If you buy a few bunches of grapes, rinse and then squash them a little before leaving the result in a container in a warm room, they will probably ferment into wine. But it won’t taste very nice. Leave the juice a little longer and it will turn into vinegar. No wine is made without human intervention, both in the vineyard and the cellar. The question is how much intervention is needed and what is natural?
In the late 20th century, wine production became more industrialised. Growers could coax huge yields from their vines, harvest their grapes by machine, and then choose from a wide range of treatments and additives to make the wine taste nicer. None of these are harmful, and some do actually improve a wine.
The cellars of a large producer can look almost like a chemical plant, with rows of massive stainless steel tanks, pipes and banks of computers controlling the winemaking process. Most of the mass-produced inexpensive wines you find in supermarkets are only possible by using these methods. However, it is far removed from our romantic view of wine as a natural product, and these wines can lack character, individuality and real quality.
Natural winemaking is a rebellion against industrial wines. While some terms, such as organic, biodynamic and sustainable, are legally defined or certified by law or by a voluntary body, natural wine is not. However, it is generally accepted that it is made from organic or biodynamically grown grapes, fermented and matured without any additives or processing aids, other than possibly a small dose of sulphur at the time of bottling. Nothing else is added and nothing is taken out.
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This all sounds great, and some natural wines are very good, with a wonderful liveliness and purity of fruit. Others are less palatable; they can be high in acid, slightly fizzy due to retained carbon dioxide (nice in a pet-nat, less so in a red). Others are funky, barnyardy or vinegary. Fortunately, the overall quality of natural wine is getting better and there are certainly some very decent wines that give a real sense of place. Possibly influenced by the natural wine movement, many more conventional producers are switching to organic viticulture.
We are all trying to eat and drink in a way that is better for us and tastes better too. This should include wine. Low intervention wines, organic wines and natural wines are certainly part of this.
