April sees a month-long series of events in restaurants and wine shops around the country celebrating “real wine”. The term covers organic, biodynamic and natural wines.
Most of us are familiar with organic and biodynamic but natural is something relatively new. After all, aren’t all wines natural? Yet the mere mention of these words to anyone involved in the wine business seems to touch a nerve. Everyone has a view, always trenchantly expressed. Critics denounce the wines as faulty and the proponents as holier-than-thou radicals who, by implication, are calling all other wines unnatural. On the other side of the divide, at times it seems that those in favour are only able to justify themselves by referring to mainstream wines as “industrial” or “manipulated”. There can be a born-again fundamentalist touch to some as they list off all the possible additives and treatments you can use in making a bottle of wine.
The natural wine movement is a small, disparate group of idealistic producers who prefer to use traditional non-interventionist methods. They are largely based in Europe, France and the Loire Valley in particular, but you will find believers the world over.
There is no legal definition as to what constitutes a natural wine. Most proponents say it must be made from organic if not biodynamically-grown grapes. They insist only indigenous yeasts are used (commercial yeasts, rarely mentioned by anyone, can have a profound effect on the flavour of a finished wine); that no sugar or concentrated grape juice is added to boost alcohol; nor acid to freshen it up. Most would avoid the use of modern machinery to improve the concentration of fruit. All try to minimise chemical treatments, including the addition of sulphur dioxide. It takes a brave or foolish winemaker to do this. Sulphur, to which some people are allergic, is routinely added to wine. Low levels leave a wine open to bacterial spoilage and oxidation. As a result some natural wines can smell and taste very funky.
Natural wines have been trendy in the wine bars of Paris and London for a number of years. Some restaurants in London now include a natural wine section and even an "orange wine" section alongside the standard white, red and sparkling categories. Orange wines are a sub-section of natural wines, white wines made with juice that has been macerated on the grape skins for extended periods. Orange wines hark back to ancient winemaking practices with some even made in clay amphorae. They are deep in colour, richly textured and have complex flavours of nuts, undergrowth and sometimes cider.
I have come across many awful natural wines but I have also tasted some great examples. The best are delicious, fascinating and individual; the worst smell of manure. There are some great natural winemakers as well as a lot of well-intentioned, but very ordinary, producers – not unlike the rest of the wine business.
As for biodynamics (a method of organic farming invented by Rudolph Steiner that encompasses a holistic view of agriculture , including working with the phases of the moon), it is worth noting that many of the greatest winemakers in regions such as Burgundy now farm this way, including names like Leflaive, Lafon, Leroy and La Romanée Conti.
Wine is a wonderful, complex drink with a rich heritage going back centuries. It has a unique ability to express the soil and the weather in the vineyard. Today’s wine business is full of large companies seeking to impress us with homogenous mass-produced easy-drinking wines that do not have much character. I don’t really have a problem with this. Most of us are not looking for a wine that tastes radically different or even slightly funky; we just want something nice to drink with dinner.
It is not only large producers who use modern techniques and machinery; most of the leading boutique estates spare no expense in ensuring their wine is perfectly formed to the highest standards.
However, much of the pleasure in drinking wine comes from the smaller producers who try to do things differently. It doesn't always work, but when it does, the results can be fascinating. Natural wines form a tiny percentage of wine production and are always likely to remain insignificant. They are the local health food store versus the supermarket. Both deserve a place in our lives.
See therealwinefair.com for details.
jwilson@irishtimes.com
