What is natural wine?
Does anyone know? From all points of investigation, the simple answer is no. If nobody knows, the question becomes, “Does it even exist?” When I first heard about natural wine it was from a blogger named Beau (AKA Beau’s Barrel Room) I asked, “What is natural wine?” Seems like the logical place to initiate the discussion. It seems there are many that are believers in it, but there is no clear definition. Everyone that claims to be part of the movement has a variation of beliefs. The general broad stroke is simply a minimalist approach in the vineyard and during the wine making process.
After visiting a winery recently, I met the owner whom began to discuss passionately about natural wine. He poured me one of his wines, and asked, “have you ever had a natural wine?” Honestly not knowing if I had, I asked, “What is natural wine?” He mentioned a few specific aspects including that a natural wine will never be seen in a grocery store. In producing a natural wine will you never add yeast, fine or filter. He also emphasized his most prominent point in making a natural wine, no grafting or chemical use.
His passion was contagious, and I was interested. Having the wine in front of me was also a motivator. There was a lady in the tasting room drinking along side, that was part of the conversation. She introduced herself as a vineyard owner from just a few miles away practicing natural wine in her vineyards. Intrigued by the subject, I began to inquire her definition of natural wine. Seemingly her main emphasis was animals need to be in the vineyard. It was her belief that the animals naturally eat and replace mowing or discing the soil, and they naturally contribute fertilizer back to the earth.
She also admitted that she was forced to use hard chemicals in her vineyard for a couple of years. The two vineyard owners standing in the same room, living just a few miles apart, were seemingly worlds apart in what defines natural wine. The vineyard property we were on, had no animals, and claims of zero hard chemical use.
Returning from my wine travels, I was interested to see what others had to say. A website morethanorganic.com displayed very clear boundaries of their definition of natural wine. They indicated that winemakers view themselves as non-interventionist using few additives and little to no manipulation, something the previous two vineyard owners agreed with in part.
More Than Organic seems to approve of compromise if needed. Their definition indicates that natural wine is only produced in small quantities, by independent producers, low yielding vineyards that are hand picked and grown organically. No specific quantifiers for “small” or “low.” No added sugar or unnatural yeasts, no micro-oxygenation or reverse osmosis. Unfined and unfiltered are not permitted, and sulfur can only be used in very low amounts if at all. There is some definite flexibility from this group in their allowance for “occasional” intervention to prevent wine spoilage.
Many in the natural wine movement reject sulfur during fermentation and bottling. Sulfur is a natural preservative used to protect wine from microbial contamination. SO2 prevents wine from a secondary bottle fermentation similar to sparkling wines and reason some natural wines may show a slight fizz when in the glass.
On a personal note, while tasting at a Pinot Noir event, a winemaker shared one wine under two different labels. The winemaker indicated there was only one difference in the two bottles of Pinot Noir was simply one used SO2 at bottling and the other did not. Both wines tasted great in my view, but to my surprise gravitated towards the non-SO2 wine. The interesting aspect was how very different the two wines tasted.
There are many different details that could be argued about natural wine and what constitutes clear boundaries. With an investigation that shows three proponents of natural wine, one believing strongly in the use of animals in the vineyard, another believing grafted vines cannot be natural wine, and no correlation in these topics between the three. One aspect for them seems to connect, hard chemical use is not favored by any of the three. So the next time you hear someone reference natural wine, it may be interesting to find out their definition.
Carmody McKnight Vineyard, producer of Natural Wines
