Natural wine -- a beginner's guide
Natural wine has moved from niche to mainstream over the last decade, and most serious restaurants now stock at least a few bottles. The term is not legally defined, which means it gets used loosely -- and sometimes misleadingly. Here is what it actually means.
What natural wine means
Natural wine is made with minimal intervention in both the vineyard and the winery. In practice this usually means organically or biodynamically farmed grapes, hand harvesting, native rather than commercial yeasts for fermentation, little or no sulphites added, and no fining or filtration.
Organic and biodynamic wine
Organic wine is made from grapes grown without synthetic pesticides or fertilisers. Biodynamic wine goes further -- it applies a holistic farming philosophy that treats the vineyard as a self-contained ecosystem. Both can be made with more intervention in the winery than a natural wine producer would use.
What to expect in the glass
Natural wines often look and taste different from conventional wines. They can be cloudy, orange-tinged, slightly fizzy, or have an earthy character that comes from the native yeast fermentation. This is not a flaw -- it is a feature of the style. A well-made natural wine is genuinely interesting.
At a restaurant with a natural wine list? Upload it to Pour and it will find the right bottle regardless of how unfamiliar the names are.
At a restaurant with a natural wine list? Upload it to Pour and it will find the right bottle for your dish.
Use Pour at your next restaurant