DRY COUNTY WINE REVIEW: OPINIONS NEEDED.
There is a fascinating ongoing discussion taking place in the wine world at the moment about a specific kind of wine, but this conversation is entirely among wine professionals who would all benefit from knowing what the consumers––those actually buying the wine––have to say; what they want. I thought perhaps our readers could lend a little perspective!
Natural wine, if you're not familiar with it, is a term much of the wine world has somewhat arbitrarily pinned to a certain kind of wine. It is not something you'll usually find on a label, it's merely a genre, but it's mainly the phrasing itself that's causing the discussion. "Natural" cannot be quantified, as so many of its opponents have insisted, because nothing about raising cultivating grapes, fermenting the juice and bottling the wine is inherently natural, thus making the term misleading. Please bear with me through the technical details, and ask any questions in the comments section if there is something on which you'd like clarification. Don't be shy, there are no silly questions.Natural wines are typically made without the addition of chemicals in the bottle or in the vineyard, though there is no regulation of this so it's not necessarily a given.They are also often made without the addition of yeasts, which is to say that most of these producers let the wine ferment naturally, allowing the ambient yeasts in the air turn the grape juice into alcohol. It's a riskier practice than adding conventional yeasts which more or less guarantee a specific product. There is no guarantee with ambient yeast. Also, like chemicals, this is likewise unregulated. Some producers who have been considered "natural" such as the late, great Didier Dagueneau for example, didn't use ambient yeast, but rather a combination of cultivated yeasts. Still, most people would consider Didier natural.If there was one commonly employed phrase for natural wines, it would be "nothing added, nothing taken away," or in other words, letting the wine be as natural as possible, a preserved version of wine at its most basic.Full disclosure: The importance of this topic is that––surprise!––I want you to drink more healthy wines, wines with less additives or chemicals involved––for lack of a better expression––natural wines. Wine should not, if you are going to ingest the stuff, be treated any differently than food; if you don't like chemicals in your food, you shouldn't want them in your wine. But as the consumer, would you prefer a different term altogether? Does the term "natural wine" illicit any negative perceptions? Do you believe that if the term natural wine became regulated it could maintain its integrity, or would it wind up as meaningless as "Organic" has become? Who should regulate it? Or, would you like to leave the term as is, unregulated and somewhat vague?––trusting your local wine professionals to point you in the direction of the healthier wines. These are the kinds of wines I would love for our readers to be drinking, how would you like to find them?- Jesse.For some further reading on the discussion click here (read the comments for a glimpse at the contention)*First image is a bottle of Domaine des 2 Ânes, a natural wine brought in by predominantly natural wine importer Jenny & François, purchased at Wine + Market.