The first edition of the Natural Wine Fair opens at Borough Market today, when it is open to the public. Monday and Tuesday will be for the wine trade only.
The following Loire producers will be present:
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LOIRE
The whole concept of 'natural wine' has been controversial. Here are some thoughts from organic wine specialist Vinceremos:
Vinceremos’ survey of Organic Wine producers
shows need for regulation of ‘Natural Wine’...
Vinceremos, the organic wine specialist, asked its European wine suppliers two questions:
1. How do you perceive ‘natural wine’ - a welcome development or a threat?
2. Are you doing anything to respond to it?
Of the twenty who responded only one was completely positive. The rest were concerned that it was an unregulated term that was open to abuse, as it could be employed by any wine-maker regardless of his or her use of chemicals and additives.
Guy Bossard (Domaine de l’Ecu), a highly respected Muscadet producer and organic/biodynamic pioneer replied “I’ve always said (and written) that ‘natural wine’ is a fantasy term bordering on dishonesty. It’s too vague, too woolly and without a rule book. In any case, literally speaking there can’t be ‘natural wine’ because wine doesn’t exist in nature. Without human input there’s no wine!”
Whilst two producers were already making ‘natural wines’ and saw it as a welcome new niche, the rest were worried that ‘natural’ wines might be confused with ‘organic’ wines and might harm their improving reputation, as organic wine producers have been driving up standards for over twenty years.
“It’s possible to make wines without sulphur (and we do) but certain technical precautions need to be taken. It doesn’t work with all wines. Our vision of a sulphur free wine is of a clean wine without any defects, vinified without the help of any wine-making product. It therefore needs to be well-filtered and very carefully bottled to protect it from oxygen. We are against ‘natural wines’ when that’s synonymous with unstable, unfiltered, reduced or ‘dirty’ wines.”
Damien MARRES, Domaine De La Grande Bellane
“The desire to produce 'natural wines' was the engine that directed us to organic certified agriculture. The base philosophy is that better wines are obtained from the forces of the nature and from their balance.”
Ivo Nardi, Perlage, (who supply Vinceremos with a no sulphur added Prosecco).
Jem Gardener MD of VW said “I'm worried that 'natural' might undermine the progress made by organic wines by muddying the waters. There appears to be no clear definition of what they are but there seems to be an implication that they are 'better than' organic”.
When asked how to respond to this new development many felt it also highlighted the need for agreement on precise standards for ‘Organic wine’ an issue which the E.U. is of course currently addressing. Perhaps ‘natural wine’ could also be externally regulated for all producers. In the meantime as ‘natural wine’ is aiming to be unadulterated it would be helpful if producers had to adhere to the rigorous growing standards necessary to produce ‘Organic grapes’.
“I welcome any movements or trends that lead to us being able to consume food and drink of greater purity but it must be made’ labelled and marketed with greater transparency. We are expected to take it on trust from the supplier (or their distributor) that they are using natural methods and ingredients. I am by nature a very trusting person and would love this to be sufficient but I fear in this world it isn't .
We would prefer the natural wine people to throw their weight behind certified organic (and biodynamic) wines - building on the work, and successes of this sector in recent decades - and then to promote wines within this category made from manually harvested grapes, and vinified without added yeast, sugar or added sulphur.“
Jem Gardener, Vinceremos.
Ends
Contact details:
Jem Gardener Vinceremos 0113 244 0002 or 07764196463
www.vinceremos.co.uk
Other quotes from Vinceremos suppliers:
Paulin Kopfer (Weingut Zähringer, Germany):
“For us in Gemany this discussion seem rather curious. There are three reasons I am quite sceptical:
The word ‘natural’ is in Germany impossible to use by law. It has been used in history for unchaptalised wines, but forbidden since 1971.
If the term ‘natural’ does not include organic production it would seriously damage its transparency
Lastly, however it’s defined, I see rather more confusion for consumers”.
Matthieu and Gwenaelle de Wulf (Domaine du Jas d’Esclans’)
“We prefer to use selected yeasts to develop the wine’s flavours – not all natural yeasts are good and sometimes develop unpleasant flavours.
SO2 is present naturally in wine and sometimes sulphur-free wines have higher sulphur levels than ours.We shouldn’t forget that sulphur has been used to preserve wines since antiquity and that it’s a ‘natural’ element”.
Jean-Pierre and Chantal Frick (Alsace):
“Natural Wine is a logical progression from our work in biodynamic production.
We believe it to be the most faithful expression of the personality of a terroir, a vintage and the men and women who tend the vines”.
A supplier in SW France:
“Natural wine has no official definition. We do not know what it means. If the idea is to make wine without sulphur it is a risky choice: none of these wines can age. Or very very rarely perhaps because there is a little sulphur naturally present! There are too many observed deviations of the wines. At the moment these wines are fashionable but it probably won’t last when the customers realise what they taste like”.
2 comments:
All comments that I broadly agree with, but the issue to me is how organic is organic? If you ask the consumer what their definition of 'organic wine' is the answer comes that it is wine made without the use of chemicals or fertilisers. When you then explain it is merely the grape growing that is regulated and nothing else - the winery is free to add or remove chemicals, etc - and that if they looked into what was officially allowed to be put on to an organic vineyard you then come up with a list which is not entirely within the consumers mind of what organic means!
Anon. I agree that it would be helpful if organic wine regulation covered practice in the winery.
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