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Randy Caparoso's avatar

Thought provoking. I chuckle at one of your observations, "Then there is the term’s combative nature. If natural wine is ‘natural’, it implies that other wines are unnatural." The only people who think that are insecure people. When a wine, for instance, says "Old Vine," it does not imply that wines made from young vines are not so good. When it says "Unoaked," it is not an insult to oak aged wines. A natural or low intervention wine is, simply, something that just *is*: A low intervention or natural style wine made by growers and vintners by choice, and which many consumers prefer, just like they might prefer the color blue or a wine without oak. Most arguments against natural style wines are a crock because wine, like everything else that is crafted or manufactured, is a matter of taste. If people didn't like them, the category, loosely defined or not, wouldn't exist. It doesn't take a lot of brain power to understand that.

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Damien Casten's avatar

Manu Guillot at Guillot Broux is well versed in the early history and might have thoughts on the changes in language in the 10's. His grandparents were part of the group of people in the original group who consulted with Chauvet and applied some of the things Chauvet taught. They went on to found the first organic certification groups in Burgundy, if my understanding is correct.

Before the 2012 SAINS group the Association de Vins Naturel existed. I have interviews with some of the organizers on the subject from that time, as well as Jean-Marie Puzelat, Guy Bossard, and Jean Schaetzel. I never thought to analyze the language for Nature / Naturel, but it might be insightful. I don't see them on Ask a Winemaker so I might not have posted. I'll have to search.

One other observation around Chauvet that you evoke but which people don't always appreciate is that in post war France, chemicals were the answer to the devastation of the prior decade and along with tractors, they came pouring in from the US. He was responding to the widespread industrialization of agriculture in the post war world and there were massive changes happening.

Most of the conversations I've had with families who converted to organics early start with stories from '55 or so and they say "grandma and grandpa started to notice things" including one baking family who said that their bread rose differently than it had in the past. I mention that because despite 20 years of conversations, I can't say that I truly understand the social, economic or emotional (post war) context in which Chauvet was working. When I hear his name used, I always have a sense of a much larger and difficult to imagine historical context. I appreciate that you note how his work at the moment was different than how we see it today.

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