July 10, 2025 - 0 comments
A Natural Wine Lover’s Survival Guide to Europe
Travelling Europe this summer? Here’s how to ask for natural wine like a local, and spot the drinks you might want to avoid at all costs!
🇫🇷 France
✅ Do ask for: Vin Nature ou Vin Naturel
’Est-ce que vous avez du vin naturel, s’il vous plaît ?’
(Do you have any natural wine, please?)
🚫 Avoid: Piscine
A large glass of wine (often rosé or Champagne) served over ice cubes or with cold water added. Purists may consider this a dilution sacrilege!
🇪🇸 Spain
✅ Do ask for: Vino Natural
“¿Tenéis vino natural, por favor?”
(Do you have any natural wine, please?)
🚫 Avoid: Tinto de Verano
A popular summer drink of red wine mixed with soda (often lemon or tonic). Refreshing and cheap, but far from a natural wine experience, and usually made with basic bulk wine.
🇩🇪 Germany / 🇦🇹 Austria
✅ Do ask for: Naturwein
“Haben Sie Naturwein, bitte?”
(Do you have any natural wine, please?)
🚫 Avoid: Schorle / Gespritzter
Wine mixed with sparkling water. Sounds Refreshing, but will dilute the wine’s character!
🇮🇹 Italy
✅ Do ask for: Vino Naturale
“Avete del vino naturale, per favore?”
(Do you have any natural wine, please?)
🚫 Avoid: Sfuso
Bulk wine sold by the liter. It could be natural, but very often conventional and rough quality.
🇵🇹 Portugal
✅ Vinho Natural
“Tem vinho natural, por favor?”
(Do you have any natural wine, please?)
🚫 Avoid: Traçadinho
A mixture of red wine with cheap beer, typical in some northern regions. A curiosity, but definitely not natural wine territory.
🇭🇷 Croatia
✅ Do ask for: Prirodno Vino
“Imate li prirodno vino, molim?”
(Do you have any natural wine, please?)
🚫 Avoid: Bambus (Dalmatia)
Red wine mixed with Coca-Cola. Need we say more?
🇭🇺 Hungary
✅ Do ask for: Natúrbor
Van natúrbor, kérem?”
(Do you have any natural wine, please?)
🚫 Avoid: Szódás Bor
Wine mixed with soda water. Popular summer drink, but please don’t add anything to my Bencze Birtok!
Of course, if you’re hunting for natural wine on your travels, the Raisin app is your essential guide. With over 8,000 natural wine spots recommended worldwide, it helps you eat and drink like a local, discovering the best high-quality, seasonal, and often organic food and natural wines wherever you go.
