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Mark Lipton[_1_] Mark Lipton[_1_] is offline
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Default 'Natural wine' ?

wrote:
> Has anyone else noticed this term steadily gaining currency over the
> last twelve months ?
>
> It used to be something you weren't allowed to say.
>
> Jamie Goode (not exactly a wine hippy) now regularly uses it on his
> blog (see here :
http://www.wineanorak.com/blog/label...al%20wine.html)
> and both he and Alice Feiring are apparently writing books on the
> subject.
>
> http://www.morethanorganic.com puts quite a good case for the
> difference between 'natural' and 'organic' wines, but I can't help
> feeling it's just smart way of selling their product.
>
> Even Hugh Johnson seems to have retracted an article in which he
> called the idea of natural wine 'bogus' (see, or rather don't see,
> here : http://www.vinography.com/archives/2...tic_wine.html).
>
> It now seems to be current as a way of describing certain fairly
> extreme organic wines. These may well need a term distinct from
> 'organic', but surely there has to be a better alternative ?
>
> Any suggestions ?
>


"Natural Wine" is an actual movement among French winemakers. It refers
to an ethic that minimizes/avoids the use of SO2 to stabilize wine,
favors a non-interventionist approach to winemaking (indigenous yeasts,
little or no use of new oak, etc.) and viticulture (hand harvesting,
selection massale). Organic winemaking is far less restrictive since it
just concerns the use of pesticides and fertilizers in the vineyard.
For a good discussion of it, see Joe Dressner's recent article on his
blog: http://www.joedressner.com

Mark Lipton
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