Natural Wines: What You Need to Know

Walk into any New York wine bar, ask about natural wine, and you’ll be sure to get a nod of affirmation from your hip bartender, followed by a list of raving recommendations. Over the past decade, natural wine has reached a certain celebrity, but what is it exactly? Though there’s no solid definition, let’s start with what people can agree on.

Above all, natural wines are organic. They also tend to avoid fining agents and add little or no sulfites. Without chemical use, natural wines have all the subsequent health and environmental benefits. Unfortunately, the certification process can be tedious and bureaucratic, and many small producers cannot afford it.

The term can also encompass biodynamic farming. Simply stated, biodynamic farming contextualizes the vineyard within the ecosystem. Cover crops, trees, and livestock such as goats are essential in creating biodiversity, which in turn strengthen the resilience of the vines. Though the goats pictured were not on an alpine vineyard, they were too cute not to be included in this post.

So, how does natural winemaking influence taste? Well, many winemakers would agree that it adds complexity. With less tools to manipulate the end-product, each vintage gains individuality and character. Essentially, natural winemakers believe minimal intervention produces the best wine.

There’s something charming about how simpler methods can produce such astounding wines. Too much of the food and drink we encounter today are uniform and mass produced, removed from the artisan’s touch, and a far cry from the farm to table ideal. Returning to simpler methods of viticulture satisfies our yearning for something we can connect to. Or perhaps, simply appreciating how the product of an age old and delicious tradition remains at our dinner table.