Everything You Need to Know About Natural Wine

Dec 10, 2020Stephanie Brinker, MPHFood

The tasty alternative to conventional wine

Whether you’re relaxing at the end of a stressful day, toasting the New Years, or eating a picnic brunch, chances are there’s wine involved! Wine is our go-to alcoholic beverage because it’s so versatile and delicious. But conventional winemaking often relies on pesticides and additives to produce a bottle of vino. That’s where natural wine comes in. Natural wine has gone from a small, underground trend to a pretty big deal. With widespread availability in restaurants, shops, and wineries, natural wine is here to stay. But with so many terms like natural, organic, biodynamic, the whole natural wine world can be a bit confusing, so here’s a simple guide on what you need to know.

What is Natural Wine?

There are some pretty big differences between natural wine and the usual wine you’d find in a grocery store. Conventional wine making relies on many different external factors to produce a bottle of wine. To start, vineyards are often sprayed with dozens of harmful chemicals like Glyphosate to keep pests and weeds away. After harvesting grapes, wine makers can then add ingredients to the grapes in order to control the manufacturing process– additional yeast to help with fermentation, sulfur dioxide to reduce oxidation and prevent bacteria from growing, or artificial ingredients to improve a flavor profile or color of the wine (1). Even though approximately 60 additives have been approved for winemaking use, an ingredient list is not required on wine bottles (2). It’s hard to believe that additives like egg whites, mega purple, bentonite, and sulfur dioxide make their way into your happy hour glass (5)!

Natural wine, on the other hand, aims to “add nothing and take nothing away” during the wine making process (3). This means no pesticides are used in the vineyards and the grapes ferment on their own with naturally occurring yeasts after being hand picked. Sometimes winemakers have to add a minute amount of sulfur dioxide or yeast to correct a manufacturing problem (3), but in general they don’t rely on additives when making natural wine. In fact, they try to be as hands off as possible! Natural wine often has some sediment in the bottom of the bottom, a cloudy appearance, or may have a complex taste.

One thing to note about natural wine- there’s no universal standard of what “natural” wine means. This means it’s usually up to each winemaker to figure out their best practices. Some countries have attempted to create their own definition of natural wine, but not everyone is on the same page. Take France, for example. Their national agricultural organization has recently formally recognized a two-tried definition for natural wine, but many winemakers have pushed back against the government’s definition. To make things more complicated, the European Union doesn’t even allow the term on wine labels (6)!

Even though there are complexities surrounding the definition of natural wine, we still think it’s worth checking out. Knowing that the wine you’re drinking is basically additive-free really gives us peace of mind. And the unique flavors of natural wine means every bottle is it’s own adventure!

How are Organic and Biodynamic Wines Different From Natural Wines?

Wine variety doesn’t stop at natural! Organic, biodynamic, and vegan are three other types of wine available to consumers. Vegan wine doesn’t use animal products, but can still use pesticides or other additives during production. Even though organic wine can be confused with natural wine, they’re actually two different things. And to make things more complex, organic can actually mean two different things in winemaking: wine made from organically grown grapes or wine that’s organic (4). Wine made from organically grown grapes means that there are no pesticides used during the growing process but, more often than not, still contain additives. Wine that’s organic is made from organically grown grapes that don’t use pesticides during the growing process, and also doesn’t contain added sulfites. There’s a lot of information to keep track of! When in doubt, just look for a USDA organic label or the phrase “100% organic” on a wine bottle. Wine must pass a rigorous five-step process in order to be USDA certified as organic and follow strict labelling guidelines, so you can be confident that the wine you’re buying is the real deal (7, 8)!

Biodynamic vineyards, on the other hand, relies on a “holistic, living farm” (4) practice that incorporates a specific astronomical calendar to create their wine. Biodynamic farmers incorporate the climate, organic material, wildlife, water recycling, and natural pest-avoidance methods into their practices to both grow grapes and wine (4). Biodynamic wine also has principles and standards for how grapes are processed and made into wine. The Demeter certification process for biodynamic wine can actually be tougher than the organic certification process! It has stricter requirements on “imported fertility, greater emphasis on on-farm solutions for disease, pest, and weed control, and in depth specifications around water conservation and biodiversity (4)”. But you still frequently see biodynamic wine labeled as organic because biodynamic farms pretty much use organic practices.

There’s basically a whole new world of natural, organic, and biodynamic to discover! Although many of these winemaking techniques are hundreds of years old, so maybe we’re just on a path of rediscovery? Either way, we’re loving it. The next time you find yourself wandering down the wine aisle looking for something new, why not pick up a bottle of natural wine (or two)? You can purchase natural wine from many online retailers, including Dry Farm Wines, Primalwine, Plonk Wine Club or The Natural Wine Shoppe. Some of your local wine shops might even specialize in natural wine! Even if they don’t, local wine shops might still carry some stock or be able to source a few bottles for you. Just ask!

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