Merobebe
Posts
Natural wine isn't just funky town

Natural wine isn't just funky town

April 19, 2023

Happy Wine Wednesday!

Today, we’re popping open some natural wine and chatting with winegrower, maker, and writer Margot Mazur. So pour yourself a glass and let’s get our wine nerd on!

Natural Wine
Unfiltered, Unadulterated, and Unplugged

It seems like natural wine is everywhere these days. Even though natural wine only makes up about 1% of the world's wine, bars specializing in these low-intervention wines are popping up everywhere from Long Beach to Tokyo!

Before we dive into it, I want to note that some people may prefer the term “low-intervention,” “naked,” or “raw” instead. If you go into a wine bar/restaurant/store and say “natural wine” though, everyone will know what you mean.

Here’s the first thing to know about natural wine: Even though it’s a recent trend, natural wine is actually ancient. In fact, the “traditional” wine that most of us drink today is actually less than a century old! Commercial yeast entered the market in the mid 1960’s, pesticides became widespread after World War II, and many technological advancements changed the way that grapes are grown and wine is made. By taking advantage of these advancements and using a more hands-on approach, winemakers were able to ensure that they could create more stable and consistent wines each year.

So what is natural wine?

Well…it’s more of a concept than a rule. There’s no official definition or regulation of natural wine, which means that just because someone says it’s a natural wine…doesn’t mean it’s not, but just means it could mean anything. Is it a wine made from hand-picked, organic grapes with no additives? Maybe! Could it be a wine from sustainably grown grapes with no yeast nutrients but added sulfites? Who knows! We’re currently in the Pick Your Own Adventure stage of natural wines.

Except for France. Obviously. In 2020, France became the first country to officially recognize “vin methode nature” – although it’s still in a 3-year trial period. To get the “vin methode nature” logo on the label, wines must be made from hand-picked grapes grown in certified organic vineyards and be fermented with indigenous yeast. The wine production process is not allowed to use techniques that they refer to as “brutal” (like flash pasteurization or mashing the grapes too angrily - just kidding) although up to 30 mg per liter of sulfites can be added. Wines that have zero added sulfites will have a “natural wine with no added sulfites” (“vin méthode nature sans sulfites ajoutés”) label.

Back to the lawless U.S. –

Typically, “natural” refers to wine with

grapes from independent producers grown at smaller scales
hand-picked grapes from sustainable/biodynamic/organic vineyards
no added yeast during fermentation
no additives, like yeast nutrients, during fermentation
zero to little added sulfites (note: sulfites help preserve wine by slowing down chemical reactions, are used to preserve food like cheese and cured meats, and are not the cause of wine headaches or hangovers unless you are specifically allergic to them)

As you can see, the gist is that the wine is made with very little intervention in both the grape growing and wine making process. There’s no herbicides, no filtering, no manipulating the wine to make it taste more one way or the other. It’s the most natural expression of the grapes and wine itself.

Quick sip for thought: There are currently more than 50 winemaking additives approved for use in Europe and the United States (59 in Europe and 76 in the U.S. to be exact). This can include anything from sulfites for preservation to something called Mega Purple to make the wine more purple (this is not a joke). Don’t worry, we’ll have an issue on the world of wine additives soon…

Anyway.

It can get confusing because, for example, not all natural wines are organic and not all organic wines are natural. Because there’s no definition or regulation of natural wine, make sure you ask for details if there’s something specific you’re looking for!

So what do these natural wines look, smell, and taste like?

Natural wines are known for their funkiness, and are often gamier, yeastier, less fruity, and can appear more cloudy. The yeasty aroma might smell like yogurt, and natural wines can sometimes taste more like a sour beer or kombucha!

However, this does not mean that all natural wines are “funky” and “weird!” While lots of natural wines are definitely cloudy (from being unfiltered) and can head into funk town, there are actually lots of natural wines that taste like your usual grocery store haul. In fact, longtime natural wine advocate Pascaline Lepeltier told GQ that no matter what style of traditional wine you like, “you can find a [natural] alternative everywhere in the world.”

Some popular examples of natural wine include

Pet-Nat (or Pétillant Naturel): a type of sparkling wine where the wine finishes fermenting in the bottle – an ancient method called Méthode Ancestrale – which causes a natural spritz. Try some chenin blanc Pet-Nats from the Loire Valley in France!
Col Fondo: a funky, unfiltered version of Prosecco that is less sweet and can be sour or slightly bitter
Glou-glou: the onomatopoeia for “glug-glug” in French, these fresh, lighter red wines are often served chilled, have a slightly lower alcohol content at 10%, and are meant to be drunk early (and quickly!). The term originated in Beaujolais, France, so if you like gamays or fruitier pinot noirs, this could be a fun one to try!

Here’s what natural wine is not: objectively better or healthier than non-natural wine. It’s just another style of wine for you to explore!

If you’re ready to try out some natural wines, here are a couple of things to remember:

The use of native yeasts in natural winemaking might increase tyramine, a biogenic amines (related to amino acids, sort of) that has been studied and shown to cause headaches and migraines
As we said earlier, sulfite is used for preservation so sulfite-free wines can be a lot more unstable and super sensitive. This means that you should buy your natural wines locally to reduce the risk of any spoilage during transport, drink it within a year of purchasing it (unless it has sulfites), store the bottles in your wine fridge, cellar or fridge away from all light sources, and seal any open wines with a cork or wine vacuum in your fridge

Now go get your glou-glou on!

Margot Mazur (they/them)
Wine Grower, Winemaker, and Wine Writer

This interview has been edited for clarity and truncated for the newsletter.

Merobebe

First question to start things off: what is your favorite non-wine beverage?

Margot Mazur

That's an easy one. I drink so much kombucha. About 7 months ago, I had a really bad stomach ulcer and I had to go to the hospital – it was a whole thing. They were like, “Hey, how much alcohol do you drink?”

And I'm a wine writer, also. I write for Wine Enthusiast and VinePair and things like that. So I was like, I don't drink a lot, but I definitely drink every single day. Drinking wine is my actual job. And they're like, “Yeah, you can't drink every day. That's not going to work, even if it's like a little every day.”

And I was like, Shit. It's crazy because I always thought, Oh, a glass of wine a day with your dinner, it should be fine.

They put me on this wild diet, and “no alcohol” was part of the diet. So I ended up trying to find drinks that make you happy throughout the day that aren't alcohol based. I started drinking a lot of kombucha and there are so many different types of varieties and so many different types of styles. I found some really, really amazing ones that I love. I definitely have some favorites. Yesfolk is an amazing brand. They have some incredible kombucha that is super light, fresh, tart, and bright. And Urban Farm Fermentory here in Maine makes some great kombucha that I really love. I could go on and on with a bunch of recommendations.

It's been interesting to see, How can these beverages not replace wine for me, but how can they add to my drinking world when I’m pairing or when I'm having dinner, when I'm doing aperitifs or whatever it is? There's a lot more to our drinking world than wine.

Merobebe

I'm really curious to learn more about the winemaking area of Maine.

Margot Mazur

Maine is a very new wine region. Maine is not known for growing vinifera [wine grapes], right? Our vinifera is not going to survive so far in Maine, although folks have done some really interesting experiments with vinifera out here.

Mostly we are a hybrid region and grow a lot of hybrids. All of these hybrids do really well here because American hybrids are hardy. They're going to be more amicable to the cold, snowy conditions that we have. You don't have to rake them over, you can just plant them normally, which is really great. We have a lot of jealousy from folks in the Finger Lakes that have to dig over their rieslings, dig over their cab francs.

We don't have to do that out here because hybrids are very hardy and tough. They are more resistant to fungus and disease, so we don't have to use many chemical sprays.

We have a really great natural wine community starting up here. A lot of us don't use any pesticides or chemical fertilizers or anything like that. We grow organically or biodynamically here, which with hybrids is a lot easier to do. But with climate change, we are experiencing some significant pressures. We're warming up quite a bit every year. It's very, very clear that with that warmth we're experiencing more fungus, we're experiencing more pests coming up from the south. We're about to get bit by the Lanternfly for sure. We're all nervous about it. So in order to fend against that, we have to be more vigilant and more experimental in what we choose to add to the vineyard.

Merobebe

What first interested you in wine and more specifically, natural wine?

Margot Mazur

I am Jewish, my family's Jewish, and so growing up we drank a lot of really horrible wine. Just terrible wine. And I was like, Oh, I must hate wine. Wine is bad, right? And then I ended up moving to Oregon and tried some incredible wines, and I was like, Wait, what is the difference between what I had growing up and what I'm having here?

And that started ticking. And that was also the time back in the day when Wikipedia got really big. I was like, I’m going to Wikipedia every single thing about this! I just started learning and learning about it, and it became more and more interesting because wine is so much more than a beverage.

It's the culture, the history, the environment, the climate, the soil, everything. There's so much to learn and it is constantly changing. I think there's a point where you see yourself only reading books related to wine, only doing things related to wine and you're like….This is it. I started being really interested in working with it and it kind of went from there.

In terms of natural wine – I'm a person who is really sensitive about what goes in my body. My body is very sensitive to the foods that I eat, my skin is sensitive. I'm just like a sensitive, physical person. Natural wine piqued my interest because when you're visiting wineries and you're working in wineries, you're seeing all of the different compounds that can go into wine and you start to think like, Hey, these additives, can we do without them?

And we can. And we have forever since the beginning of wine, so that is what really hit it home for me. We've been making wine for a thousand years and we didn't have Mega Purple back then, and we don’t have to use it now. That's why I'm focused in that area. But I also do understand, especially as a winemaker now, that it's not always possible to make a natural wine if you want to build a business.

Sometimes things happen. You have to use a little bit of sulfur, you have to use a little bit of bentonite (note: used for clarifying wine), or you have to use a little bit of yeast or whatever it is. I'm not going to be a dogmatic person about natural wine. I think that it is not a yes or a no. It's a flow that changes every year. Some people are more nothing [added] ever, ever, ever. And that's fine and I respect that. But I also understand that there is a balance and every year is different.

Merobebe

What are some of the other challenges of making wine that is 100% natural, biodynamic?

Margot Mazur

Oh, my God, there's a million! I mean, we could talk about this forever. Anything could happen, right? Natural wine is a gift every year because anything could happen.

The natural yeast could not take. You could have a ton of volatile acidity. You could have your wine turn mousy. You could have brettanomyces [note: a type of yeast that can cause spoilage] that takes over. You could have a big fungus year, a big pest year. Anything could happen, so every year that you get natural wine that's truly zero-zero with organic biodynamic methods is a gift.

Merobebe

What do you think the wine industry can do to better address these issues of sustainability in winemaking? I know that's a big question…

Margot Mazur

It is a big question. I think that we have to work together more than we are now. I think that there are communities in the winemaking industry today that have really great collaboration, and there are communities that do not have really great collaboration. If we are to make it as an industry past this incredible challenge of climate change, we have to work together. We have to help one another out. We have to share our stories, share our successes, share our failures, share our tactics.

We have to embrace French American hybrids across the nation. And I think that people are doing that more and more, which is incredible to see. These hybrids are more hardy, they're going to use less water. They're going to use less chemicals in general - fertilizers, pesticides. They're going to be more tough against whatever it is that this new climate brings us. They are different. But this is still early stages in terms of hybrids, and the more people who are growing them and developing them, the more we'll get beautiful, elegant wines out of them in the future.

We need folks to look to the future of the vineyards instead of looking at, What can the vineyard give me this year? How can we create vineyards that stick around for a long time that have roots deep, deep, deep in the earth that aren't being watered, that are dry-hardy? All of that is going to be really, really important and it stems from communication. We can't do it alone. We have to work together and collaborate.

Merobebe

It’s interesting to hear you say we have to think about the future of the vineyards, not just what we can take right now. I chatted with the former part-owner of Joseph Phelps Vineyards who sold their winery to LVMH, and she mentioned how things are changing over in Napa. A lot of smaller wineries and family wineries are having to sell, and a lot of the private equity firms that buy the wineries just pump out as many cases as they can until there’s nothing left, then move onto the next one.

Margot Mazur

Yeah, I have a lot to say there... Napa Valley is gone. What Americans think of Napa Valley is not there anymore. There are a few people for sure that still have it. Like Cathy Corison, an incredible winemaker, has had her vineyards for over 50 years now. But yeah, it's crushing to see Napa being destroyed by corporations and private equity.

Merobebe

Last but definitely not least, tell us a little bit more about your newsletter, The Fizz!

Margot Mazur

The Fizz is a newsletter that highlights underrepresented groups in wine in America. Mostly women, LGBTQ folks, people of color who work in the wine industry. Not only winemakers, but farmers, folks who work in shops, folks who work in cellars, things like that.

For me, it was really important to start something like that personally because, again, that collaboration, that communication is so, so important. Having that knowledge from people in the industry who are incredibly knowledgeable but aren't heard – having that live somewhere was really important to me.

It’s been over two years of The Fizz now, which is really cool. I've learned a lot from a lot of different people and it has been really amazing to see the subscribers who are a mix of industry folks, winemakers, somms, and consumers really get a benefit from the answers that are being given – very specific stuff.

I like to ask folks very specifically, how do you make your wines? How did you meet your growers? What did you add to the soil this year? Very, very tactical questions where those answers don't really live in a lot of different places. It's hard for us to get that kind of tactical information, so it's been really great. I've had a really good time with it. I met a lot of amazing people.

Merobebe

And you also have a wine festival coming up, right?

Margot Mazur

This is my second annual Maine Wild Wine Fest. It's a wine fair held in Maine that has a big focus on American winemakers and American producers, especially those working with French American hybrids. It's going to be on May 20th. It's in this beautiful old 1800s barn right next to a state park. I'm stoked about it!

Read the full interview at our website here.

Get a wine-related movie or book pairing for your weekend.

Today’s pairing is You Had Me at Pet-Nat: A Natural Wine-Soaked Memoir by Rachel Signer

Author Rachel Signer is the founder and publisher of independent natural wine-focused magazine, Pipette Magazine, and is an American now living in South Australia making natural wine. Her memoir describes the journey sparked by her first taste of Pet-Nat while she was a single, broke freelance journalist-slash-waitress in New York City. From Paris, Italy, Spain, Georgia, to South Australia, Signer goes on a journey that explores her life philosophy (and issues with commitment).

See the reviews and buy You Had Me at Pet-Nat from a local bookstore here.