Natural wine

Natural wine is wine made with minimal chemical and technological intervention, both in growing grapes and making them into wine. The term is used to distinguish such wine from organic wine and biodynamic wine because of differences in cellar practices. All natural wines are, however, farmed organically at a minimum and many growers are biodynamic in the vineyard as well.

Strictly speaking, natural wines are wines that are produced without adding or removing anything during winemaking, although some growers add tiny quantities of sulphites at bottling, so that strictly speaking their wines are not natural wines, but 'only' organic (and possibly biodynamic).

Organic wine is organic in the sense of having been produced from organically grown grapes, but may be subject to chemical and physical manipulation in the winemaking process.^[1]

Among the most influential personalities and ambassadors for natural wines is worth mentioning sommeliers like Pierre Jancou (La Crémerie, Le bistrot Racines, Vivant and Heimat) and Ewen Le Moigne (Saturne) from Paris and Anders Frederik Steen (He worked as sommelier at the world-famous restaurant Noma, then joined Noma alums to form the highly acclaimed restaurant Relae and then Manfreds, both in Copenhagen.) Now Anders is a winemaker in Ardèche. Another influential name is Natural Wine World is Isabelle Legeron MW, France's only female Master of Wine and the only MW worldwide dedicated to the subject.

Definitions

At the present time (2013) there exists no official or legal definition of natural wine; neither has any legislation been passed to date by any regional, national or supranational authority, and there are no organizations that can certify that a wine is natural.

However, there are many unofficial definitions or codes of practice published by the different associations of natural wine producers:

• RAW WINE (UK, Germany, USA)
• L´Association des Vins Naturels (France)
• Les Vins S.A.I.N.S (France)
• La Renaissance des Appellations (France)
• Vini Veri (Italy)
• Vinnatur (Italy)
• ZADRUGA SIMBIOSA EKOLOŠKO KMETIJSTVO Z.B.O. (Slovenia)
• Asociación de Productores de Vinos Naturales de España (Spain)
• Philipp Wittmann, Verband Deutscher Prädikatsweingüter (Germany)
• Autentisté (Czech and Slovak Republic)
• Terra Hungarica (Hungary and Carpathian Basin)

Additionally, many articles have been written defining what is or is not natural wine given that there is no clear consensus or definition on the topic as of yet.^{[2][3][4][5][6][7][8]}

Criteria

The following basic criteria are generally accepted by most natural wine producers and organizations:

• Organically or biodynamically grown grapes, with or without certification.
• Dry-farmed, low-yielding vineyards.
• Hand-picked.
• No added sugars, no cultivated (cultured) yeasts, no foreign bacteria.
• No adjustments for acidity.
• No additives for color, mouth-feel, minerality, etc.
• No external flavor additives, including those derived from new oak barrels, staves, chips, or liquid extract.
• Minimal or no fining or filtration.
• No heavy manipulation, such as micro-oxygenation, reverse osmosis, spinning cone, cryoextraction.
• Minimal or no added sulphites aka sulfites.

Key individuals

The following people were or are instrumental in the production or communication of contemporary natural wine:

• Rudolf Steiner, curator of biodynamics.
• Maria Thun - was a leading authority on “biodynamics”, an approach to agriculture and horticulture which uses the waxing and waning of the moon and the position of the planets and constellations to determine when to sow and harvest; her annual Biodynamic Sowing and Planting Calendar was regarded as a vital land practice tool by aficionados.
• Masanobu Fukuoka, Japanese philosopher of farming.
• Jules Chauvet, developer of carbonic maceration fermentation, sulphite free winemaking, and author.
• Nicolas Joly, wine producer, head of Renaissance des Appellations Controlees, and spokesman for biodynamics.
• Marcel Lapierre, wine producer, mentor, and early adopter of low to no sulphite winemaking.
• Isabelle Legeron MW, founder of RAW WINE and author of Natural Wine: an introduction to organic & biodynamic wines made naturally, which received positive reviews from The World of Fine Wine and Decanter Magazine.
• James Hird, along with Giorgio De Maria and Mike Bennie, co-Founders of Rootstock Sydney Festival, a not for profit, sustainable wine and food festival in Sydney Australia.

Controversy

The term "Natural wine" is considered by some critics, such as Tom Wark, to be a misleading term. There is no established certification body and the term has no legal status. Winemakers who describe themselves (or are described by others) as "natural" often differ in what they consider to be an acceptable level of intervention. The term might also confuse consumers into assuming that the wine is organically grown.

The inherent ambiguity of the term has been defended by Bradford Taylor, owner of Ordinaire, a wine bar in Oakland, California that exclusively serves natural wine. According to Taylor, "there's something productive about how nebulous the term 'natural' is, how it opens itself up to debate every time it comes up."^[9]

See also

• Organic wine
• Biodynamic wine

References

Bibliography

• Cogliati, Samuel (2016). Understanding Natural Wines. Possibilia Editore. ISBN 9788898753178.
• Feiring, Alice (2008). The battle for wine and love : or how I saved the world from parkerization. Orlando: Harcourt. ISBN 9780151012862. OCLC 166255209.
• Feiring, Alice (2011). Naked wine : letting grapes do what comes naturally. Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press. ISBN 9780306819537. OCLC 701015445.
• Fukuoka, Masanobu. The One Straw Revolution
• Gómez Pallarès, Joan (2013). Vinos naturales en España : placer auténtico y agricultura sostenible en la copa. Barcelona: RBA. ISBN 9788415541929. OCLC 889927381.
• Goode, Jamie; Harrop, Sam (2011). Authentic wine : toward natural and sustainable winemaking. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 9780520949690. OCLC 750192350.
• Joly, Nicolas (1999). Wine from sky to earth : growing & appreciating biodynamic wine. Austin, Tex.: Acres U.S.A. ISBN 0911311602. OCLC 42464650.
• Legeron, Isabelle; Kingcome, Gavin; Zinonos, Anthony. West, Caroline, ed. Natural wine : an introduction to organic and biodynamic wines made naturally. London. ISBN 9781782491002. OCLC 884370524.
• Matthews, Patrick (2000). Real wine : the rediscovery of natural winemaking. London: Mitchell Beazley. ISBN 1840002573. OCLC 44562104.