Going Natural By Andy Hale, CSW

With the increasing popularity of organic foods and produce, it's no surprise that wine is heading the same way. After all, wine is a grocery. Like orange juice, but more fun!

More and more wines are going organic, biodynamic, or even the mysterious label,  "natural." But what does all of this really mean? Does wine really need to be any more complicated than it already is?

The sad truth is, in order to meet the demands of a very thirsty world, wine has started to become mass-produced and increasingly manufactured. Many wineries look more like a factory with huge metal holding tanks that look like silos, instead of a chateau or a romantic, stone-walled cellar. In many cases, mass-produced wines are manipulated, with added flavors, sugar and other chemical additives. In fact, there are over 80 additives that are legal to add directly into the wine that we drink, and I'm not just talking about sulfites. 

There are defoaming agents, gums to add body and weight, artificial flavors and even antibacterial additives. Sometimes it's cheaper to add a bunch of bacteria-killing antibiotics to your wine than to keep your tanks clean.  There is even a dye called Megapurple that makes your Cabernet deep and dark in color. Megapurple? Didn't Godzilla fight Megapurple? These are basically the wine-equivalent of junk food and are just as bad for you. Do you get headaches when you are drinking wine? These are likely the culprit.

Speaking of headaches, Sulfites have long been blamed for wine-related headaches, but that isn't true. Sulfites are a naturally occuring preservative that are in many of the foods we eat every day. From all fruit juices, to sausage, bacon, dried fruits, jellies, ketchup, cereals, and even many pharmaceuticals. If sulfites gave you a headache, you would most likely always have a headache. Also, without them, wines continue to evolve in ways that are unpredictable and strange flavors can develop.

Fortunately, many winemakers are just as grossed-out by all of the additives listed above as we are and have continued making their wines cleanly and traditionally. You know, out of grapes instead of chemicals.

Organic Winemaking

Some wineries will get an Organic certification, and these are just like the organic cucumbers in the produce section. These grapes are grown with minimal chemicals in the vineyard, although there are still 20 or so additives that are legal to use here. Even the scary-sounding Megapurple is considered organic. 

Biodynamic

Biodynamic agriculture sounds crazy. They preach quasi-magical farming methods that 

sounds like voodoo, such as burying a cow horn full of manure and special herbs in the farm for a year, and then digging it up and spraying the resulting gunk all over the farm. They also use the alignment of planets and stars for guidance as to when to plant, irrigate, and harvest their crops.

There are two interesting things to mention about Biodynamic farming. First, there is nothing artificial allowed to be used in the vineyard or winery, and no additives allowed in the wine at all, except for a minimal amount of sulfur. These wines are made out of grapes, period. Second, whatever voodoo they are practicing seems to be working. Even the more scientifically-minded winemakers are scratching their collective heads as to why these wines tend to be rated better than their conventionally-made counterparts.

Natural Winemaking

"Natural" winemaking tends to be a hands-off approach, basically not doing anything in the winery that our ancestors wouldn't have done thousands of years ago. These are often unfined and unfiltered, typically avoid lab-grown yeast cultures with predictable flavors in favor of unpredictable wild yeasts and are often bottled without any added sulfites. This means that they are often wild, funky-tasting, cloudy wines. If you are a fan of sour beer you might enjoy Natural Wine. It's hard to argue that they aren't complex and interesting, but maybe not everyone's cup of tea.

Since most wines will not mention what they are made of and very few wines label themselves as Organic, Biodynamic or Natural, it can be very difficult to find wines that are responsibly-made. My advice to you is seek out small production, family-owned wineries that you trust. Look for wineries that are still making wine the old fashioned way. If the wine is found on every grocery store shelf in the country, it is probably mass-produced and possibly loaded with chemical additives. Avoid these and hopefully your headaches will go away.