About
From the greatest Burgundy to funky juices: Natural wine can be anything today.
Natural wines are grown organically in the vineyard and made with little intervention in the cellar. Winemakers do without filtration. They also add very little sulfites, if any at all.
For them, this is the best way to express pure terroir in their wines.
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History
The origins of wine lead to Armenia and Georgia in the 6th millenium BC. Back then, wine was simply fermented grape juice that was made and stored in amphoras. Nothing was added nor removed, and wine was simply fermented grape juice.
As technology and chemistry progressed, winemakers had increasingly more possibilities to influence their wines taste. This includes the use of aromatic yeasts to create certain flavours, chaptalization (adding sugar), and enzymes. It allowed for neutralizing flavors that winemakers did not want to keep, and to add new ones. Also the use of systemic pesticides and mineral fertilizers in the vineyards increased. Winemaking became easier and more fast-paced, leading to a flooding of the market with conventional, uniformal wines that did not show any characteristics of their origin.
A new era
Some winemakers felt the need for a radical change which was significantly inspired by Jules Chauvet, a french winemaker and chemist in the French region of Beaujolais.
In the midst of an industrial peak of this region in the 1970s, Chauvet began with organic cultivation in the vineyard, and winemaking without added sulphites in the cellar.
He heavily influenced the so-called Gang of Four, a group of winemakers whose concern was for environmental impact and that shaped the focus on quality in Beaujolais and beyond: Marcel Lapierre, Jean Foillard, Jean-Paul Thévenet, and Guy Breton.
Since then, natural wine has been an antithesis to conventional and industrial winemaking practices. It is a way of using today's knowledge to return to the original methods of winemaking, taking a more radical approach than the mainstream. This means working responsibly with nature in the vineyard and with minimal intervention in the cellar: Natural winemaking is based on organic and biodynamic practices, and limits or abandons all the authorized additives and technical possibilities available to winemakers today. By doing so, natural wine aims to offer a pure and authentic expression of its origin, vintage, and soil, in short, its terroir.
What is natural wine?
Simply put, natural wine is made from organically or biodynamically produced grapes to which nothing is removed or added while making them.
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The grapes are hand-picked, and the wines undergo spontaneous fermentation without adding yeast, sugar, acid, or yeast nutrients. Furthermore, no stabilization processes such as filtration or fining are employed, and while sulfur is typically not added, small doses may be used occasionally directly before bottling.
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While there is a general understanding within the natural wine community about what natural wine is, there is no international legal definition for natural wine, unlike organic wine.
This can be confusing for consumers because different winemakers and sellers might have their own take on what "natural wine" means. On the other hand, natural wine originated from a movement that aimed to break free from traditional winemaking conventions and legal requirements.​​​​
In the vineyards
We at L´Esprit du Vin believe that natural wine can only be made from grapes grown in organic or biodynamic vineyards.
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Biodynamic and organic agriculture are often associated with natural wine or perceived as the opposite of the "classic wine world". But in fact, these are two different levels. The terms biodynamic and organic concerns the viticulture in the vineyard, whereas natural mainly describes the approach in the cellar. Wines from organic or biodynamic grapes can be turned into wine in many different ways leading to various styles: classic, natural, and anything in between.
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We can see that from high-class, biodynamic (and style-wise classic) wineries such as the world-famous Domaine Leroy by Lalou Bize-Leroy (biodynamic since the 1980s), and Peter Jakob Kühn from Rheingau. These producers realized that biodynamic viticulture leads to a healthy, vital, and species-rich vineyard which not only helps them to do something good for nature but also to produce better wines.
In the cellar
Natural wine makers intervene less in the process of winemaking. For example, their wines start fermenting spontaneously without added yeasts. Doing less sounds simple: The juice starts fermenting at some point, you leave the wine on it's own and nature will make it work. Unfortunately, it takes a bit more than that.
In fact, producing clean natural wines that express their grape variety and origin is often much more difficult than producing wines the classic way. This is mainly because in natural wine making, winemakers don't use additives or other techniques such as filtering to stabilize their wines which in turn requires an even higher level of clean and precise working in the cellar.
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The only additive that might be used is sulfur. While there are no globally defined rules, the amounts of sulfites in natural wines are little, often up to 30mg/l. As a comparison, organic red wine is allowed to contain up to 100mg/l, organic white wine even up to 150mg/l.
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It's important to note that while there are wines that do not have added sulfur, completely sulfite-free wine does not exist. This is because sulfites are naturally produced during the alcoholic fermentation.
Labels and Certifications
Although there is no international legal definition, a number of certifications have emerged in some countries that are recognized either by associations or the government. Here are some examples:
France
In 2019, a private association has been formed that labels their member's wines Vin Méthode Nature. This certification is recognized by the french authorities including the national institue for origin and quality (INAO). To qualify as a Vin Méthode Nature, a wine has to be made from hand-picked grapes that are certified organic. The fermentation has to be spontaneous, namely with indigenous yeasts from vineyard and cellar, and without added, cultured yeasts. Additives such as sugar, acid or tannin are forbidden. Also, stabilization processes such as filtering or fining are prohibited. Finally, the only additive allowed is sulfur, the wines may contain up to 30mg/l.
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Another associaction, Les Vins S.A.I.N.S., established in 2010, is focused on wines without any added sulfites, neither filtration or other stabilization practices are allowed. For the vineyard, they don't require an organic or biodynamic certification, but prohibit the use of any chemicals.
Italy
Triple A was formed in 2001 already and is rather a movement than an association that certifies wines with a label. To be member of Triple A, winemakers have to fulfill pretty much the same requirements as for Vin Méthode Nature in France. Unlike the french association, the maximum amount of sulfites is not defined. Among the members, there is well-known winemakers such as Arianna Occhipinti (Sicily) and Emidio Pepe (Abruzzo).
Austria
According to the Austrian wine law, wines that fulfill certain requirements can be labeled "natural wine". These requirements are very similar to the ones from Vin Méthode Nature in France.
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Click here for an overview of natural wine associations.
Organic, biodynamic, natural
The graphic of Les Vins S.A.I.N.S shows the allowed (not necessarily used) additives and techniques as well as the maximum amounts of added sulfites in conventional, organic, biodynamic and natural wines. In this case, the natural wines are called vins S.A.I.N.S.
Working organic or biodynamic is mostly about a certain type of agriculture used in the vineyard. Making natural wine is mostly about low or no interventions in the cellar.
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A wine can be grown organic or biodynamic and made using a classic approach in the cellar, for example using higher amounts of sulfites or filtration, which are not used in natural wine making.
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While every natural wine, according to most definitions, is at the same time an organic or biodynamic wine, not every biodynamic or organic wine is necessarily a natural wine.
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Criticism of classifications
While labels are often issued by private associations, the legal classification of wine is determined by the respective national wine laws.
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In countries like Austria and Germany, wines must obtain an inspection number to be labeled as "Qualitätswein" (quality wine) and to indicate a vineyard site on the label. To receive this inspection number, wines have to undergo testing. If they are found to have faults, they will not receive the inspection number, and will be declassified to Landwein ("countrywine"). According to the wine laws in Austria and Germany, cloudiness is already considered a fault in white wine. As natural winemakers do not filter their wines, the wines naturally contain some solids, such as yeast, and therefore are cloudy to varying extents.
This means that the majority of natural winemakers in these countries are not allowed to label their wine as "Qualitätswein" or indicate the vineyard site on the label, as the wine is considered "atypical" and not representative of its origin. Winemaker Franz Reinhard Weninger refers to this phenomenon as ‘stolen origin’. Like him, many natural winemakers are frustrated with these regulations and declassifications. They feel that these regulations do not recognize their efforts to create an authentic, pure, and typical representation of their terroir, as they adhere to supposedly typical but, in fact, technically falsified flavors.
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However, some winemakers find creative ways to cope with the bureaucracy. The Austrian winemaker Claus Preisinger for example calls his best white cuvée ErdeLuftGrasundReben (earth, air, grass and vines), to indicate that the grapes come from the vineyard Edelgraben.
How does natural wine taste?
The smell and flavour of wine is influenced by several factors, including soil, cultivation methods, grape variety, climate, and winemaking techniques.
While there are many fruit-driven natural wines, these wines are generally less fruity than non-natural wines. They often exhibit more savoury or vegetal/ herbaceous notes, and may appear less crisp on the palate because they are not filtered and undergo malolactic fermentation, which converts sharp malic acid into milder lactic acid.
Additionally, natural wines may contain certain notes that are not typically found in traditionally produced wines such as volatile acidity, ethyl acetate, and brettanomyces, with oxidative notes occurring less frequently in natural wines.
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Faults in natural wines
To a certain extent, notes occuring in some natural wines such as volatile acidity or ethyl acetate can make a positive contribution to balance and complexity. As soon as they dominate the wine's profile, they become a fault and lead to unpleasant notes. And then the wines smell like vinegar (volatile acid) or remind of nail polish remover (ethyl acetate). Another fault that sometimes occurs is mouse. More details about faults you can read here.
The tolerance levels of winemakers, sommeliers, and consumers for these faults seem to vary greatly. While for some, a cloudy wine is already considered flawed, for others, there seems to be no limit, even if the wine contains a lot of volatile acidity and other flaws that do not allow characteristic features of the wine's origin to shine through.
This extended tolerance has reached a point where some wines are sought after because of low production, a popular origin, and a good story behind the winemaker, even though their expression might be masked by flaws. Faulty wines are sold as the freedom of the winemaker and an authentic expression of their terroir, leading consumers to believe that the wine should be the way it is.
It is undoubtedly true that many consumers are not used to notes specific to natural wine, and one can easily think that a natural wine is faulty even though it's not. It is also very easy, as a wine merchant or sommelier, to judge wines and to overlook the hard work that has been put into them by the winemakers. Sometimes it can be a single, difficult vintage that makes the wines of an otherwise excellent winemaker unstable and confronts them with the question of selling the wines with faults or foregoing the income from part of the harvest, which can put smaller winemakers in a particularly difficult financial situation.
However, in the context of fine wines, we think that wines dominated by flaws, whether this is the rule or exception for the respective winery, should not be presented and sold as wines expressing freedom, authenticity or terroir. Doing so can result in a distorted consumer perception, which may not be fair to the numerous talented producers who are dedicated to creating clean, precise and expressive natural wines.
