Discussing the Definition of Natural Wine with David Schildknecht

An email conversation adding valuable detail to my straw man

David tasting with Luka Zeichmann (Joiseph), Burgenland, May 2022. Photo: SJW

Earlier this year, I published a piece offering my personal definition of natural wine - or, to put it in other words, what actually matters to me in terms of the wines I drink and celebrate.

The most in-depth discussion about the piece ended up in a private email thread between myself and my colleague David Schildknecht. For those who don’t know David, he is both an extraordinary source of knowledge and learning and also a true enthusiast of wine in all its forms.

When we initially met in 2018, I wasn’t sure how much I’d have in common with a former Wine Advocate writer who now contributes to Antonio Galloni’s Vinous. Wasn’t this the other extreme of the wine world from the radical niche that I inhabited?

That concern was enjoyably shattered on a mini-road trip in the Wachau together. David generously allowed me to crash his entire itinerary and to tag along for the ride. Fascinated by my orange wine quest, he brought a clutch of up and coming Austrian growers to my attention and even collected a few samples on my behalf. We talked about everything from skin ferments to Boulez and Viennese architecture. It was exhausting, because David’s work ethic puts mine to shame. But I learnt a lot.

David has an irrepressible desire to question and to add or suggest detail where it might be lacking, but never in a way that is patronising. My somewhat vague thinking in places was cross-examined and rightly challenged. There is so much value here that I thought it was worth reproducing the entire discussion in public.