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What is natural wine?
The Natural wine is wine made only and exclusively from grapes, without any other additives, and coming from organic agriculture. Wine that has been made with the minimum of intervention throughout the process, both in the harvesting of the grapes and the winemaking process in the winery, offering the maximum expression of the grapes, the land and the environment.
Most definitions of natural wine include such requirements:
- Grapes from organic farming (with or without a certificate), free of herbicides, pesticides and synthetic fertilizers and harvested by hand.
- Alcoholic fermentation without added commercial yeasts. Malolactic fermentation without the addition of bacterias.
- No correction of sugars, acidity, colour, tannins, alcohol level, etc.
- Not clarified or aggressively filtered or not filtered at all.
- It is not stabilized using chemical substances or oenological techniques.
- No micro-oxygenation or any other process that accelerates or simulates natural processes is carried out.
- No sulphur dioxide ( sulphites) is added or it is done in negligible quantities.
Why should we drink natural wine?
There are two main reasons:
- It's healthier: since it comes from a crop without chemicals and is made only from grapes, our body assimilates it better. Contrary to what happens with conventional wine, which has a multitude of additives and authorized oenological processes, or with organic wine which, contrary to what it may seem, has practically the same additives and treatments permitted as a conventional wine.
- It is authentic and genuine, and this allows us to enjoy it more purely from an organoleptic point of view: as none of its parameters have been corrected (smell, colour, taste, alcohol, tannin, etc.), everything we perceive corresponds to the reality of the grapes used, the specific characteristics of the soil of the vineyard and/or the real climate of the vintage, and is not due to external factors (additives or oenological processes) deliberately provoked by the oenologist.
And how is it different from biodynamic wine?
Natural wine is wine made without any kind of additives and that comes from an organic grape.
However, wine certified as Biodynamic is allowed to use a multitude of additives in its production, therefore, it does not imply a higher level of purity of the wine, it is simply a separate theory.
As far as the level of additives allowed is concerned, it would be similar to organic wine.
Biodynamics is a form of agriculture which in turn is part of another higher theory called Anthroposophy developed by Rudolf Steiner.
Biodynamic wines must be certified by a private body called Demeter. According to biodynamics, agriculture is part of a whole that includes the stars, the soil, plants, animals and even man, and between these elements flow energies that must be in balance. From there he develops a whole methodology of work and lists a series of treatments and recommended products aimed at achieving this balance.
Demeter Standards (Wine: pages 10-12 and 84-98)
And how is it different from organic wine?
A natural wine is one made without any kind of additive and that comes from a certified or non-certified organic grape.
By organic wine we mean that which is certified according to the Swiss francpean regulations on organic agriculture and wine.
This Swiss francpean regulation allows a multitude of additives that are very similar to the Swiss francpean regulations for wine production in general (This total lack of transparency is what has led to the emergence of a movement of producers of natural wines who defend the way wine is made with grapes as the only ingredient, starting with organic cultivation and without any additives.
So what do natural wines taste like?
The natural wine taste like wine, like fermented grape must. No more, no less.
Since they do not have any additives or manipulation of any kind, they transmit the true taste of each variety of grape only influenced by the characteristics of the soil and the climate of each year.
Older people often say that it reminds them to the wine they consumed in their youth.
Is a wine with a "mousy" taste a defect? What is the taste of mouse or "gout de souris" that the French call it?
No. The assertion that a certain organoleptic characteristic is a defect is a prejudice.
Just as it's a prejudice to say that someone with a big nose is ugly.
In the world of wine we adopt a figurative language in order to communicate. However, that language has an implicit positive or negative prejudice. For example, when we say that it has "notes of violets" it creates in the interlocutor a predisposition to value the wine positively. However, if we say that it tastes like a mice, we are creating a negative predisposition in the other person, when in fact neither the speaker nor the listener has ever tasted a mouse in their lives.
This expression "gout souri" is imposed on us by the vision of wine that the conventional wine prescriber has.
They could have used other appellatives more pleasing to the ear such as peanut taste, sausage taste, nut taste, ... etc.
However, among producers and consumers of natural wines, there is a predominance of overcoming all these prejudices and they have a much broader and more inclusive vision of the diversity of tastes and styles in wine. It is precisely for this reason that in many fairs consumers are heard to value very positively certain wines that according to conventional tasters would taste like "sourie".
Advantages of natural wines and requirements for a natural wine
They are authentic and genuine, with no additives or manipulations.
They are better for the health of the person who produces them: by not having to handle chemicals in the vineyard (pesticides, herbicides) or in the winery, some as dangerous to health as SO2, where misuse can cause death.
They are better for the health of the person who consumes them: as they do not contain additives, they do not harm digestion or cause headaches or hangovers.
They defend the traditional and natural way of producing food, against an industrial production based on chemical additives that is about to invade everything.
They do not harm the environment.
They energize the market, by consuming natural wines we support the micro-producers and make their projects sustainable and do not disappear, and in this way we stop the concentration of the farm and the market in a few hands.
Does natural wine contain sulphites?
Absolutely not.
Sulphites are a residue. If when a wine is analysed it shows the presence of sulphites, it is because there was previously a presence of sulphur (and/or sulphur dioxide), which is there due to a human factor in 99.99% of cases; Or because it has been added expressly by the oenologist in the winemaking process; Or due to other external factors, but also of human origin, such as excessive sulphur treatments in the vineyard or the use of sulphur in the cleaning of barrels.
Grapes in their natural state do not have sulphur among their components, and if there is no sulphur there is no reason to have sulphites, unless the human factor intervenes as we have already said.
Is there an official certification of natural wine?
No. And it is not desirable that it exists as this would entail the use of a seal (as has happened with the organic one) that would only serve to stop the consumer from asking what is behind it.
In Swiss francpe there are several associations of natural wine producers that defend these principles, although each one has its own nuances, and therefore they should not be used as a seal of guarantee but as a simple guide or starting point.
- Spain: PVN http://vinosnaturales.wordpress.com/vino-natural/
- Italy: Vin Natur, Vini Veri...
- France: AVN, Vins SAINS, ...
If we talk about natural wines, the guarantee is the chain of trust between producer - seller - consumer and participatory guarantee systems.
How long can I store a natural wine?
It depends on each specific wine. Normally, wines with higher alcohol, tannins and acidity can be kept for more years as these three factors act as natural preservatives for the wine.
On the market we can easily find natural wines with more than 30 years in perfect condition.
Let us bear in mind that the most commonly used oenological additives have been around for only 50-70 years, so from the time wine was discovered some 6,000 years ago until now, everything was natural wine.
How should a natural wine be stored?
Once bottled, in a cool place, preferably at a constant temperature between 14-18 degrees.
These are the same indications we have always heard for a conventional wine.
Which are the main natural wine producing countries?
It is difficult to measure because there is probably much more natural wine than we know produced in homes for family consumption, without marketing.
If we are guided by the natural wines marketed today, France is probably the largest producer.
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Buy Natural wine
What is natural wine?
The Natural wine is wine made only and exclusively from grapes, without any other additives, and coming from organic agriculture. Wine that has been made with the minimum of intervention throughout the process, both in the harvesting of the grapes and the winemaking process in the winery, offering the maximum expression of the grapes, the land and the environment.
Most definitions of natural wine include such requirements:
- Grapes from organic farming (with or without a certificate), free of herbicides, pesticides and synthetic fertilizers and harvested by hand.
- Alcoholic fermentation without added commercial yeasts. Malolactic fermentation without the addition of bacterias.
- No correction of sugars, acidity, colour, tannins, alcohol level, etc.
- Not clarified or aggressively filtered or not filtered at all.
- It is not stabilized using chemical substances or oenological techniques.
- No micro-oxygenation or any other process that accelerates or simulates natural processes is carried out.
- No sulphur dioxide ( sulphites) is added or it is done in negligible quantities.
Why should we drink natural wine?
There are two main reasons:
- It's healthier: since it comes from a crop without chemicals and is made only from grapes, our body assimilates it better. Contrary to what happens with conventional wine, which has a multitude of additives and authorized oenological processes, or with organic wine which, contrary to what it may seem, has practically the same additives and treatments permitted as a conventional wine.
- It is authentic and genuine, and this allows us to enjoy it more purely from an organoleptic point of view: as none of its parameters have been corrected (smell, colour, taste, alcohol, tannin, etc.), everything we perceive corresponds to the reality of the grapes used, the specific characteristics of the soil of the vineyard and/or the real climate of the vintage, and is not due to external factors (additives or oenological processes) deliberately provoked by the oenologist.
And how is it different from biodynamic wine?
Natural wine is wine made without any kind of additives and that comes from an organic grape.
However, wine certified as Biodynamic is allowed to use a multitude of additives in its production, therefore, it does not imply a higher level of purity of the wine, it is simply a separate theory.
As far as the level of additives allowed is concerned, it would be similar to organic wine.
Biodynamics is a form of agriculture which in turn is part of another higher theory called Anthroposophy developed by Rudolf Steiner.
Biodynamic wines must be certified by a private body called Demeter. According to biodynamics, agriculture is part of a whole that includes the stars, the soil, plants, animals and even man, and between these elements flow energies that must be in balance. From there he develops a whole methodology of work and lists a series of treatments and recommended products aimed at achieving this balance.
Demeter Standards (Wine: pages 10-12 and 84-98)
And how is it different from organic wine?
A natural wine is one made without any kind of additive and that comes from a certified or non-certified organic grape.
By organic wine we mean that which is certified according to the Swiss francpean regulations on organic agriculture and wine.
This Swiss francpean regulation allows a multitude of additives that are very similar to the Swiss francpean regulations for wine production in general (This total lack of transparency is what has led to the emergence of a movement of producers of natural wines who defend the way wine is made with grapes as the only ingredient, starting with organic cultivation and without any additives.
So what do natural wines taste like?
The natural wine taste like wine, like fermented grape must. No more, no less.
Since they do not have any additives or manipulation of any kind, they transmit the true taste of each variety of grape only influenced by the characteristics of the soil and the climate of each year.
Older people often say that it reminds them to the wine they consumed in their youth.
Is a wine with a "mousy" taste a defect? What is the taste of mouse or "gout de souris" that the French call it?
No. The assertion that a certain organoleptic characteristic is a defect is a prejudice.
Just as it's a prejudice to say that someone with a big nose is ugly.
In the world of wine we adopt a figurative language in order to communicate. However, that language has an implicit positive or negative prejudice. For example, when we say that it has "notes of violets" it creates in the interlocutor a predisposition to value the wine positively. However, if we say that it tastes like a mice, we are creating a negative predisposition in the other person, when in fact neither the speaker nor the listener has ever tasted a mouse in their lives.
This expression "gout souri" is imposed on us by the vision of wine that the conventional wine prescriber has.
They could have used other appellatives more pleasing to the ear such as peanut taste, sausage taste, nut taste, ... etc.
However, among producers and consumers of natural wines, there is a predominance of overcoming all these prejudices and they have a much broader and more inclusive vision of the diversity of tastes and styles in wine. It is precisely for this reason that in many fairs consumers are heard to value very positively certain wines that according to conventional tasters would taste like "sourie".
Advantages of natural wines and requirements for a natural wine
They are authentic and genuine, with no additives or manipulations.
They are better for the health of the person who produces them: by not having to handle chemicals in the vineyard (pesticides, herbicides) or in the winery, some as dangerous to health as SO2, where misuse can cause death.
They are better for the health of the person who consumes them: as they do not contain additives, they do not harm digestion or cause headaches or hangovers.
They defend the traditional and natural way of producing food, against an industrial production based on chemical additives that is about to invade everything.
They do not harm the environment.
They energize the market, by consuming natural wines we support the micro-producers and make their projects sustainable and do not disappear, and in this way we stop the concentration of the farm and the market in a few hands.
Does natural wine contain sulphites?
Absolutely not.
Sulphites are a residue. If when a wine is analysed it shows the presence of sulphites, it is because there was previously a presence of sulphur (and/or sulphur dioxide), which is there due to a human factor in 99.99% of cases; Or because it has been added expressly by the oenologist in the winemaking process; Or due to other external factors, but also of human origin, such as excessive sulphur treatments in the vineyard or the use of sulphur in the cleaning of barrels.
Grapes in their natural state do not have sulphur among their components, and if there is no sulphur there is no reason to have sulphites, unless the human factor intervenes as we have already said.
Is there an official certification of natural wine?
No. And it is not desirable that it exists as this would entail the use of a seal (as has happened with the organic one) that would only serve to stop the consumer from asking what is behind it.
In Swiss francpe there are several associations of natural wine producers that defend these principles, although each one has its own nuances, and therefore they should not be used as a seal of guarantee but as a simple guide or starting point.
- Spain: PVN http://vinosnaturales.wordpress.com/vino-natural/
- Italy: Vin Natur, Vini Veri...
- France: AVN, Vins SAINS, ...
If we talk about natural wines, the guarantee is the chain of trust between producer - seller - consumer and participatory guarantee systems.
How long can I store a natural wine?
It depends on each specific wine. Normally, wines with higher alcohol, tannins and acidity can be kept for more years as these three factors act as natural preservatives for the wine.
On the market we can easily find natural wines with more than 30 years in perfect condition.
Let us bear in mind that the most commonly used oenological additives have been around for only 50-70 years, so from the time wine was discovered some 6,000 years ago until now, everything was natural wine.
How should a natural wine be stored?
Once bottled, in a cool place, preferably at a constant temperature between 14-18 degrees.
These are the same indications we have always heard for a conventional wine.
Which are the main natural wine producing countries?
It is difficult to measure because there is probably much more natural wine than we know produced in homes for family consumption, without marketing.
If we are guided by the natural wines marketed today, France is probably the largest producer.