Natural wine is wine made with just grapes, and sometimes a little bit of sulfur (no more than 30 mg/L for reds and 40 mg/L for whites). While they are often certified or practicing organic and/or biodynamic farming in the vineyards, these wines go beyond any certification standards in the cellar, resulting in wines that truly represent the taste of fermented fruit. These are wines that highlight the work of the winemaker, not a factory.
At this decisive time as our planet faces climate change, our relationship with the world around us and moving to sustainable agriculture is critical. In France, one of the world's largest wine producers, 30% of pesticides are concentrated into only 3% of the agricultural surface. Conversely, producing natural wine benefits the ecosystem in a humanistic way. The natural wine app aims to support these gardeners of the vines (aka winemakers), and allow them to be paid off for their hard, honest work. Meanwhile, the average price of a bottle of wine in Europe was 1.7€ in 2017 (and increases up to 10€ for importing countries). Such low prices imply the use of mass production methods, which do not respect the environment, and do not provide the necessary means for producers. If tomorrow the vineyards were made of up winemakers all working in this eco-friendly fashion, it would create a world of difference with beautiful biodiversity and a balance in our environment.
THE VARIOUS ASSOCIATIONS AND THE NATURAL WINE UNION
There are a multitude of associations and organizations around the world who work to provide the framework for a better understanding of what natural wine really is. While the requirements on different criteria may vary, the commonality is that they want to help consumers IDENTIFY WHAT IS NOT NATURAL WINE. All these approaches converge towards a better idea of how a wine is made, whether in the vineyard or in the cellar. Below is a list of the main organizations that exist to date:
➜ Syndicate for the Defense of Natural Wine
Vin Méthode Nature is the name of the first label dedicated to natural wine. Their goal is to provide a more concrete guarantees to consumers, (for example) by conducting random control procedures. The presence of 2 different logos on the back label makes it possible to identify if it is a natural wine (without added sulfur) or a natural wine (with a volume of sulfur lower than 30mg/L in total). The specifications:
- 100% of the grapes come from organic agriculture (Nature & Progrès, AB or 2nd year of conversion)
- Manual harvesting
- Indigenous yeasts
- No other inputs
- No voluntary modification of the grape's constitution
- No brutal techniques
- No sulfites added before and during fermentation (possibility of adjusting the order SO2 < 30mg/l total H2SO4 before bottling, with a dedicated label)
- Non "Vin Méthode Nature" vintages must be clearly identified (with different labeling).
The Vin Méthode Nature label differentiates between 2 distinct approaches:
- 1 - Vin Méthode Nature: label with no added sulfites (the grapes produces them naturally)
- 2 - Vin Méthode Nature < 30mg/L total sulfites at bottling.
Number of member winemakers : 200 - September 2021.
➜ VinNatur
This Italian association is a collection of more than 170 producers from 10 different countries, each with their own unique story but with a common goal: to produce natural wine.
Prohibited in the vineyard:
- Mineral, organic-mineral and synthetic chemical fertilizers
- Chemical weed killers or drying products the use of synthetic, systemic and cytropic antiparasitics, not authorized in organic agriculture
- The use of phosphites
- The use of chemical insecticides
- Mechanical harvesting
- The cultivation of Cisgenic and GMO grapes, or the use of products derived from GMOs
Prohibited in the cellar:
- Clarification using products with albumin, casein, bentonite or charcoal-based or pectic enzymes
- The use of selected commercial yeasts (even if EU regulations allow it for organic wine), enzymes, lysozymes and lactic acid bacteria
- The use of any foreign additives, excluding sulfur dioxide
- Bottled wine must not contain more than 50 mg/liter of sulphur dioxide for white, rosé, sparkling and sweet wines, and no more than 30 mg/liter for reds.
- Invasive practices that alter the intrinsic characteristics of the wine and modify the vinification process, for example: dealcoholization, heat treatment above 30°C, reverse osmosis, acidification, deacidification, electrodialysis, use of cation exchangers, elimination of sulfur dioxide by physical proccesses, deaeration, etc.
Number of member winegrowers: 170
➜ The Natural Wine Association (AVN):
The charter has evolved over the years, and now does not accept any inputs or additives. Here are the main elements of their specifications:
- A wine whose grapes come from organic or biodynamic agriculture
- A wine that is vinified and bottled without any input or additive.
- Manual harvesting
- Pasteurization is forbidden.
- Enzymes are forbidden, regardless of their oenological use.
- No chaptalization
- Native yeasts only
- No use of S02 (Analyses = 10mg/L maximum)
- No tartaric stabilization
- No fining
- No filtration
Number of member winegrowers: not provided
➜ Les vins S.A.I.N.S.
The winemakers of the Association des Vins S.A.I.N.S. produce healthy, living wines (without inputs or added sulfites) across 100% of the winemaking process. The main elements of their criteria include:
- Vineyards are free of all synthetic and molecular chemicals.
- Manual harvest
- In the cellar: natural fermentation which occurs only by the action of yeasts and indigenous bacteria.
- A winemaker from the association adapts to the seasons and matures his wines without using laboratory products or technologies aimed to accelerate the stability or modification of the juices (at any time during the various fermentation and bottling processes).
- Sulphites and other oenological inputs are prohibited.
Number of member winegrowers: not provided
