My Definition of Natural Wine

Last year I wrote that natural wine shouldn't be a style. Here I outline what should define the category.

Gernot and Heike Heirich at their biodynamic winery in Burgenland, Austria

The closest I ever got to going viral was when I caught COVID-19 in 2021, one week before a planned trip to La Dive Bouteille. Barring that, last year’s piece Natural Wine Shouldn’t be a Style clearly struck a nerve with many readers. Including those who variously accused me of being an old person (guilty as charged), clearly not having talked to any natural wine people (seriously?) and plagiarising their work.

But if that piece lamented what the term natural wine has come to signify, here I want to outline what it means for me. There is one overriding reason why I keep banging on about the topic, and that is because I maintain a deep belief in the category. And these are still the wines I want to drink.

So here are the main parameters, together with my take on whether they’re important or not. This is, with apologies, an unusually technical article. I promise it’ll be back to sex and aliens next time.