What is a natural wine?
Well, there isn’t technically a legal definition for natural wine, so you’ll have to rely on the winemaker to tell you what they have (or haven’t) done to the wine.
Is natural wine different from organic?
So… how does natural wine differ from organic wine? Are natural wines the same as orange wines? If you’re asking these questions, you’re certainly not alone.
“Natty” wines (yeah, we’re cool) are made with the bare minimum of chemical or winemaker intervention - no additives, no fining or filtering, no chemicals and usually no added sulphur - and spontaneously fermented on native yeasts. It’s a fully minimalist approach that allows the character of the vineyard to be expressed through the wine.
These wines are often referred to as funky and tart, having similar characteristics to kombucha or beer. You’ll see they’re often cloudy in the bottle, and sometimes have a little fizz.
All natural wines are organic, since growing organic grapes is a requirement for natural wines. But not all organic wines are natural, as sometimes organic winemakers use fining or filtering agents that aren’t typically used in natural winemaking.
