Natural Wine - What is it really, and is it “better” than “regular” wine?
I once had a customer come into Chemistry Wine Bar, my place in Catskill, NY, and ask me if I had anything with sediment. When I said no, and tried to explain the concept of minimal intervention in winemaking, she snickered behind her hand when I turned my back. I have also had several customers ask if I have anything with “funk.”. I understand that these qualities have become popular among “natural” wine drinkers, and it makes me cringe that it is implied that because I don’t cater to these traits that the wines I carry are somehow inferior, or that the bar isn’t cool or trendy. I honestly don’t strive to be trendy, and know I can’t make everyone happy. What I have done, however, is create a cozy, comfortable space where you can explore and enjoy high quality wines that won’t empty your pocketbook. I can almost always match a wine to a person, even if they don’t know my wines or even what they like. I take pride in recognizing that quality wine is in the heart of the winemaker - those that choose to let the fruit and “terroir” be the focus.
Recent years have shown a trend toward selling and marketing wines as “Natural.” These wines are supposed to be better because they are the juices from grapes as “nature” intended, with no additives or manipulative processes. Some even go so far as to say the wine must have “sediment,” or “funk,” that Kombucha taste. Perhaps some people just prefer that taste, but it doesn’t have to be present for the wine to be “naturally” made.
The problem with this trend is that it is usually self-designated by the winery, as there is no true definition for natural wine and it isn’t a regulated term. Additionally, many high-quality, responsibly made wines are ignored because they don’t claim to be a “natural” wine. Some say it must be organic, unfiltered, unfined, with no additives, including sulfates. Aldo Sohm, in his book Wine Simple3 (A great read!), defines natural wine as wine from organically and/or biodynamically farmed grapes that is bottled in small quantities by free-spirited producers. He goes on to say that nothing is added to the juice to affect flavor, and intervention during the fermentation process in the cellar, such as yeast additions or acidity adjustments via chemicals, is kept to a minimum. This can often lead to the wine being cloudy, and they are often volatile, meaning the flavors can change quickly, characteristics which can be detrimental to enjoyable drinking. I think these wines taste “unfinished”.
The fact is, there are many wines that have those same characteristics - nothing added to the juice to affect flavor, and nothing added during the fermentation process in the cellar, such as yeast or acidity adjustments via chemicals - that are not classified as “natural.”. The term most used to describe this beneficial part of winemaking is “minimal Intervention.”.
One contribution to the advent of a term to define minimal intervention wines was the improved modernization of scientific processes to create wine that was consistent, even when weather or other influences could lead to a poor vintage. Additionally, in the US there are over 60 legal additives in wine making, including everything from sugar or sulfates, to dried fish bladders. Many wineries use these additives and manipulative processes in order to keep consistency and prolong stability and shelf life, which many consumers of these wines expect when they pick a well known label off a grocery store or liquor store shelf. While this practice has become more widespread over the past decades, it is not the norm, especially in wine from high quality, small batch wineries, and reputable winemakers who understand the importance of “terroir.” -The wine should reflect the sense of place from the fruit and the region.
These winemakers understand that the beauty of wine isn’t fitting into a category that consumers believe make them more “virtuous”1,or politically correct; the beauty is in the expression of the things that make up “terroir” in wine - the soil, the climate and micro-climate, the age and placement of vines - as well as how the wine is harvested and made. Many of these wineries hand pick their grapes - this allows them to choose each cluster by its specific ripeness at the exact time they think it is ready. This process can occur over several days by making multiple “passes” through the vines. These winemakers understand the magic of knowing exactly when the fruit will make the perfect wine. In this way, they don’t need extensive manipulation in the winery, the grapes just speak for themselves. On the flipside, if there is a hailstorm or other catastrophe midway through this process they can lose a large part of the harvest for that vintage - a devastation for a small winey, but a price they are willing to pay to be true to the craft of winemaking. Conversely, many large volume producers use modern technology and machines to harvest, bringing everything in from the vineyard at once - including rotten grapes, rocks and even rodents - and extensive filtration and mechanical processes are needed in the winery to make the wine fit to drink.
An article from The New Yorker quotes Gideon Beinstock, an early adapter of natural winemaking (from the ‘70’s, before the term was popular), who believed that these processes “suffocated the terroir.” 2 His winery, Clos Saron, was not advertised as “natural,” but believed in terroir-driven minimal intervention. “I was not thinking about being green or being politically correct or about being cool. To me, it was one thing only—how do you express the soil to the fullest extent possible?”
There are many, many wineries in both the US and abroad that practice minimal intervention and don’t use many or any of these additives or manipulative processes. Natural wine drinkers might snub their noses at them because they aren’t cloudy and funky, but these wines are just as, if not more, responsibly made since not all “natural” wines are organic and/or biodynamic. The fact is, it is possible to have a wine that is not filtered or fined, that is still clear. And many, especially the smaller “boutique” wineries that we focus on at Chemistry Wine bar, are organic and/or biodynamic, use indigenous yeast - meaning the yeast that naturally occurs on the grapes without adding any - and are unfiltered or unfined. While some may use natural products such as egg whites to filter or fine the wine, this is not necessarily a bad thing, as it can lead to a more stable product, that is enjoyable to drink over the course of a few days, not just an hour.
Many of the wines we carry are also vegan.. Most of these small batch, well made wines are superb. Their winemakers know that if you use quality fruit, know the soil composition in which the vines are planted, are selective on which fruit they harvest when - down to individual clusters - and stick to the core winemaking processes that have been around for centuries, your wine will reflect the local terroir.
So, if you just prefer the funky taste of “natural” wines that taste like kombucha, to each his own. But if you ask for a “natural” wine at Chemistry, you won’t get one that is cloudy and funky, mostly because the term does not refer to a specific, regulated process, and therefore you may not actually know what you’re getting. What you will get is a quality wine that has not been unnaturally manipulated to produce a specific flavor. “Natural” wines are not necessarily “better” for the drinker or the environment. If you are looking for a quality wine that is responsibly made, look for minimal intervention wines that are transparent about their processes. The biggest benefit of this is that if you know the grape, where it’s from, and the winemaking process, you can have a good idea how it will taste, and if it will be something you will enjoy, even if you’ve never heard of the winery!
For further reading I highly recommend both books by Aldo Sohm, https://aldosohm.com/?srsltid=AfmBOoong2i5JnbLZdiPWXgAPKKaSirxPWcCnDRtAja_tqrWkSLI8fRN
And the article quoted here from The New Yorker
Cheers!
1 The New Yorker, Published in the print edition of the November 25, 2019, issue, with the headline “On the Nose.”
2 Published in the print edition of the November 25, 2019, issue, with the headline “On the Nose.”
3 Wine Simple, Aldo Sohm, Copyright 2019.
