What are natural wines? You might have been hearing for two decades about organic wine, biodynamic wine, wine from grapes from organic cultivation, honest wine ... All these wines are now collected under the common name 'natural wines'.

Unfortunately, I sometimes have to conclude that organically grown grapes do not yet guarantee a natural wine. What do I mean by natural wines?

Natural wines are wines where as little as possible is intervened from the vineyard to the bottle. A natural wine can only be made from very healthy grapes. You get the healthiest grapes from a vineyard that is microbiologically balanced; So a vineyard where no chemicals are used to kill all "pests".

These are usually vineyards where organic or biodynamic work is done, and where as little as possible is intervened not to disturb the natural balance. The grapes from these vineyards are therefore "naturally" balanced and also have enough yeast cells of their own on their skin to initiate spontaneous fermentation. For example, no factory yeasts (often aroma yeasts) have to be added to the grape juice to start fermentation.

The juice of these grapes is also "naturally" strong enough to protect itself, so there is no need to add sulfur from oxidation. In the case of natural wines, the spontaneously initiated fermentation is also allowed to end spontaneously. This is in contrast to industrial or artificial wines where fermentation is often stopped early by adding chemicals because the wine has to go "to the market" but is actually not ready yet.

Then, of course, one has to start sweetening, acidifying or deacidifying again.

The naturally and slowly fermented wine will find a natural balance again and protect itself again without the need for sulphurization. The industrial or artificial wine, on the other hand, will have to be firmly "stabilized" again with the necessary sulfur and industrial techniques. The natural wines are not only healthier, but often also more balanced, expressive and complex than classic wines.

If your mind is having a hard time with this, just listen to your body ... You will feel the difference too.

The details of our wines always indicate whether it is a 'natural wine'.

Jan Borms