By Matthew Brody
Not surprisingly for a drink that has been around at least 8,000 years, wine has seen plenty of changing styles, new trends, and directional shifts. In just the last few decades, natural wine has become a prominent movement, and yet, for many it remains a vague and confounding term. A Google search for “What is Natural Wine” returns over 800 million results — clearly this is a question with a lot of different answers.
Natural wine: a movement without a legal definition
To start, know that natural wine has no legal definition, although there are now efforts underway to change that, particularly in France. This stands in stark contrast to much else in wine; everything from vineyards and regional boundaries to grape varietals are all carefully classified and controlled. Natural wine, at least for the moment, remains a broader philosophy with plenty of debate on the specific requirements.
At a high-level, natural wine is widely agreed to mean nothing added or removed during farming, winemaking, and bottling. That includes farming organically without chemicals, using naturally-occurring yeasts rather than commercial ones, and forgoing the use of chemical additives (which are a lot more common than you might think). Sulfur — a preservative that guards against spoilage — is one of the more divisive subtopics in natural wine, but is used minimally, if at all.
It may be helpful to consider wine production methodologies as falling on a larger spectrum. At one end, large mass-market wineries employ chemicals and sulfur. At the opposite end, natural winemakers eschew those additions and work per the guidelines previously described. In between is plenty of gray area, including many winemakers who lean natural but may not self-identify as “natural wine.”
Farming and winemaking, not labels and style
Yes, a lot of natural winemakers embrace fun branding and favor certain styles of wine, but it’s important to note that natural wine is about production choices. Light, chillable reds as well as styles like orange wine and pét-nats are common favorites in the natural wine world. While those types of bottles are a part of natural wine, the category at large is much broader. The reverse is also true, not every bottle of orange wine is naturally made and may in fact be mass-market wine in disguise.
Not all natural wine tastes funky
Last, a word on sulfur and wine flaws or funkiness. These are perhaps the hottest of the hot button topics in natural wine. Sulfur is a commonly employed preservative with a long history in winemaking. Its use can safeguard against spoilage as well as prevent tasting notes often identified as funky or barnyard-ey.
In contrast to conventional wines, natural wines are produced with minimal sulfur, with some believing natural wine should have zero sulfur added at all. But that doesn’t mean that all natural wines taste funky, barnyard-ey, or show flaws – a common misconception. While that style of natural wine does exist, there are also countless examples, even zero-sulfur bottles, that drink “clean” without showing any of those features. In many cases, natural wines taste no different from a conventional bottle.
What’s next? Where to find & enjoy natural wine on the UWS
Hopefully, none of the above reads as a condemnation of your wine preferences — drink whatever you prefer, what makes you happy. But if you’re natural- wine curious, you can find a handful of recommended bottles below. Similarly, you can look for noted natural wine importers on the back labels (learning the importers is a great shopping trick regardless of your wine preferences). Louis Dressner and Jenny & Francois are two well-known natural wine importers, but there are many others. As always — finding a local wine shop you trust and asking for recommendations is the best way to broaden your wine horizons.
Recommended Bottles
Day Wines Vin de Days Blanc ($21-$25)
Oregon white-blend from a rising star winemaker
Gulp Hablo Orange ($18-$23)
Approachable, “entry-level” orange wine
Jolie-Laide Glou d’Etat ($25-$30)
Chillable, easy-drinking California red
Eric Texier Chat Fou ($22-$25)
A trailblazing winemaker in France’s Rhone Valley
Foradori Teroldego ($28-$35)
One of Italy’s most important natural wine producers
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I would add a few more distributions to that list. I owned West Side Wine for 15 years. Look for Savio Soares, T. Edward (distributor of Gulpo, among many others),, Critical Mass, Avant Garde.
Polaner Selections, Skurnik and Independence Wines all have a growing portfolio of natural wines worth trying as well.