sooooo… what is natural wine?
“drinking a great wine should be like shaking hands with a mountain - you’re drinking the very land where the vines grow, not the attenuated expression of a winemaker’s ego.”
I have lectured, written articles and even taught classes on natural wine for a long time - even I find myself hard pressed to find a succinct answer.
When I travel for the wine business, I get to meet winemakers of every kind. From the quiet farmer who is making wine to the more polished winemaker who is also a farmer, they all have a hard time telling you exactly what ‘natural wine’ means.
But every single one agrees with these basic principles:
nothing in - nothing out = wine that is very literally made-in-the-vineyard
absolutely no herbicides, fertilizers or pesticides in the vineyard
only native yeast
no additives in the winery
every single wine at molly’s bottle shop is made with these standards. I verify that with travel and research.
consider this - 2 separate studies (PAN-2008: UFC-Que Choisir-2013) found pesticide residue in the wines they tested - in amounts 200 times higher than the accepted standard for the drinking water of the United Kingdom.
Some of the residue was carcinogenic, developmental or reproductive toxins or endocrine disruptors.
still curious? come by and let’s talk more!!
or check out these notes for a recent lecture