VITICULTURE–Natural Wine

WHAT IS NATURAL WINE?

NATURAL WINE– Wine Produced From Organically Farmed Vineyards and Nothing is Added or Taken Out of the Wine During the Entire Wine Producing Process. Natural Wine is Non/ Low Intervention Wine Making and Produced Using Minimal Vitification and Vinification Intervention.

  • The Idea Behind Natural Wine is a Concept and Philosophy, and it Centers Around Doing as Little as Possible to the Grapes and the Wine. There Are Over 50 Additives and Procedures Wine Can Be Put Through, Natural Wine Attempts to Do None.  Natural Wine Making is a Precise Art Form From Vitification to Vinification, and Isn’t Immune to Bad Wine-Making.
  • While There’s Some Distinct Overlap Natural Wine Shouldn’t Be Confused With Organic or Bio-Dynamic Grape Growing or Wine Making.
  • HISTORY- The Term “Natural Wine” Started In the 1980’s as a Way to Differentiate Minimal Invasive Wine With Conventional Wine.
  • CULTURE- For Promoting purposes, Natural Producers Have Been Covering the Tops of the Bottle with a Coating of Wax In an Effort to Brand Their Movement.

“Natural Wine is “Zero/ Zero”…Nothing Added and Nothing Taken Out.”

CONDITIONS NECESSARY To BE CONSIDERED NATURAL WINE

  • Grapes Have to Be Farmed Organically or Bio-Dynamically.
  • Grower Following Sustainable Viticulture Practices.
  • Grapes Have to Be Harvested by Hand.
  • No Additives…No Cultured Yeast, Sulphate, Acids,Tannin, Coloring, Chapilization.
  • No Procedures…No Fining, No Filtering, No Sterilization.
  • No Blocking of Malolactic Conversion.
  • Although Debatable a Minimal Amount of Sulfur at Bottling to Stabilize Production is Acceptable 5-10 ppm. (Parts Per Million.)

In a Wine There’s a Micro Biology Constantly Occurring. When You Use Sulfites You Kill the Unwanted Bacteria as Planed But You Also Knock Out the Yeast Population and Change A Lot of the Tasting Features. You Physically Take Out Some of the Aliveness and Change What the Wine is and What It Has the Potential to Become.

  • WINE & PHILOSOPHY?–“CONTENTIOUS WINE ISSUE!” “There’s No Formal Definition For Natural Wine!”
    • “While There’s No “Formal” Definition, There is the Criteria Above Conditions Necessary to Be Considered Nature Wine That I Widely Excepting Throughout the Natural Wine Community.”
  • WINE & PHILOSOPHY?  “Does a Wine-Maker Need to Use Native/ Wild Yeast Indigenous to the Grapes Region to Be Considered a Natural Wine and Be Part of a Vineyards Terroir?”
    • “The True Representation of a Natural Wine and Terroir Needs to Include Native Yeast.  The Act of Killing Off Native Yeast Only to Inoculate it With a Cultured Yeast is Unnatural.  As a Result One Winery’s Wine Can Smell and Taste Completely Different From Their Neighbors Estate Wine Even if the Vineyards, Grapes Are Identical.  This Isn’t a Accurate Portrayal of a Vineyards True Terroir.”
  • “How to Make a Natural Wine Stable? That is the Question and the Quest.”
  • WINE & PHILOSOPHY?  “Should There Be Mandatory Labeling On Wines Stating All of the Ingredients Naturally Occurring or Added During the Wine Making Process?”
    • “Natural and Organic Wine-Makers Are Pushing For Transparent Labeling For all Ingredients Put Into Wine.”
  • WINE & PHILOSOPHY? “Is Natural Wine More Alive Than Conventional Wine?”
    • “Natural Wine Looks Different/ More Alive Under a Microscope. It’s Microbally Super Healthy.   All Wines Are Alive at One Point, Natural Wine is Just More Alive Than Conventional Wine.  Natural Wine is More Alive With Remarkable Energy and Tension.”
  • WINE & PHILOSOPHY?  “In Reality is There a “Sliding Scale” of Naturalness and Low Intervention Wine Making?”
    • “I Don’t Care if the Grape Grower or Wine Producer Uses Some Natural Element or Technology to Enhance Their Wine. All Natural Wine Producers Start the Wine Making Process with Zero Intent On Intervening with Native Yeast Fermentation, Un-Fined, Unfiltered, No Sulfur Use, Minimal Vineyard Intervention. But Usually Commercial Yeast and Sulphur are Near to Make Corrections if Needed. Even With the Purest of Intent a Little Intervention is Always Better Than Losing a Vintage.”
  • WINE & PHILOSOPHY?  “Wine Has Historically Always Been Totally Natural, When Did Wine Producers Start Making Conventional Wines?”
    • “Sometime In the 1930’s & 1940’s Agriculture Producers Started Using Chemical In Their Fields to Combat Pest and Disease. These Chemicals Worked Great and Not Knowing the Negative Ramifications the Practices Spread to the Vineyards Across Europe.”
  • WINE & PHILOSOPHY?–“CONTENTIOUS WINE ISSUE!” “The Natural Wine Movement is Lessening the Value or Importance of the Wine Maker!”
    • YES…“By Not Having to Worry About Yeast, Fining and Filtering Wine, Knowledge of Oak Barrels, etc. the Natural Winemaker Doesn’t Have to Be as Well Rounded as He Once Was.”
  • WINE & PHILOSOPHY?–“CONTENTIOUS WINE ISSUE!” “Wine Makers Are Reluctant to Discuss Exactly What They Did or Used On the Wine Even Though is Was Completely Legal!”

DRINKING/ EVALUATING NATURAL WINE

  • NATURAL WINE EVALUATION
    • Sight:       CLARITY– Clear-Murky
                          COLOR– Peach, Pink, Salmon, Light-Orange
    • Aroma: Grapy, Bubble Gum
    • Palate:
    • Structure:
    • Generally- Less Oak, Less Extraction, Lower ABV.
      • Radiance, Young, Fresh, Fruity Easy Drinking, Unpredictable, Spoils Easily
      • Should be Treated Like Fresh Fruit and Should Be Taken Care of During Travel Time Natural Wine Subject to Bottle Shock and Should Be Remedied as So.
      • Residual Carbon Dioxide- Appears When You Pour a Glass of Natural Wine. Producers Bottle Wine With Low Levels of Natural Occurring Co2 Because it Helps Preserve the Wine.
  • WINE & PHILOSOPHY? “Can an Educated Wine Professional/ Sommelier Pick Out Natural Wines In a Blind Tasting Among Conventional Wines?”
    • “This is Debatable, There are Things About Natural Wine That Might Stand Out When Blind Tasting: Natural Yeast, Enhance Texture, Tension In the Wine.”

“Natural Wine Drinkers Want to Know…Is it Made Responsibly and Does it Taste Good.”

Natural Wine Pioneers

  • PIONEERS~ ~Frank Cornelissen~  “Sicily/ Italy”, Leader In the Italian Natural Wine Movement.
  • PIONEERS~ ~Elisabetta Forador~ “Alto Adige/ Italy”, Leader In the Italian Natural Wine Movement.
  • PIONEERS~ ~Nicolas Joly~ “Loire/ France”, Natural Wine Pioneer.
  • PIONEERS~ ~Pierre Overnoy~ “Jura/ France”, Leader In Natural Wine Movement.
  • PIONEERS~ ~Isabela Legegron~ Natural Wine Pioneer In France.
  • PIONEERS~ ~Jules Chauvet~ “Beaujolais/ France”, Father of French Natural Wine Movement.
  • PIONEERS~ ~Marcel Lapierre~ “Beaujolais/ France”, Leader In the French Natural Wine Movement.

“If You Care About Your How Your Vegetables Were Grown You Should Care About How Your Wine Was Produced.”

Natural Wine Organizations

  • France-  ~L’Association des Vin Naturels~
  • France-  ~Les Vino S.A.I.N.S -France~
  • Italy-  ~Vini Veri~
  • Italy-  ~Vinnatur~ Innovative Collaboration with Universities and Research Institutes.
  • Slovenia- ~Zadruga Simbiosa Ekolosko Kimetijstvo~ ZBO.
  • Spain- ~Asociación de Productores de Vinos Naturales de España~

**Refer to “WINE STYLES/ Orange Wine” For Detailed Information

**Refer to “WINE STYLES/ Sparkling/ Methode Ancestral” For Detailed Information

“Natural Wine is All About What Nature Gives You In a Certain Growing Year, and Letting Guiding Your Wine to Reflect That.”

**Refer to “BIBLIOGRAPHY/ Sources” For Details On Scholarly Works Referenced.