CONCLUSION: A CELEBRATION OF LIFE

Given that the microbiological life of the vineyard is what enables successful fermentations in the cellar and the creation of wine that is able to survive without a technological crutch, sustaining a healthy habitat in the vineyard for these microbes is fundamental for the natural wine grower. This microbiological life follows the grapes into the cellar, transforms the grape juice, and even makes its way into the final wine in the bottle. Natural wine is therefore, literally, living wine from living soil.

In its truest form, natural wine is one that protects the microcosm of life in the bottle in its entirety, keeping it intact so that it remains stable and balanced. However, the production of natural wine is not black and white. As with everything in life, problems arise and commercial realities inevitably inform choices. Natural wine growers can (and do) lose all. Henri Milan, for example, whose celebrated Sans Soufre cuvées are drunk around the world, nearly lost his entire year 2000 vintage when bottles and vats started to re-ferment. Therefore, minor interventions—such as a restrained use of SO2 at the bottling stage—can provide both a sense of security for the grower and a readjustment of the microbial life if aberrations that threaten the quality of the wine begin to occur, while having a minimal impact on the wine.

What’s more, while producing wines that are “nothing added, nothing removed” takes enormous skill, awareness, and sensitivity, it isn’t always every natural grower’s intention. I, for one, added 20mg per liter of sulfites to the first wine I created because I was too scared not to, and, while my wine was definitely not as natural as Le Blanc from Le Casot des Mailloles (see The Natural Wine Cellar: White Wines, page 151), for example, it was certainly more natural than a standard organic example containing 150mg per liter of added sulfites, as well as industrial yeasts.

Traditional basket presses are still widely used in natural wine production.

Harvesters at La Ferme des Sept Lunes in the Rhône; the Lavaysses’ donkey at Le Petit Domaine de Gimios in the Languedoc; and Pierre-Jean, Kalyna, and family in their Tuscan vineyard Casa Raia.

“The most excellent wine is one which has given pleasure by its own natural qualities; nothing must be mixed with it which might obscure its natural taste.”

(LUCIUS COLUMELLA, 4–40AD, ROMAN WRITER ON FARMING AND AGRICULTURE)

Natural wine is a continuum, like ripples on a pond. At the epicenter of these ripples are natural growers who produce wines absolutely naturally—with nothing added and nothing removed. As you move away from this center, the additions and manipulations begin, making the wines less and less natural the further out you go. Eventually, the ripples disappear entirely, blending into the waters of the rest of the pond. At this point the term “natural wine” no longer applies. You have moved into the realm of the conventional.

While no legal definitions for natural wine currently exist, various official-ish ones do. These have been set by groups of growers in various countries, including France, Italy, and Spain. These self-regulated charters of quality are far stricter than the regulations imposed by official organic or biodynamic certification bodies (see Conclusion: Certifying Wines, pages 90–91). All require the practice of organic farming in the vineyard as an absolute minimum, but also prohibit the use of any additives, processing aids, or heavy manipulation equipment (see The Cellar: Processing & Additives, pages 54–55) in the cellar, with the exception of gross filtration, which many tolerate, and sulfites, which varies depending on the association. The French S.A.I.N.S. (see Where and When: Grower Associations, pages 120–21), for example, is the strictest of all, not allowing any additives whatsoever, but tolerating gross filtration.

For the French Association des Vins Naturels (AVN), the total levels of sulfites are set at 20mg per liter for reds, while the total level for whites is 30mg per liter, regardless of residual sugar (or style). (For those wishing to use the AVN logo on their bottles however, requirements are much stricter and no sulfites can be added whatsoever.) The Italian-based VinNatur applies a total maximum sulfite level of 50mg per liter for white, sparkling, and sweet wines, and 30mg per liter for red and rosé. Level 3 of the Renaissance des Appellations is also very strict on all aspects of the use of additives and processing, but remains vague on permissible total sulfite levels. For the purpose of The Natural Wine Cellar section in this book, all the featured wines comply with VinNatur’s totals in order to be able to include a wide range of examples.

Many natural growers use indigenous grape varieties (some of which are extraordinarily rare) because they are often the ones best suited to their environment, as well as being part of the natural heritage of their region.

Personally, having tasted thousands of examples over the years, I have become less and less tolerant of sulfites. In consequence, most of the wines that I drink are produced without any sulfites, or contain a maximum total of 20–30mg per liter. They are usually neither fined nor filtered.

But perhaps all this is splitting hairs. If you look at the entirety of wine production, and you begin by removing all non-organic vineyards, followed by any others that use added yeast, then those that use enzymes, sterile filtration, and so on, you eventually end up with a very small, precious core of people. Yes, there are differences between a grower who doesn’t add anything at all and one who adds 20mg per liter of sulfites at bottling, but, using the ripple analogy once again, while being clearly distinguishable, they are also very close to one another at the center of the ripples.

All in all, true natural wines and their nearly natural friends account for a very small proportion of the wine world. And it is this tiny group that this book celebrates. Not the one-off, lucky cuvée by the likes of me, but the growers who produce exceptional natural wine, year in and year out.

For these growers, what they do goes well beyond the wine itself. Instead, they promote a philosophy, a way of life, which undoubtedly contributes to the profound appeal of their wines to people across the globe. In a disconnected world that worships the Money King, these are people who chose otherwise and who did so well before it became popular. They chose this route out of conviction, a love of the land, and a desire to nurture the most fundamental force of all—life. Be it human, animal, plant, or other life forms, natural growers are primarily, as Jean-François Chêne, a natural producer in the Loire, puts it, about “respecting the living above all else.”

Natural wines are a celebration of life in its purest form. They are farmed at least organically and are made without any additives whatsoever in the cellar. As Camillo Donati, a natural wine producer in Italy’s Emilia Romagna, puts it, “For me, it is very simple: natural wine is zero chemicals in the vineyards and zero chemicals in the cellar.”

Sepp and Maria Muster’s living vineyard, in southern Austria, where they produce living wines.

PERSONALLY, HAVING TASTED THOUSANDS OF EXAMPLES OVER THE YEARS, I HAVE BECOME LESS AND LESS TOLERANT OF SULFITES.