“To make great wine is to flirt with faults.”
(PAUL OLD, A WINEMAKER AT LES CLOS PERDUS, IN THE LANGUEDOC, FRANCE)
There are some people who claim incorrectly that natural wines are riddled with faults. There are substandard wines, of course, some of which are a direct consequence of mishandled low intervention—after all, natural wine is not immune to bad winemakers. However, truly faulty natural wines are few and far between, and for each one that exists there are many, many more wines that are just perfect.
Below are a few of the most common faults associated with natural wine. Don’t be alarmed: none of them are bad for you. The best test of whether the wine is faulty is to decide if you like drinking it. If the answer is “yes,” then go ahead.
BRETTANOMYCES Brett is a strain of yeast that can become dominant in the vineyard or cellar, producing a range of flavors that are best described as farmyardy. While excess brett will overpower a wine, there is a cultural divide as to whether a touch of it is a positive or negative attribute. In the Old World, there is a much greater acceptance of brett, as it is seen as contributing to part of the style of a wine or adding complexity, but mention brett to an Aussie producer and they will likely freak out. *
MOUSINESS This bacterial infection can develop when the wine has been exposed to oxygen, perhaps after racking or bottling. When the wine reverts back to an anaerobic environment, it settles and the taste disappears. You can’t smell mousiness, as it is not volatile at the pH of wine, but the aroma will become apparent when you taste it. Mousiness leaves an aftertaste, reminiscent of off-milk notes, which lingers in the mouth. People seem to be more (myself included) or less sensitive to it. Craig Hawkins, a natural grower in South Africa, explained to me that its presence correlates to a higher pH. **
OXIDATION In a way, this is the most misunderstood of all the faults, since many people unhelpfully use the terms oxidation and oxidative interchangeably. While oxidation is a fault, oxidative styles are not, and while some natural wines are oxidative in style, not many are oxidized. Oxidative winemaking techniques involve leaving the wine exposed to oxygen, sometimes for years at a time. Natural wines (particularly whites) made with low or no sulfite additions are certainly more exposed to oxygen and so more oxidative. They are generally broader, with hints of fresh nuts and apples, as well as having darker yellow hues. Oxidative notes, though, are not a fault (see The Natural Wine Cellar: White Wines, pages 144–61). *
Mousiness can result from a wine’s exposure to oxygen, and can occur at any time, but particularly during racking or bottling.
ROPINESS Ropiness is a rare beast and you are unlikely to come across it. Still, in case you do, it occurs when some strains of lactic acid bacteria form a chain, making the wine viscous and almost oily—hence its name in French: graisse du vin—while leaving the taste unchanged. As natural growers Pierre Overnoy and Emmanuel Houillon explained to me, all their wines go through ropiness at some stage or another and all eventually return to normal. It does sometimes happen in the bottle, too, but again will resolve itself given time. **
VOLATILE ACIDITY (VA) Expressed in grams per liter, volatile acidity commonly smells of nail varnish. Permitted levels are regulated and cannot, for example, exceed 0.9g per liter for appellation wines in France. But wine is far more than just a set of numbers. It is all about context. A wine can taste perfectly balanced, even with elevated levels of volatile acidity, if, for example, there is a high enough concentration of aromas to back it up. *
OTHER PECULIARITIES If tiny, perlant carbon-dioxide bubbles appear when you pour a glass of natural wine, then fear not. Some growers specifically bottle their wines with naturally occurring, residual carbon dioxide because it helps preserve them. Alternatively, carbon dioxide may spontaneously appear if the wine is bottled before all the sugars have fermented, in which case the wine can re-ferment. Again, if the wine tastes nice, don’t let it bother you. Alternatively, you can de-gas it by shaking the bottle a little once open.
Tartrate crystals can also sometimes form in the bottle, especially if you chill white or rosé wines for an extended period of time. These crystals are routinely precipitated out in conventional winemaking, but not when natural wine is made. They are harmless and nothing more than naturally occurring cream of tartar. **
So, the next time you hear about faults, ask yourself: what is better, a wine with a touch of brett or volatile acidity or 200 percent new oak? Oxidative notes or clinical, monotone flavor? There is a fine line between complexity and fault. After all, personality means quirks, and I certainly find personality far more compelling than bland reproducibility.
Harmless tartrate crystals I photographed in a wine I was drinking. I often pick these out to eat them separately. Try it—they are quite lemon zesty.
KEY TO WINE FAULTS
* A fault that is not unique to natural wine
** A fault that is unique to, or more likely among, growers who work naturally