A ‘natural’ wine revolution
‘‘But it doesn’t taste like chardonnay.’’
No, it didn’t. It was different, but was it better? Certainly, it was more complex and offered greater textural interest than most Kiwi chardonnays. I loved it. The rest of the table was split. One mouthful was enough for one person. She refused to go back to it.
Welcome to the natural wine movement. It continues to grow around the world, yet continues to engender scorn in many quarters.
What is it? Like its culinary cousin, the slow food movement, natural wine is pushing back against the additive-happy, manipulation-centric culture that has grown up around the production of so much of what we put into our mouths today.
There is no strict definition of what constitutes a natural wine. It is a given that a natural wine’s grapes be grown organically or biodynamically. But it is after those grapes are brought to the winery that the natural wine philosophy really kicks in.
Leaving as much as possible to nature is the key. The MO includes wild ferments (ie. the use of natural yeasts), the eschewing of additives such as acid, sugar, enzymes, and so forth, and keeping levels of added sulphur (SO2, used for centuries as a preservative in wine) as low as possible. Some try to dispense with sulphur entirely.
Some natural white wines are also skin-fermented (aka orange wines), often using containers other than the usual stainless steel vats or oak barrels.
But some folk feel very cross about natural wines. You’ll hear umbrage being taken at the very name – ‘‘but all wines are natural!’’. Others say too many faulty wines are hiding behind the smug ‘‘natural wines’’ moniker. To make wines that way certainly means taking risks, and oxidation is not uncommon.
A wine fault for one person, though, may not be for another. And what you can’t fault is the desire by natural wine proponents to move away from the soullessness that has overrun much of the industry.
Coming soon is New Zealand’s first ever natural wine festival. Budburst will take place in Wellington on November 13, and will feature a number of natural wine producers from home and abroad.
The trade professionals who are organising Budburst felt it was time to create a public forum for these wines to be tasted, discussed and – hopefully – understood. Go to budburst.nz Cloudy in the glass, this remarkable, weighty, sulphur-free, natural wine is mouthfilling with big flavours – apricot and peach characters framed by lovely fresh herbs.
It has a settled, unhurried quality, and a fine tapering finish. Go to silverwingwines.co.nz Made by the pioneering biodynamic Millton Vineyard in Gisborne, and fermented on skins for 78 days, this wine offers glorious gewurz flavours tempered by an intriguing Campari-like edge.
It has texture, precision, and length.
You’ll be able to taste it at Budburst.