There is no such thing as "Natural Wine". There is no official definition, no established certification body. Labelling wine as “natural” in the EU and many other countries is not permitted. Despite this, producers, merchants, pundits and consumers use the term. Is “Natural Wine” a passing fad or a veritable movement? Dr. Jame Goode, Virgile Joly, Maurizio Ugliano, and Robert Joseph discuss. Julia Sevenich moderates

1. Natural Wine
Discussion Panel
Dr. Jamie Goode
Virgile Joly
Dr. Maurizio Ugliano
Robert Joseph
moderated by Julia Sevenich
Julia7ich.com

3. "the term ‘natural’ raises hackles because of the connotations
of the work; ie it implies that other wines are somehow UN-
natural, or generally worse or inferior (and not necessarily just
from a technical or tasting point of view).”
Fabio Bartolomei Vinos Ambiz
“How can I list ‘natural’ wines? My customers will just ask
‘what about the rest of the wines you sell?”
Max Margaritoff, Hawesko
Leading German distributor

4. Just a few of my favourite
“unnatural” wines

5. “Natural” is a creepy marketing term

6. “Almost all the natural wines I’ve tasted have [the expression of grape and place]
marred by one fault or another” David Gleave MW
Isabelle Legeron, RAW Wine Fair
Most people don’t actually “celebrate”
Epoisses. They hate it. They also prefer
non-cloudy apple juice

7. Classic (ancient) winemaking
Lead Concentrated must Honey
Marble dust Seawater Herbs Pine resin
Conventional (non-”natural”) winemaking
Sugar Chaptalisation – as found in almost all great old
Bordeaux and Burgundy
Acid As used in some great New World (and some Old
World) wines
Water Greeks thought undiluted wine was unhealthy
Sulphur Used by Romans and legal in Germany since 1487
– and responsible for keeping this wine alive…

8. What is “Natural Wine”?
• a category?
• a fad?
• a movement?
• an illusion?

9. Dr. Jamie Goode
wineanorak.com

10. Natural wine
Does it need to be defined? No
It is an alignment of like-minded producers
drawn to a cause
Networks of relationship important: a
counterculture movement

11. Natural wine positives
Celebrating diversity and terroir
Interesting wines with personality and
often challenging flavours
Has influenced mainstream wine for the
better

12. Natural wine negatives
Briefing against mainstream wine
Process focused
The ‘naturalistas’

13. www.domainevirgilejoly.com
@virgile_joly
www.facebook.com/DomaineVirgil.eJoly

14. A simple farmer
Only a few words of English
An artisan

15. Saint Saturnin - Terrasses du Larzac - Languedoc

16. Wine - a natural product!
OIV basic definition
Wine is the beverage resulting exclusively from the
partial or complete alcoholic fermentation of fresh
grapes (whether crushed or not), or grape must.

17. PERMITTED INTERVENTIONS
GRAPES
PROTECTION
SO2
CORRECTION
ACIDITY
SUGAR
ENZYMES
FERMENTATION
ORIENTATION
YEAST
BACTERIA
FOOD
AGEING
PROTECTION
SO2
WOOD
BOTTLING
PROTECTION
SO2
CORRECTION
ACIDITY
SUGAR

18. • wild yeast
• cultivated • wild yeast
• no acid
yeast • acid
correction
• acid • SO2
• low SO2
• SO2 • manual
• manual
• machine or harvest
harvest
manual • -20% AOP
• manual press
harvest yield
• -40% AOP
• AOP yield
yield

19. Natural Wines
• Expensive
• Difficult to protect
• Difficult to transport
• Difficult to talk about
• My bank manager doesn’t
like them

20. WINE IS NATURAL
IT'S NOT MADE BY IDEALS, BUT BY WORK
WINE IS FASHION AND LUXURY

21. Dr. Maurizio Ugliano
normacorc.com

22. Natural wines: the point of view of
wine bugs
Vinegar
Microbes (yeast and bacteria) are an intrinsic component of winemaking
But not all bugs are created equal: some are good, some are less good

23. SCENARIO 1 Natural fermentation
So all yeasts and bacteria are
by default ‘natural’?
Well….
some yeast will participate. Very natural, not
necessarily the same wine all the time, not always
good wine
SCENARIO 2
Less ‘natural’ but
more consistent
Most likely a pretty
good wine
Isolate the supposedly ‘good’ Use it to make wine Too much ‘the same
yeast and manufacture it
wine’?
industrially

24. SCENARIO 3
Happens in nature
randomly
Most likely a pretty
good wine
Cross breed different yeasts to Use it to make wine Too much ‘the same
make a super-yeast; manufacture wine’?
it industrially
SCENARIO 4
Probably not natural
Genetically modified
?
yeast

25. But why there is so much
interest in manufactring and
using commercial wine bugs if
they exist in nature? • Stuck fermentations
• Acetic off-flavors
• Brettanomyces
• Reductive off-odors
Well….
• Higher risk of oxidation
• Too much batch to batch
diversity

26. Making a ‘natural’ wine without these issues by
means of ‘natural’ fermentation means
eliminating the ‘bad’ yeasts, in situ
X
Natural fermentation
Use of sulfite is the most convenient way…. But not
so natural, huh?

27. A few thoughts by Robert Joseph

29. "the term ‘natural’ raises hackles because of the connotations
of the work; ie it implies that other wines are somehow UN-
natural, or generally worse or inferior (and not necessarily just
from a technical or tasting point of view).”
Fabio Bartolomei Vinos Ambiz
“How can I list ‘natural’ wines? My customers will just ask
‘what about the rest of the wines you sell?”
Max Margaritoff, Hawesko
Leading German distributor

30. Just a few of my favourite
“unnatural” wines

31. “Natural” is a creepy marketing term

32. “Almost all the natural wines I’ve tasted have [the expression of grape and place]
marred by one fault or another” David Gleave MW
Isabelle Legeron, RAW Wine Fair
Most people don’t actually “celebrate”
Epoisses. They hate it. They also prefer
non-cloudy apple juice

33. Classic (ancient) winemaking
Lead Concentrated must Honey
Marble dust Seawater Herbs Pine resin
Conventional (non-”natural”) winemaking
Sugar Chaptalisation – as found in almost all great old
Bordeaux and Burgundy
Acid As used in some great New World (and some Old
World) wines
Water Greeks thought undiluted wine was unhealthy
Sulphur Used by Romans and legal in Germany since 1487
– and responsible for keeping this wine alive…