What is natural wine, anyway?
Our resident winemaking expert Julien Miquel weighs in on “natural wine”… is it a regulated term? (No)… Are so-called natural wines better representations of their local terroir? (Julien’s answer may surprise you)… And the question hanging over it all: do they make demonstrably better wine, or is the fad driven by the feelings of the consumer?
Let us know your thoughts on natural wine in the comments! The trend doesn’t seem to be going anywhere soon, and we’d love to hear your experiences with it.
Transcript:
00:00:00:00 – 00:00:35:17
Hello and welcome to your new Bonner Private Wines video, where we learn about wines together weekly. I’m your host, Julien Miquel, Bordeaux-trained wine maker. At the beginning of this year, I made a video about the 2024 wine trends, about wines and styles that would pop or continue growing in popularity this year. And sure enough, natural wine was one of these trends that’s been going on for a little while, and that keeps on coming up more and more in every restaurant and every wine shop.
00:00:35:18 – 00:01:10:01
So today I want to have a discussion with you, and I’m going to need your input here in the comments about first what are natural wines and explain a little bit how they’re made differently. Since I am a winemaker, I got a good grasp on that. And secondly, I will tell you, as a conventional winemaker trained to use more modern techniques and approaches, how I see natural wines and what I think about them. While they whine, we wine…
00:01:10:03 – 00:01:37:10
Let’s talk about it.
00:01:37:12 – 00:02:07:07
What is this natural wine? Well, straight up, there is one little problem. We said natural wine. We’re going to cover more difficulties with the concept here in a minute. But instantly looking into what is a natural wine, you find that there is not one single definition for it. It is not a controlled or certified term. Organic has a certification, several certifications for wine growers.
00:02:07:07 – 00:02:36:24
Biodynamic has certifications, so you have to obey certain rules and practices that are controlled to be organic or biodynamic. Not for natural. It is a term that encompasses a variety of winemaking techniques and philosophies more than we need tangible practices or techniques. But still, how do you make one of those said natural wines? First, you want to use organic grapes or biodynamic grapes.
00:02:36:24 – 00:03:06:19
There are techniques to do that, so that’s fairly easy. Then in the winery, you’re essentially going to do as little as possible to make the wine, except for trying to prevent it from turning into vinegar or smelling really bad if possible. And that’s using first no sulfites or as little as possible. You want to if you want to learn what sulfites are in every detail and why, we add them to a wine, I made a complete video right here to watch.
00:03:06:19 – 00:03:29:03
Normally with conventional modern winemaking we add a little bit of sulfite to the grape juice right after harvest. We add a little more after the fermentation because it disappears during fermentation. And so the wine is protected also during the maturation in the barrels, in the tanks, in the winery. And we add finally a little more at bottling.
00:03:29:03 – 00:04:06:02
So your wine in your bottle is nice and stable when you buy the flask. None of this in a natural wine, although some producers may use a little bit of sulfites. It’s not regulated. So you can, you could, but generally natural winemakers use, say, as little as possible or absolutely no sulfites. Then you only use indigenous yeasts, so no commercial yeasts that you can buy in bags at a winemaking shop, which are selected yeasts multiplied in labs, in factories.
00:04:06:04 – 00:04:45:10
And then you can use to inoculate your tanks of grape juice, just like you would buy yeasts for making bread. Natural wine would only use the natural yeast that are present on the grapes from the vineyard to ferment the wine. Once fermented, again, no sulfite or anything else to stabilize the wines and no filtration or any stabilizing agent like fining agents for before bottling is basically a wine that is said natural is made the way ancient Romans would make it, or how it was made in the Middle Ages, which is essentially about the same.
00:04:45:12 – 00:05:16:00
And that’s quite interesting ain’t it? Did you know all of this? I would be curious to hear from you. Now that we know what natural wine is, let’s explain with a little voiceover montage that I made, why natural wine has become so trendy and talked about today. Wine from being natural. It’s almost become a marketing message.
00:05:16:02 – 00:05:47:20
The growing popularity of natural wine can be attributed to several factors. First, consumers are increasingly seeking authentic and sustainable products that align with their values. Natural wine is often perceived as a more natural and ethical choice compared to conventional wine. Second, the focus on minimal intervention allows the grapes to express their terroir, resulting in wines that are unique and reflective of their origin.
00:05:47:22 – 00:06:04:20
This has led to a renewed appreciation for regional differences and the diversity of wine styles.
00:06:04:22 – 00:06:36:04
So what do I think about natural wine? Do I like them or not so much? Well, I have nothing against natural wines in principle, making wine entirely naturally and not modifying its expression whatsoever from what nature delivers on paper is a good idea. It’s the idealized concept of terroir, just the grapes turning into wine by themselves with very little human intervention.
00:06:36:06 – 00:07:11:19
That’s great. My initial skepticism, though, comes from the fact that Mother Nature naturally wants to eat up this wine. Drink it as well. At least the grape juice, it wants to take all the energy that grape juice contains and turn it into, at best, vinegar, at worst a disgusting rotten soup of grape juice. That’s nature. All sorts of bacterias, bacteria and fungi want to feast on grape juice, while what we want as humans is to end up with a nice bottle of delicious vino.
00:07:11:19 – 00:07:43:22
And it’s difficult to achieve that entirely naturally. It’s the whole point of a winemaker and what I’ve been trained and studied to do for many years as a winemaker, so I might be a little biased here, I’ll admit it. Still, I found, I found that sometimes natural wines can be a little inconsistent. Some may taste pretty good. I have enjoyed sometimes the pure fruity expression of some examples with no artifacts from sulfites, and it’s interesting to taste a wine made that way.
00:07:43:24 – 00:08:08:12
And also it’s different, but in other case, some natural wines just tastes really bad to my palate, at least because they turn sour often. They are not very stable in the bottle too, so they require no heat at all. No heating up a little bit in your car on your way back from the wine shop. None of that or no prolonged, shipping, for example, which can be a bit of a problem.
00:08:08:12 – 00:08:36:06
Additionally, I have found that rather than expressing the grape and the terroir, the region of origin of the wine, often natural wines to me at least smell a little similar to one another, quite oxidative in the character, rather than being more different from one region to another because their natural well, it tastes somewhat the same because they made in this same oxidative, unprotected way.
00:08:36:08 – 00:09:12:22
Admittedly, because of my professional training as a winemaker, again, I can smell a very small amount of acetic acid, the acid of vinegar in a wine. Which may explain part of my opinion here, because I can smell oxidation really strong. But still, while I enjoy the somewhat mineral and fruity feel of natural wines, I personally find that wines from different areas don’t smell as different as what I’m used to, or what I would expect from conventional wines, because of this oxidative smell is dominating.
00:09:12:24 – 00:09:39:22
What do you think? Do you have had natural wines before? Do you find them more enjoyable and more expressive of their origin? I’d love to hear your own experiences and your opinions in the comments and discuss, and for other viewers to follow along, as well as a conclusion. When I come across a natural wine in a shop or a restaurant or in a tasting, I don’t dismiss it for that particular reason.
00:09:39:24 – 00:10:07:17
I am always open to and very curious about tasting something different, something new that I haven’t experienced before. That’s the joy of tasting wine. But I have fallen short of my expectations a few times. Or natural wine has, and I often prefer going for small producers or the wineries that I know work well and that are respectful of their vineyards and of their customers, because the majority of producers do.
00:10:07:17 – 00:10:32:15
At least if you don’t go for the big commercial brands, those producers do use very little unnatural techniques. There’s just a few things that you do as a winemaker to make sure excellent grapes make excellent wine, pretty much guaranteed. Or you want some safety there, a little sulfite here and there. Sometimes you use some yeast, but they’re pretty much natural.
00:10:32:15 – 00:11:02:16
You stabilize the wine with a mild filtration if necessary. And that said, you do get the expression of the terroir, even if you use some somewhat modern techniques. Anyways, this was just my humble opinion and a perspective on the matter. I hope you enjoyed the video. Give us a like to support our work. Subscribe to see more and continue learning with me about wine and I will see you soon in the wonderful world of wine, and let us discuss and continue in the comments.
00:11:02:16 – 00:11:14:02
Cheers!
