What the pros have to say about natural wine.
Written by Lindsey Chronert
Sourcing natural, organic and biodynamic wines from small farms and producers is important to us. It goes hand-in-hand with our food ethics. We lean on our local wine makers, natural wine distributors and shop owners to educate and empower us to choose the most delicious wines for our menus. In turn, we can enthusiastically share these bottles with our clients and their loved ones. We asked a few of our friends in the wine community to chime in.
Emily & Jody Brix Towe
J. Brix Wines
Noel Téllez, Maryam Hariri, et al.
Bichi Wines
Paul & Juerie
Clos Wine Shop
What do you love about natural wine?
Juerie & Paul, Clos Wine Shop: “Ten to 15 years ago, it was an avant garde, almost punk-like movement; rebellious winemakers giving the middle finger to the establishment that wouldn’t accept them for the way they wanted to make wine and spurned winemakers that wouldn’t follow the rules. In reality, especially in the south of France, there was always a cohort making wine that didn’t fit with the prescribed rules (France and Italy especially having more rules for winemaking than most). At the same time there has always been a large swathe of producers that farmed cleanly and relied on the environment in and around the cellar to provide everything they needed to grow and bottle their produce. And so, those are the principles we look to when it comes to defining what makes a wine natural.
What there is, is differing levels of intervention. So, we try to operate on a set of five criteria: farming that’s free of pesticide, herbicide and fungicide use; no laboratory or commercial yeast strains used for fermentation; no additions at fermentation (sulfur, color, tannin, acid, water, etc.); minimal to no sulfur addition at bottling for stabilization; and no use of new wood barrels during élevage.
If you take a bottle of nearly any Cabernet (for example) from your local liquor store or supermarket and try it side by side with a wine that comes from a small producer who adheres to the principles just outlined you’ll notice a profound difference. The things that you’ll most likely notice first are a brightness, a vivacity that doesn’t, and can’t exist, in supermarket bottles and a set of flavors that are more reminiscent of fruit off a vine. Not confectionary, nor science. And that’s what we love.”
Emily Towe, J. Brix Wines: “One of the many things we love about natural wine is that it reflects the span of the growing season in the glass. Since no additives or processes are made to change the flavor, texture, acidity, tannins, or alcohol level, what you get is what nature provided that year. It tells a story that's new every vintage.”
Maryam Hariri, Bichi: “I love the energy. It’s cliché at this point, but from the first time I tried it in 2006, I fell in love with how alive it feels on the tongue and soul, dancing and prancing around, with elegant form and structure. It’s playful. And it’s never the same. Not even the same bottle, from the same vintage. It could be from the same plot of land, but depending on what part of the tank got poured into the bottle or where the tinaja/amphora is placed in the cellar and how much sun it gets (as opposed to the one next to it), the wine will be different.
I love the colors. It’s a million shades of rose, orange, red, even brown and all the tones of magenta and burnt yellow in between. The bubbles, there seems to be more expression and range in the size of bubbles one can experience with natural wine— from tiny effervescence of a carbonic or even semi-carbonic wine to full blown globular expressions of pet nats.
I even love the morning after (I wouldn’t say “no” hangover per se, but definitely less!). Since 2020, I’ve fallen in love with the making of natural wine. It’s an endless learning journey. Basically, I love everything about natural wine! The only exception is in the ways in which it can sometimes mimic conventional wine making - lack of attention to climate change and carbon footprint, male dominance in wine making and wine industry as a whole, and a feeling of exclusivity… that it’s somehow a luxury good for the elite.) Natural wine is simply a fermented grape drink by the people for the people.”
When you meet someone who is new to natural wine, how do you convince them to share your love for natural wine?
Juerie & Paul, Clos Wine Shop: “We love meeting new people and we usually start by asking them what they’ve been drinking lately that they’ve enjoyed. From there we find recommendations for them that we think will fit what they’ve described. We don’t really frame it within a natural / not natural context. We try to let the wines we select speak for themselves.”
Emily Towe, J. Brix Wines: “People who care about how their food is farmed are often surprised to find out that most bottles on grocery-store shelves can be full of chemicals and additives. When they find out that natural wines are farmed without synthetic chemicals and made without additives in a full range of different styles, people are usually willing to give them a try, and then they want to learn and taste more. It can be like going down a rabbit hole!”
Maryam Hariri, Bichi: I'm not sure if I try to convince anyone. I more than anything usually make sure to pick places that have awesome natural wine lists and if I know they are more traditional in their flavor pallet try to order something that is super well made, with proper structure and acidity, something undeniably good so you’re not even thinking is this “natural” or “conventional” but “Damn! This is so good! Where is it from?! Who made it?! Where do I buy it?!” Basically I make the debate out of the convo and just pick really good wine to share! And let the energy and moment create a connection between us, and curiosity emerges from that emotional connection we make with each other, with the wine, and with the moment.”
