What even IS natural wine?

I admit it. I’ve always been a bit of a nature girl.

In a kayak or on a hike, the sight of a heron, hawk, osprey, or loon sets my heart aflutter. I prefer organically grown vegetables and free-range chicken eggs. Happier chickens, tastier eggs. That’s my mantra.

Natural is good, right? A growing number of consumers seems to think so. Or perhaps they’re just plain scared, and who can blame them? News reports warn of lead in water supplies and genetically modified food showing up, stealth-like, on supermarket shelves. No wonder the buying public clamors for natural.

So what about wine? Is “natural wine” better than, say, unnatural wine?

What even IS natural wine?

According to that authority on all worldly things, Wikipedia, natural wine is produced without adding or removing anything. That would include commercial yeasts and nutrients, sugar or acid adjustments, fining (clarifying) agents, and sulfites (used for generations as a preservative). Sounds simple enough, but no legal criteria exist for “natural wine.” The European Union (EU), which regulates wine among its members, actually prohibits wines from being called “natural.” Naturally, that begs the question: How does one judge them?

Undaunted by judging challenges, the organizers of Vinitaly, an international wine competition and exposition held every April in Verona, Italy, established a new award this year for “Free Wine,” in response to what they term the “growing importance and relevance” of natural wines. In Paris, natural wine events are becoming more common, and in New York recently, the Natural Wine Fair sold out. A segment of the wine-drinking population clearly wants its wine barely touched by human hands.

The trend hasn’t hit Pennsylvania yet. When I asked about natural wine at the premium state store where I shop, the wine specialist recalled a Franciscan Estate Carneros Napa Valley (California) Cuvée Sauvage Chardonnay no longer in stock. I checked out the winery’s website. In 1987, Franciscan Estate says it became the first Napa Valley winery to adopt the “traditional Burgundian practice” of fermenting Chardonnay entirely with wild, native vineyard yeasts.

“We simply put the juice in the barrel and let the native vineyard yeasts start a wild and unpredictable fermentation… each barrel develops its own personality with unique flavors and nuances,” the website states. Wild? Unpredictable? Could be funky. The store’s wine specialist shuddered.

“Organic” wine clearly defined

I wasn’t able to purchase a “natural” wine at the Pennsylvania state store that day. I did pick up a 2013 Frey Vineyards Redwood Valley (Mendocino County, California) Petite Sirah USDA certified organic wine. Organic wine is produced from organically grown grapes, but may be chemically or physically manipulated in the winemaking process (Wikipedia again).

In the United States, “organic” is clearly defined. To be sold as “organic” under the USDA National Organic Program, the growing of the grapes and the ingredients that go into the wine, such as yeast, must be certified organic. Sulfites cannot be added to wine labeled “organic.” Frey Vineyards proclaims “No GMO Yeast” on its website in large, bold type to let consumers know it does not use and supports a ban on genetically engineered yeast.

Granted, “organic” is not the same as “natural,” which is where we started, but I have to say I like Frey’s fruit-forward 2013 organic Petite Sirah. The wine shows no signs of oxidation or off-odors from lack of sulfites. On the palate, I got blackberry and a hint of spice, lively acidity, smooth tannins, and a medium to long finish. At $13.99 in the Pennsylvania state store, it’s a bargain.

Bio-what?

By the way, Frey Vineyards also produces Biodynamic wines. Whaaaaat? Biodynamic wines use the principles of anthroposophy, an ethical and spiritual approach to ecological self-sufficiency. “This type of viticulture views the farm as a cohesive, interconnected living system.” (you guessed it, Wikipedia). Check out Meg Houston Maker’s excellent post on a Biodynamic wine production facility in Catalonia, Spain.

Biodynamic winemaking standards prohibit the use of cultured yeast and other additives, except for sulfites. Frey Vineyards goes beyond the standards by not adding sulfites to its Biodynamic wines. Other Biodynamic aspects include composting all grape waste and using it in the vineyards, hand-harvesting fruit, and excluding micro-oxygenation and pasteurization. Without being “Biodynamic,” plenty of small wineries compost waste, hand-harvest, and exclude micro-oxygenation. I interned at such a winery several years ago.

In school I was taught to protect wine from unpredictable and potentially disastrous results. Yet, I’m drawn to minimal intervention and true expression of terroir – soil, topography, climate – the complete natural environment in which a particular wine is produced. As I’ve said, I’ve always been a bit of a nature girl.

The journey is only beginning. I hope you’ll stay with me.