IN ALL THAT WE DO, WE STRIVE TO TAKE THE MOST NATURAL APPROACH POSSIBLE AND THAT’S WHY YOU’LL ONLY FIND NATURAL WINES OCCUPYING OUR SHELVES. WHAT IS NATURAL WINE YOU ASK? IT’S FERMENTED GRAPE JUICE. IT IS WINE FROM WINEYARDS THAT ARE FARMED ORGANICALLY, AT THE VERY LEAST, AND WHICH IS PRODUCED WITHOUT ADDING OR REMOVING ANYTHING DURING VINIFICATION. WHEREAS CONVENTIONAL WINES ARE MADE USING INDUSTRIALLY ISOLATED STRAINS OF YEAST, NATURAL WINES ARE FERMENTED BY THE NATURAL OCCURING YEASTS AND MICROBES LIVING ON THE GRAPES ALREADY. AND WHERE TRADITIONAL WINES HAVE A MULTITUDE OF ADDITIVES IN THEM, NATURAL WINES ‘MAKES THEMSELVES’ AND THE QUALITY OF THE FINAL PRODUCT IS DETERMINED BY HOW WELL THE FARMER HAS HELPED NATURE GET ALONG, RATHER THAN HOW MUCH HE OR SHE HAS MANIPULATED TO TASTE A CERTAIN WAY, OFTEN GUIDED BY PREFERENCES OF THE REVIEWS OF ACCLAIMED WINE CRITICS. CONVENTIONAL WINES MIGHT INDEED BE VERY TASTY, BUT THEY WILL INEVITABLY LACK THE SOUL OF A WINE PRODUCED NATURALLY, SINCE THE LATTER IS STILL ALIVE WHILE THE FORMER IS NOT. ALIVE YOU SAY? YES. THE MICROORGANISM THAT MADE THE FERMENTATION OF THE GRAPES POSSIBLE STILL LIVES INSIDE NATURAL WINES, EVEN MANY YEARS AFTER BOTTLING. IN FACT IT IS THESE VERY ORGANISM THAT MAKSE STORING NATURAL WINES WITHOUT THE USE OF SULPHITES POSSIBLE. IN ORDER TO INOCULATE LAB-BRED YEAST STRAINS, CONVENTIONAL PRODUCERS WILL ELIMINATE THE INDIGENOUS MICROBES BY USING HEAT, SULFUR DIOXIDE, FILTRATION ETC. THESE ISOLATED YEAST STRAINS ALONG WITH OTHER ADDITIVES ARE ESSENTIALLY HELPING THEM HAVE CONTROL OVER THE FINAL PRODUCT AS THEY BRING FORTH DIFFERENT CHARACTERISTICS IN THE WINE. HERE, THE AROMAS ARE ADDED IN THE CELLAR WHEREAS WITH NATURAL WINE IS TRUE TO ITS ORIGIN; GREAT GRAPES, COVERED IN MICRO-LIFE WILL MAKE FOR A BEAUTIFUL WINE; POOR GRAPES WITHOUT A LOT OF MICRO-LIFE PRESENT WILL MAKE FOR A ROTTEN GRAPE JUICE. SO FOR THE NATURAL PRODUCER, THE WORK IS DONE IN THE VINEYARD, MAKING SURE HIS PLANTS GET ALONG.
WINE-MAKING HAS BECOME EVERMORE UNNATURAL, FROM USING CHEMICALS IN THE WINE YARD TO THE OVER-USE OF ADDITIVES AND SULPHITES IN THE CELLAR WITH THE AIM TO PRODUCE SPECIFIC TASTE PROFILES. “THE APPLICATION OF SYNTHETIC PESTICIDES TO EUROPEAN VINEYARDS HAS INCREASED BY 27 PERCENT SINCE 1994, MAKING GRAPES RECEIVE A HIGHER DOSE OF PESTICIDES THAN ANY OTHER MAJOR CROP, EXCEPT CITRUS. THIS HAS A DETRIMENTAL EFFECT ON SOIL LIFE; SOILS HARBOUR 80 PERCENT OF THE WORLD’S BIOMASS. EARTHWORMS ALONE AMOUNT TO ABOUT THE SAME WEIGHT AS ALL OTHER ANIMALS COMBINED. BUT, SINCE 1950, EUROPEAN NUMBERS HAVE DECREASED FROM TWO TONNES PER HECTARE TO LESS THAN 100KG.”* WHILE ORGANIC FARMING ABSTAINS FROM THE USE OF THESE CHEMICALS, OPTING FOR ORGANIC WINES CAN ONLY LEAD US PART OF THE WAY TO THE NATURAL WORLD WE DREAM OF. SOMEWHERE AROUND 50 ADDITIVES AND PROCESSING AIDS CAN BE USDE IN THE MAKING OF A EUROPEAN UNION ORGANIC WINE ALONE, ALLOWING ITS PRODUCERS TO MANIPULATE THE TRUE FLAVOURS OF NATURE. YEAST STRAINS AND OTHER ADDITIVES MAY BE ADDED TO THE WINE.
IT IS A COMMON MISBELIEF THAT NATURAL WINES TASTE COMPLETELY DIFFERENT FROM CONVENTIONAL ONES. IT IS TRUE THAT NATURAL WINE PRODUCERS CAN GENERALLY SEEM TO MORE FREE-SPIRITED AND EXPERIMENTAL, RESULTING IN SOME AVANT GARDE BOTTLES. MOST CONVENTIONAL WINE PRODUCERS MAKES WINE WITH AN END RESULT IN MIND, AIMING FOR SPECIFIC TASTE PROFILES, PREFERRED BY CRITICS AND THE GENERAL PUBLIC. MOST NATURAL WINE MAKERS CREATE THEIR WINES BY CARING AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE FOR THE PROCESS TO TAKE ITS NATURAL CAUSE. WHEN YOU DO NOT KILL THE MICRO-LIFE IN THE JUICE, PROCESSES SUCH AS MALOLACTIC FERMENTATIONS AND VOLATILE ACIDIFICATIONS, CAUSED BY LACTIC ACID BACTERIA AND ACETIC ACID BACTERIA, MIGHT OCCUR AND CHANGE THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE WINE. THIS, AND THE FACT THAT THE MICRO-ORGANISM IS PRESERVED IN THEIR ALIVE-STATE, IS OFTEN DISTINGUISHES THE TASTE OF NATURAL WINES FROM CONVENTIONAL ONES. WHAT MATTERS MOST IS WHAT FLAVOURS SPEAKS TO YOU IN THE RIGHT WAY WHICH YOU WON’T KNOW UNTILL YOU TASTED IT FOR YOURSELF. DON’T LET THE WINE EXPERTS DECIDE WHAT YOU LIKE AND WHAT YOU DON’T; DOES IT FEEL RIGHT? GREAT, KEEP DRINKING 🙂
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