Natural Wine 101
What is Natural Wine?
If you ask 10 people you’ll get 10 different answers. One of our favorite summaries of natural wine comes from Isabelle Legeron, Master of Wine - one of the most powerful women in the natural wine movement:
“Natural wine is not new; it is what wine always was, and yet, somehow today it has become a rarity. Healthily grown, nature-friendly, low-intervention wines that truly express their place of origin. Natural wine is a continuum, like ripples on a pond. At the epicentre of these ripples, are growers who produce wines absolutely naturally – nothing added and nothing removed. As you move away from this centre, the additions and manipulations begin, making the wine less and less natural, the further out you go. Eventually, the ripples disappear entirely, blending into the waters of the rest of the pond. At this point the term ‘natural wine’ no longer applies. You have moved into the realm of the conventional.”
Our wine selections adhere to the following standards:
- Care for the land: farmed organically or biodynamically
- Minimal to no intervention: made without adding or removing anything in the cellar. No additives or processing aids are used, no fining or filtration.
Our farming standards do not require certification. Many producers are small, independent growers and the certification process and costs are prohibitive. So, while they may strictly adhere to the same farming practices – they are not certified. Intervention also has a wide scope of interpretation. For us, this means nothing added except for sometimes a very small amount of Sulphur. We listen to our winemakers, importers and distributors for the story behind how each wine was made and strive to adhere to high standards without being obstinate. Our goal is to source wines whose ingredients are the closest thing to grapes, grapes and more grapes - as possible.