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| Is Natural Wine Dead? | Is Natural Wine Dead? |
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| By now pretty much everyone on earth, save for those caught in a Yellow Tail time warp, has heard of “natural” wine. Made from organically grown grapes, with nothing added or taken away, these wines are no passing fad. They are a return to authenticity. | By now pretty much everyone on earth, save for those caught in a Yellow Tail time warp, has heard of “natural” wine. Made from organically grown grapes, with nothing added or taken away, these wines are no passing fad. They are a return to authenticity. |
| For those of us who have long pushed for wine made from organic grapes as its sole ingredient, this “natural” craze should be a great moment of triumph. It’s not just a change in what people are drinking; the sudden enthusiasm for natural production is changing the very shape of the wine world. Abandoned vineyards and regions are being revitalized, and farmed organically. Winemakers are re-evaluating what additives are really necessary. It’s far easier for me to grab a glass of natural wine almost anywhere. | For those of us who have long pushed for wine made from organic grapes as its sole ingredient, this “natural” craze should be a great moment of triumph. It’s not just a change in what people are drinking; the sudden enthusiasm for natural production is changing the very shape of the wine world. Abandoned vineyards and regions are being revitalized, and farmed organically. Winemakers are re-evaluating what additives are really necessary. It’s far easier for me to grab a glass of natural wine almost anywhere. |
| But any successful movement, whether in politics or viniculture, is vulnerable to corruption. Just as it is reaching peak fame, the previously innocent world of natural wine is coming under threat by opportunists and big business. Natural wine isn’t dead, but something has been lost. | But any successful movement, whether in politics or viniculture, is vulnerable to corruption. Just as it is reaching peak fame, the previously innocent world of natural wine is coming under threat by opportunists and big business. Natural wine isn’t dead, but something has been lost. |
| Some of these corrupting influences are predictable, and banal. There’s tribal infighting and purity tests: Can a vintner add a minute amount of sulfites, a natural ingredient, and still call her wine natural? There’s not enough of the good stuff to go around, and competition is fierce to get the best bottles. Producers, importers, critics and fans who, back when natural wine was still niche, were perfectly pleasant to be around are now aggressively defending their turf. As usual, social media is bringing out the worst in people and their egos. | Some of these corrupting influences are predictable, and banal. There’s tribal infighting and purity tests: Can a vintner add a minute amount of sulfites, a natural ingredient, and still call her wine natural? There’s not enough of the good stuff to go around, and competition is fierce to get the best bottles. Producers, importers, critics and fans who, back when natural wine was still niche, were perfectly pleasant to be around are now aggressively defending their turf. As usual, social media is bringing out the worst in people and their egos. |
| Until recently, natural wine was no way to put your kids through college: Those who made it, or imported and sold it, did so out of love. Now people are entering the market not just to make a living, but to make a killing. In the late 1990s, the United States’ first natural wine importers, Louis/Dressner and Jenny & François, brought with them idealistic values as they championed their farmers and winemakers. Twenty years later, fewer and fewer people are talking about ideals — unless those ideals make for good marketing copy. | Until recently, natural wine was no way to put your kids through college: Those who made it, or imported and sold it, did so out of love. Now people are entering the market not just to make a living, but to make a killing. In the late 1990s, the United States’ first natural wine importers, Louis/Dressner and Jenny & François, brought with them idealistic values as they championed their farmers and winemakers. Twenty years later, fewer and fewer people are talking about ideals — unless those ideals make for good marketing copy. |
| And of course, the big wine companies, which have already gobbled up hundreds of small vineyards around the world, have set their sights on natural, too. “These natural wines connect strongly with the coveted younger demographics and wine companies and retailers won’t ignore this opportunity for long,” wrote Felicity Carter, the editor of Meininger’s Wine Business International. If imitation is the greatest measure of success, it is also its depressing result. | |
| Even Trader Joe’s has started to lean into “natural,” with peach-colored signs that imply organic without actually saying it. On a recent visit to one of its Manhattan stores, I saw an Italian wine that made me suspicious. Upon research, I learned the product had no added sulfites — but that it had used selected yeasts, a cardinal sin in natural wine. Criminal? No. Misleading? Yes. | Even Trader Joe’s has started to lean into “natural,” with peach-colored signs that imply organic without actually saying it. On a recent visit to one of its Manhattan stores, I saw an Italian wine that made me suspicious. Upon research, I learned the product had no added sulfites — but that it had used selected yeasts, a cardinal sin in natural wine. Criminal? No. Misleading? Yes. |
| There’s no legal definition of “natural” wine; I have my standards, and I hope others follow them, but I’m no lawmaker. And with no legal definition the door is open for knockoffs. We need to safeguard the category, but the notion of government intervention seems loathsome to a movement started in the spirit of anarchy. A required ingredient list is being lobbied for in the European Union, but that won’t stop the use of un-“natural” techniques like reverse osmosis or centrifuges. | There’s no legal definition of “natural” wine; I have my standards, and I hope others follow them, but I’m no lawmaker. And with no legal definition the door is open for knockoffs. We need to safeguard the category, but the notion of government intervention seems loathsome to a movement started in the spirit of anarchy. A required ingredient list is being lobbied for in the European Union, but that won’t stop the use of un-“natural” techniques like reverse osmosis or centrifuges. |
| Some of these wines, like that Trader Joe’s bottle, which went for $8, are trying to do “natural” on the cheap. But cheap and tricky is not limited to, well, you know, cheap. Alistair Purbrick, the chief executive of Tahbilk, an Australian wine company, and his family recently introduced Minimum, an independent organic wine label, with bottles starting above $20. But the wine is made with a host of natural no-nos: machine-picked grapes, vinified with enzymes, acids and tannins, and then filtered and fined. This is as misleading as the guar gum and carrageenan often found in “natural” ice cream. | Some of these wines, like that Trader Joe’s bottle, which went for $8, are trying to do “natural” on the cheap. But cheap and tricky is not limited to, well, you know, cheap. Alistair Purbrick, the chief executive of Tahbilk, an Australian wine company, and his family recently introduced Minimum, an independent organic wine label, with bottles starting above $20. But the wine is made with a host of natural no-nos: machine-picked grapes, vinified with enzymes, acids and tannins, and then filtered and fined. This is as misleading as the guar gum and carrageenan often found in “natural” ice cream. |
| With the world perched on the verge of multiple disasters, the battle to defend natural wine might seem to be an elitist fool’s errand. We all eat, but we don’t all drink, so not everyone connects with the idea of wine as an enduring, magical symbol of humanity. But that’s in part the appeal, to me, of natural wine — as a pure expression of honesty, nutrition, culture, poetry and connection to land, the recognition that each wine comes from a different place. | With the world perched on the verge of multiple disasters, the battle to defend natural wine might seem to be an elitist fool’s errand. We all eat, but we don’t all drink, so not everyone connects with the idea of wine as an enduring, magical symbol of humanity. But that’s in part the appeal, to me, of natural wine — as a pure expression of honesty, nutrition, culture, poetry and connection to land, the recognition that each wine comes from a different place. |
| That’s why even people who don't drink it should grasp why the efforts to commoditize and cheapen natural wine is so offensive. A product tailored to perceived broad consumer tastes, and fabricated to deliver no surprises, cannot ever deliver those eloquent intangibles. It cannot be that expression of honest humanity that natural wine should hold at its core. | That’s why even people who don't drink it should grasp why the efforts to commoditize and cheapen natural wine is so offensive. A product tailored to perceived broad consumer tastes, and fabricated to deliver no surprises, cannot ever deliver those eloquent intangibles. It cannot be that expression of honest humanity that natural wine should hold at its core. |
| In “The Society of the Spectacle,” the philosopher Guy Debord — not incidentally, a lover of natural wine — wrote, “All that was once directly lived had become mere representation.” The more that is fake in the world, the more potent is our craving for real. This sums up the reason for the rise of natural, and its crisis. Our post-truth society is thirsting for it, even as we allow ourselves to be tricked by impostors. | In “The Society of the Spectacle,” the philosopher Guy Debord — not incidentally, a lover of natural wine — wrote, “All that was once directly lived had become mere representation.” The more that is fake in the world, the more potent is our craving for real. This sums up the reason for the rise of natural, and its crisis. Our post-truth society is thirsting for it, even as we allow ourselves to be tricked by impostors. |
| Recently, I visited Kenjiro Kagami, a winemaker in the Jura region of France. I always found his wines to strike a riveting balance between liquid and lightning. Thrilling, actually. For near to a decade Mr. Kagami slaved over eight acres of land, refusing even to till his soil — better for the environment, but resulting in low yields. | Recently, I visited Kenjiro Kagami, a winemaker in the Jura region of France. I always found his wines to strike a riveting balance between liquid and lightning. Thrilling, actually. For near to a decade Mr. Kagami slaved over eight acres of land, refusing even to till his soil — better for the environment, but resulting in low yields. |
| Standing in the strong sun, mesmerized by the fluorescent blue dragonflies and wild lady slippers, I asked him for his 10-year plan. “I want to find the balance,” he answered. | Standing in the strong sun, mesmerized by the fluorescent blue dragonflies and wild lady slippers, I asked him for his 10-year plan. “I want to find the balance,” he answered. |
| I assumed he meant the balance between farm work and life. But Mr. Kagami told me no, he meant between the vine and the land. | I assumed he meant the balance between farm work and life. But Mr. Kagami told me no, he meant between the vine and the land. |
| Goosebumps rose on my forearm. Taken by this devotion, I understood the source of his wine’s energy and purpose, both important and delicious. That kind of vibrant sincerity in the bottle cannot be faked. Or at least, one can hope. | Goosebumps rose on my forearm. Taken by this devotion, I understood the source of his wine’s energy and purpose, both important and delicious. That kind of vibrant sincerity in the bottle cannot be faked. Or at least, one can hope. |
| Alice Feiring is the author, most recently, of “Natural Wine for the People: What It Is, Where to Find It, How to Love It.” | Alice Feiring is the author, most recently, of “Natural Wine for the People: What It Is, Where to Find It, How to Love It.” |
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