle, recognizing the gravitational pull of the plants much like the tides, rather than solar cycle as in traditional methods. They also require minimal use of machinery, and are hand-picked.
Natural wines are very often created from biodynamic farming practices. Many producers believe only grapes grown in this “live” fashion with healthy microbial composition can thrive in the “hands-off” cellar approach to natural winemaking. However, all biodynamic wines are not necessarily natural due to practices once the grapes are picked (see articles on “Cellar”).
There is an official certification for biodynamic wines called the Demeter standard. It originated in France where the practice is popular, and has spread stateside where vineyards can be certified by Demeter USA.
CELLAR
WHAT DOES UNFINED/UNFILTERED MEAN?
“Essentially, there are three options for the wine grower: time, cloudiness, or intervention.” ~ Isabelle Legeron MW
Cloudiness naturally occurs as part of the winemaking process. When grapes are pressed, particles remain such as pulp, grape skins, and live or dead microorganisms—i.e. yeast and bacteria—which settle over time, if the wine is left to do so.
For cost-efficiency purposes or competitiveness, often producers need to get the vintage bottled and on the shelves rather than leaving it to settle, potentially for years. Various methods are currently practiced to expedite settling—aka “fining”—or to remove these fragments— aka sterile filtration. This ensures the wine looks clear, as the consumer is accustomed and as producers assume they desire.
The binding agents for fining can include egg whites, casein (a milk protein), gelatin or other animal, plant, or synthetically-made compounds. This is where vegan wine is concerned, and potential allergies for consumers.
Some natural winemakers choose to let the wine fully settle before bottling. However, some prefer to keep the fine lees (primarily dead yeast cells) in the bottle for taste and texture purposes. Many natural wine proponents claim these unfiltered, biodynamically-farmed “living wines” continue to evolve in the bottle, or even after opening! Contrary to popular belief, some claim a natural wine can even last longer than certain traditional, filtered wines once opened, though it won’t be the same as when you first opened it, even in a matter of hours.
At the core, it’s about letting the wine be, and allowing room for development and expression. Cloudiness cansometimes signify faults, such as a re-fermenting wine, but most of the time it adds texture and complexity that would otherwise be suppressed with intervention.
WHAT DOES “NO ADDED SULFITES” MEAN?
As mentioned in our introduction to natural wine, sulfites (or SO2) may be added to act as a preservative, or in an attempt to ensure consistent qualities during exportation. Sulfur dioxide has been used as a part of winemaking since ancient Roman times. They used it to sanitize barrels and equipment rather than preserve wine, however.
There is little if any factual evidence to show sulfites are harmful to your health, though some people believe it gives them headaches or allergic reactions. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly what in the wine is the trigger, as label regulations are not nearly as strict as in the food industry.
For many people, it’s purely a matter of taste. This method of intervention, like fining or filtration, doesn’t allow the wine freedom to develop its full character and can stunt aging in the bottle. This is one reason why natural wines are ready to drink earlier than many traditional wines.
Though it is possible, sulfite-free wines are incredibly rare as sulfites occur naturally from yeasts during fermentation. Generally, anything up to about 20 mg/l is accepted in the natural wine world as “low-sulfite”. Standards do vary internationally, but under European Union law, anything containing more than 10 mg/l must include “contains sulfites” on the label.
WHAT IS ORANGE/SKIN-CONTACT WINE?
Made from orange peel of course… You didn’t fall for that, right? Orange wine is simply wine made from white grapes in the same fashion as a red wine.
White grape skins are left—instead of separated out as usual—during maceration, along with pips (seeds) and sometimes stems. The result? Rich, amber-colored wines of various hues with a lot of texture and higher tannins than white wine, due to the skin.
There is speculation orange wines are as ancient as the more common wine ‘colors’, but the term “orange wine” was first used only in 2004. Its fan base seems to be ever growing, over the last maybe five or so years in particular. Georgia, Slovenia, and Italy’s ‘orange game’ is strong! Greece, Spain and France are following suit.
IN THE BOTTLE
IS NATURAL WINE BETTER FOR ME?
Besides the obvious benefits such as not ingesting pesticides from non-organically farmed wine, or processing chemical additives, there is some proof that natural wine is healthier.
Isabelle Legeron, Master of Wine and RAW WINE Founder discusses the research in her book Natural Wine. It boils down to a few key points:
1. Organic fruits and berries contain up to 58% more antioxidant polyphenols, according to a UC Davis 2003 study.
2. There are significantly higher levels of resveratrol—an antioxidant found in wine—in grapes farmed sans synthetic chemicals and without tilling, pruning, or de-leafing, than in those farmed traditionally.
3. Fining and filtration also remove the desirable resveratrol.
4. A compound called glutathione, which is essential to help your body break down the alcohol—sothat it is excreted rather than passed through the bloodstream—is highly susceptible to sulfites. Therefore, wine with lower sulfite levels is more easily processed by the liver.
5. A clinic in Rome that studies how food affects our genes (the Clinical Nutrition and Nutrigenomic Division of Medicine) found that, essentially, “bad cholesterol” goes down when you drink wine without sulfites.
Organic and biodynamically-grown grapes are resilient to disease and other threats via their adaptability. The healthy flora and fauna of the grapes themselves, combined with the aforementioned points would lead one to imagine that drinking natural wine is a relatively health-conscious choice. Of course, it might not be the only reason for that choice!
DOES NATURAL WINE TASTE DIFFERENT FROM CONVENTIONAL WINE?
“I want a funky, stinky, cloudy—like the weirder the better—natural wine! What would you suggest?” This is a request us natural-wine-shop-folk get regularly.
Sometimes tasting a natural wine is a very different experience from what one might be used to, and sometimes the difference is only subtle.
It can take trained taste buds to realize that a silky, beautiful natural wine likely has had no intervention. Silvio Messana of Montesecondo in Tuscany’s Chianti Classico is a perfect example of this. It’s not funky or cloudy, one would never guess it’s unfiltered, but it is. There are some natural wines—Montesecondo included—which are major crowd pleasers to traditionalists and ‘naturalists’ alike because… they are just great. And that’s really the whole point, isn’t it?
Apart from cloudiness, or wines with visible sediment, a big giveaway is the gorgeous minerality on the tongue common of natural wines. The patient nurturing of these vines encourage the plants to root deeply and garner all aspects of individual terroir, which shines through in the end result. This also can lead to a lighter style of some commonly very full-bodied grapes such as Syrah or Bordeaux blends. It lends a certain juiciness or delicate nature to the wine while maintaining the possibilities for texture.
Other natural wines can have almost pickled vegetable notes, herbaceous-ness—particularly if cultivated in areas of volcanic soil such as Etna Rosso—and depending on the grape variety, an almost tartness sometimes which leads to their mouth-watering drinkability. The French have an actual word for this characteristic called “digestibilité”, in case you ever want to flex on any Parisians in a natural wine bar there someday.
People often equate the natural wine funkwith this “barnyard”, or even “gym socks” type note. Though barnyard isn’t totally unusual in non-natural wine, it can be a bit of an acquired taste. Yet many people do intentionally seek it. (See article on wine faults for more on Barnyard)
If any wine has a little too much funk or isn’t drinking in its fullest expression at first taste, throw it in a decanter for 30 minutes and check on it again. It may just need a little air.
As cult classic Jonathan Richman of the Modern Lovers sings: “He gave us the wine to taste it, not to talk about it”. Grab a glass, or two for comparison, and see what your taste buds decipher…
SERVING NATURAL WINE- AT WHAT TEMPERATURE SHOULD WE DECANT IT?
As far as temperature for drinking natural wine is concerned, you can follow the same general guidelines for traditional wines.
Room temperature has been a rule of thumb for reds for a long time, but with modern day heating systems, this has changed ever so slightly. Natural wines should generally not be stored or decanted above about 60 degrees Fahrenheit to conserve the full integrity of these wines.
Have you ever taken chocolate out of the refrigerator and realized you can’t fully taste it until it warms up in your mouth? In this same way, some wines benefit from being served at a slightly warmer temperature than the most fridge-fresh white or sparkling wines. It just helps bring out the flavor profile a bit more. Some of these include:
Fine champagne
White wines with some oak on them
White grapes with lower acidity like Chardonnay, Viognier or Chenin Blanc
Natural rosés with a rich hue that blur the line between a rosé and a lighter-bodied red. (Valentina Passalacqua’s Montepulciano from Puglia, or Oda Winery’s Dzelshavi rosé out of Georgia, are perfect examples)
Juicier, lighter bodied natural reds from grapes such Frappato, Gamay, Trousseau, Poulsard or Nerello Mascalese, benefit from a slight chill. Throw them in the refrigerator for 20 minutes or so before decanting.
The nature of natural winemaking can create juicier, typically fuller-bodied varieties however. So if you feel you want to give a Grenache-Carignan-Mourvedre blend a slight chill, go with your instinct!
DOES SOME NATURAL WINE BENEFIT FROM AGING?
The vast majority of wine—over 90 percent, natural or not—is made for consumption without aging. Especially those in the $30 and under range, which typically drink best within a couple of years of bottling. Many natural wines fall under the “vins de soif” category that has become a part of the natural craze. These are thirst-quenching, young bottles meant to be drunk right away, without overthinking them.
However, considering that wine was originally created in the natural fashion, don’t be afraid to store your natural wines, in the right conditions of course, for a few years if you like! You’ll be surprised how they can stand the test of time. The key is to pick a steadfast producer and store at cellar temperature—50-55 degrees Fahrenheit. In addition, choose wines that benefit from aging according to traditional standards as well, such as those with high alcohol, tannic, acidity, or sugar content.
WHAT ARE COMMON WINE FLAWS AND WHAT DO THEY TASTE LIKE?
Even if you love the “barnyard” funk (previously discussed under the Taste section), there’s a point at which it gets… a little too funky.
Brettanomycesor “Brett”, for short, is a yeast strain that can become too pronounced, at which point this “farm animal” or “gym locker” kind of note overpowers the fruit, rendering the wine unbalanced. A certain amount of it is often welcome, and produces the earthiness sometimes mistaken as terroir. We see this in wines from the Rhone region as well as sometimes in those from Italy or Napa. How much or little it is accepted depends on the region. Winemakers in Australia are less tolerable of it and prefer not to bottle wine with any sign of this note.
Another common flaw in natural wine is Volatile Acidity, or VA. It gives off either a balsamic vinegar, or worse—nail polish remover— taste. Sounds delicious, right? There is an actual, set gram/liter level of VA accepted in French appellation wines, but it all comes down to a taste test. Sometimes the fruit and other aromas balance the wine enough, and in other circumstances the bottle is just too “off”.
Mousiness, is another one often referred to when it comes to natural wines. Sometimes oxygen exposure can set off a bacterial infection which causes a “mousy” or sour milk kind of finish which can only be tasted, not smelled, as with VA. This may be corrected (by removing free oxygen). It doesn’t always render the wine undrinkable, but some people are more turned off by this note than others.
Oxidation can also spoil wine—natural and traditional alike. Sulfites are said to help protect certain compounds though, and therefore natural wines are slightly more susceptible to this fault. Tannins also help protect the wine against oxidation, so reds and skin contact wines have a slight advantage there. Oxidation happens when the wine is (somewhere along the way) exposed to too much oxygen and the wine matures too quickly, losing some of its vibrancy in taste and color. The wine begins to turn into vinegar, which becomes the dominant note.
A word about oxidation—it is not to be confused with the term “oxidative”. This refers to a style of winemaking that deliberately exposes the wine to some oxygen to bring out fruit and nut notes, and adds texture to the wine. Oxidativewines are in demand, an oxidized wine is a misfortune.
Apart from these common flaws which cannot be fixed, unfortunately, sometimes a natural wine can just taste a bit “off” when you first open it up. The best thing to do is to decant it and see if, with the help of a little oxygen and room to readjust outside the bottle, it re-harmonizes on its own. Give the wine 30 minutes and check in, and then another 30 minutes if it seems like it’s changing for the better. Let taste be your guide.