6 Reasons You Should Try Natural Wine 

natural wine
Last Updated: July 1st, 2021

Natural wine can be divisive amongst those who consider themselves oenophiles. And yes, not all natural wines are great examples of the category, but that is the case the wine world over – even in the same cellar there will be great years of one wine and poor years of the same one. Such is the way of wine. 

Don’t confuse natural wine for organic wine

Natural wines are in a league of their own. Don’t confuse them for organic wines (although yes they may have been produced using organic agricultural methods). Because organic wine can still contain added sulphites to aid preservation, plus organic wines can be produced on farms that utilise machinery to assist in production.

Natural wines are more akin to biodynamic wines (only without the lunar calendar, the astrology and the buried cow horns), in so much as for a wine to be considered natural it has to have had limited chemical or mechanical intervention. Moreover, the vintner should have as little interference as possible in the winemaking process. 

The natural approach to winemaking

Natural wine has gained prominence through recent years as a result of the backlash against modern winemaking, that has fast become the norm. But the natural wine movement is nothing new, it is merely a hark back to the original winemakers, an old-world approach that lets the land do the growing and the grapes ferment into wine. 

In fact, in the vast majority of natural wines, the only additives are natural yeasts – wild yeasts that occur naturally on the grapes that help them ferment to become wine. And because winemakers operate a very much hands-off approach there is no filtration or fining of the wines, which can cause a cloudy appearance, but this doesn’t affect the flavour one jot. 

Curious to know now how natural wines differ from standard wines?

6 reasons why you should try natural wine

#1 Natural wine tastes different. 

Not in a bad way different, but in an uninhibited sort of way. A way that makes you think of wild meadows and long lazy afternoons. If you have ever tried a beer, think of natural wines as the wheat beer, a tastier option that is packed full of interesting flavour, whereas the standard wine is a pint of Stella. Just read the story about Gut Oggau wines

#2 Natural wine is alive. 

By which we mean during the harvesting of the grapes the vintner aims to keep the wine alive – they are striving to ensure the bacterial life in the wine remains as untouched as possible.

And you may wonder, how long does wine last despite this fact? Well, it still depends on how well you preserve it once you open the bottle.

#3 Natural wines are naturally low in sulphites. 

If you suffer badly with hangovers and headaches after drinking, you should definitely consider natural wines. Natural wines are commonly low histamine wines and levels of sulphites in wine are acceptable. Moreover, natural winemakers tend to produce sulphite free wines. The acceptable levels of sulphites in natural white wines stand at 40 mg per litre, and 30 mg per litre for red. Compare that the 160 mg per litre for standard reds and up to 400 mg per litre for whites (although the average is around 210 mg per litre).

#4 Natural wine is transparent. 

We don’t mean in the see-through sort of way, but in the ‘do you really know what you’re consuming when you purchase a cheap bottle of plonk from the local supermarket?’ way. No wine additives in natural wines. Natural wine wears its heart on its sleeve and is unapologetic for its lack of additional ingredients.

#5 It pairs well with food. 

There’s a reason that you’ll find natural wines accompanying the menus of the world’s best fine dining establishments – because natural wine quite simply is an excellent companion. 

If you’re going to eat local food, food whose provenance the chef has worked hard to ensure, which hasn’t come from outside a 30-mile radius of the restaurant thus maintaining a low carbon footprint, then you shouldn’t do it the disservice of pairing it with a mass-produced wine.

No, if you’re going to put that much effort into a meal, it should be celebrated with a liquid accompaniment that has been made to the same exacting standards, with the same love and devotion as the food you are eating. It should be paired with a bottle of natural wine. If you enjoy comfort food, explore the best wine pairings with comfort food.

#6 Because you’ve heard of red and white wine, but what about orange wine?

What interesting things are there to know about skin contact wine? Far from being a fad, or the next hipster craze, orange wine is one of the oldest winemaking techniques in the world, dating back almost 8,000 years.

The techniques was first popular in ancient Georgia (yes, Georgia – check out the Ancient Georgian traditional Qvevri wine-making method) and later Italians and Slovenians repopularised it and shared the mastery with the rest of Europe. Fun fact: The term “orange wine” was coined by a British wine importer, David A. Harvey. 

Orange wine is wine that has had skin contact – it’s white wine that has been made like red wine. The grape juice is left in contact with the skins of the grapes which gives the wine its distinctive orange hue, as well as richer, deeper flavour. You can’t get more natural than orange wine.

If you’re a big fan of natural wines – like we are – jump to our wine shop and explore our premium artisan natural wines! 

2 thoughts on “6 Reasons You Should Try Natural Wine 

  1. Antonio says:

    Hello,
    Natural wine is indubitably an interesting phenomenon, but I believe we should critically recognise what this movement is really about, alongside its limitations. You wrote that not all natural wines are great, and that’s absolutely true.

    The term “natural” has no legal definition in any country, therefore it’s rather difficult to pinpoint common practices shared by every natural winemaker. To date, it’s pretty much a self-appointed status. Is that transparency? Also, it has been scientifically disproven that sulphites in wine are the culprit for headache hangover. There are a lot of excellent natural wines out there, but implying their are superior from a health point of view is not correct.

  2. Pull The Cork says:

    Antonio, natural wine is very much a definition that’s (at the moment) very up in the air, if you ask one winemaker and then a completely different one, their comparison could be totally different. We write from a personal experience, rather on behalf of the world and we have found health benefits come from Natural wine – and this is why we have written about it. Your view is your view, our view is ours…

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