As you explore types of wine you may find yourself wondering what exactly natural wine is.

When it comes to wine, there’s a lot out there. There are reds, whites, rosés, bubbles, and within those a whole variety of grape varietals and tastes. But nowadays we’re starting to see even more classification, with wines getting labeled as organic or biodynamic. Navigating the wine world can feel intimidating.

While most people nowadays are used to hearing the words “organic” and “biodynamic” attached to both their food and their wine, there is another vino category that may not have heard mention of: natural wines.

But wait, aren’t all wines technically natural?

Produced from grapes, yes. And this may be what has made the discussion of natural wines so polemic, because if some wines are referred to as natural wines, it puts all other wines in the “not natural” category.

So what are natural wines? First off, unlike with organic or biodynamic wine, there is no certification for natural wines, and therefore no official definition. Natural wines are wines made with as little human interference – that means chemical and technological – as possible. In other words, wine made with grapes and little else, letting nature take care of the growing and the fermentation. Others refer to natural wines as “nothing added, nothing taken away.”

As you can imagine, producing types of wine in this way takes a lot of work. As New York Times writer Eric Asimov wrote, “The fact is that making wine without benefit of chemicals or other technological shortcuts demands precision and exactitude. Far more so, perhaps, than in conventional winemaking.”

Vines are grown organically, or even biodynamically, grapes are hand harvested and the fermentation process takes place in a way that’s as natural as possible. That means minimal to no additives during the winemaking process. Additives that are often used in the winemaking industry include sugar, acidifiers, and tannins. Even sawdust is used sometimes. Who wants to be drinking wine made with sawdust? Laboratory cultivated yeasts, instead of natural, indigenous yeasts, can also be used, and you can also encounter a variety of manipulations of the wine like micro-oxygenation to accelerate aging.

Natural wines are growing more and more popular among people who are concerned about sulfites as well. Sulfites refer to sulfur dioxide, which acts as a preservative in wine. While sulfites are naturally occurring in wine, winemakers can also add in sulfites during the winemaking process and natural winemakers will add little to no sulfites.

In the world of modern day agricultural, natural winemakers are challenging the traditional practices of modern, industrial winemaking, just like other men and women in the food industry devoted to the art of their craft, be it traditional bread baking or beer brewing.

What does this mean for you the drinker?

If you’re used to traditional, industrial wines, switching to natural wines is going to taste different. Natural winemakers have to depend on the natural elements – soil, weather, yeasts, etc. – to produce their wine, and instead of adding and manipulating wines which can help to stabilize a wine and standardize its flavor, their wines will taste as nature wants them to taste. That means that natural wines can often be a little less stable, murky because they haven’t gone through a filtration process, and you never know what you’re going to get. But that means that you get more of the terroir in a natural wine, and you get a wine that’s true to the natural fermentation process.

Just like traditional wine, not all natural wines are good, but there’s also an element of surprise that is special. Alice Feiring, a well-known source on natural wine, once said this in an interview with The Splendid Table:

One of the best examples that I have is when I was at a party, when Frank Bruni just came over to the states to be the dining critic at The New York Times. I said, “Hey, Frank, taste this.” He burst into laughter and he said, “Alice, what the hell is that? That is the most beautiful example I’ve ever had.” He went out and bought a case the next day. A conventional wine never can do that to you.

Think of it in terms of a tomato. When you buy a regular tomato at the grocery store, it’s a bit bland and you get a taste that you expect. Buy an in-season, heirloom tomato on the other hand and you’ll find yourself diving into a sea of flavors. Two different heirloom tomatoes can have two very different flavor profiles.

Where can you find natural wine?

Since natural wine isn’t a certification, for the consumer, it’s not always easy to find. Start with the back label, if you seen any indication of “made without additives” or “made with just grapes” that’s a good thing. It’s also helpful to find a knowledgeable wine seller who knows a thing or two about natural wines and can help point you in the right direction.

France is known for its natural wine culture, but now there are more and more natural winemakers in the U.S., including La Clarine Farm, Donkey and Goat, Kelley Fox Wines, Montebruno and Wind Gap.

If you are looking for natural wines from abroad, Jenny and Francois Selections are NY-based natural wine importers, and they are well known in the business. Natural Wine Company out of Brooklyn is another great resource.

Winelandia is a food and wine blog that last fall launched a retail component selling natural wines. Currently they only ship to California, but we can hope that eventually they will expand.

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Image: Anna Brones

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A trip to France’s Loire valley in search of natural wines.

It may be easier to describe French natural wines and how they are made by enumerating what they are not. They are not from overly tilled soil and chemically controlled plants, nor are they sulfite-infused, homogenous concoctions, they do not include obligatory filtration, and they are not symbolic of any new approach to wine making itself. What natural wines are is quite simple- they are wine as it should be, wine at it’s most natural.

France’s Loire Valley is home to a group of winemakers who challenge the practices of the modern day agricultural and viticultural industry by creating a product that eschews additives that are a crutch for so many industrial-sized wineries. Embracing the ancient tradition of wine making and accepting the challenges that come along with an artisanal (non-industrial) approach, these winemakers are part of a growing movement to bring nature back to vineyards and wine glasses across the country and around the world.

Unlike some wine growing regions I’ve visited in the States, the Touraine is not a large expanse of carefully manicured vineyards, but a diverse stretch of woods, prairies, farms, and goat ranches with patches of vineyards scattered throughout. French winemakers who are aware of the advantages of biodiversity welcome every wildflower and weed found in this fertile land.

Recently I had the pleasure of discovering this region. My first “natural” vineyard visit was to Domaine des Maisons Brulées where Michel Augé gave me a crash course in the importance of native plants and the role they play. “Nature hates emptiness,” Michel told me as he pointed out the greenery that he let fill in the spaces between his vines. We then came upon a variety of clover that is known to add nitrogen to impoverished soil, “Where there is a lack of something, nature finds a remedy,” he explained.

Humility and respect for nature were part and parcel in the early days of winemaking, but the eventual industrialization of viticulture led to producers craving control over nature and the winemaking process. Thus sulfites were introduced, allowing for the manipulation of wine and its homogenization.

In the world of natural wines, sulfites are considered unnecessary and largely taboo. At Domaine des Maisons Brulées, no sulfites are added to the wine and any sulfite level that may be found in their vintages is a naturally occurring by-product of the fermentation process. Michel Augé describes the role of sulfites in wine as that of an “antiseptic” and cites their affects on the taste, as well as the digestibility, of wine as two major reasons to avoid their use.

After a tour of the vineyards, Michel’s wife, Béatrice, joined us to taste the fruits of their labor. Swirling a Herdeleau Pinot Noir-Gamay-Pineu d’Aunis in our glasses, Michel recounted how Béatrice inspired him to change from chemically treating his plants to going au naturel. Béatrice modestly refused to accept credit saying, “we were both ready for the change” describing their switch to natural wine making in 1992 she said, “it was the right time and we were just open to it.”

Once it hits your mouth, a truly natural wine has an immediate, but not fleeting, affect. While tasting the Herdeleau Michel recited an adage that is well-known amongst natural wine makers: “If you’re not ready to spend twenty seconds to really taste natural wine, then it’s not worth tasting it.” In order to really taste natural wine, you must savor the initial burst of flavor as it hits your tongue, then wait a moment as that flavor calms down and eventually comes back and hits you towards the back of your mouth- an incredibly satisfying aftershock.

“I don’t want to trivialize any part of the process,” Michel told me in a decisive tone, “making natural wine is a way of putting the system back in its place.” The couple’s commitment to this cause is no doubt aided by the daily reminder that their vineyards offer of the history of the region, their plot of land offers a breathtaking view of a valley that has been largely unchanged since the 11th century.

A little ways down the road, at La Lunotte, Christophe Foucher described his winemaking philosophy, “It isn’t for me to fight against nature” Christophe explained, adding “I want to do as little as possible.”

Christophe aims to keep his vineyards to a manageable size and to be able to live off the work he does. “Once you have a large-scale vineyard, you’re obligated to become industrial,” Christophe explained adding that he would much rather be a part of the small movement of wine makers in France who work outside of the industrial system.

“I hate monoculture” he told me as we visited a neighboring vineyard that had been treated with Round Up, a popular weed and grass killer. Chemically treated plants, Christophe explained, “have a simulated taste that they should have naturally- it’s superficial.”

Both Michel and Christophe are able to talk freely of eventualities that frighten most growers, and humans in general; life and death, success and failure, errors and lessons learned the hard way. They speak of these unavoidable experiences without regret or fear. Their open-armed embrace of the process of making natural wine, and the fact that this type of wine making immediately excludes them from the system of mass-production of wines, takes the pressure off the process and frees them to be creative, curious, and realistic in their relationship with nature.

I ended my trip to the Touraine region in Christophe’s front yard, sipping Les P’tites Vignes Sauvignon and a Sparkling Rosé, the range of flavors and their longevity in la bouche still a thrill I was far from getting over. I felt reluctant to leave this source of such extraordinary wines and discoveries, not quite ready to move on yet. And the wine, I asked Christophe, when do you know when it’s ready? Without stopping to think he responded,”It just comes naturally.”

Image: Emily Dilling

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