Ask LH: What’s Natural Wine and Should You Start Drinking It?

If you’ve been keeping up with the latest trends on booze, you may have heard about natural wine by now. It’s a wine variety that is picking up in popularity in many corners of the globe and loads of folks are intrigued by the unique look and taste of the stuff.

But what is natural wine?

According to Wine Folly, there is no official definition characterising natural wines but there are some particulars that you will probably encounter when ordering.

Most often, these vino varieties will be made from grapes grown at smaller vineyards that often follow sustainable, organic or biodynamic processes.

In terms of the techniques employed when making these kinds of wines, often only native yeasts are used (no yeast is added in the fermentation process); additives are left out of the mix and sulfites are also often excluded (or used only minimally).

Dan Murphy’s states on its website that “at its purest, natural wine has ‘nothing added, nothing removed’.”

If you’ve never experienced this wine first-hand, it is probably most closely comparable to kombucha. The natural fermentation process means that the wine will be filled with live probiotics at the stage of bottling.

What do they taste like?

Orange wine is probably the most popular of the natural wine varieties. This is a vino that is made similarly to red wine in that the skin remains on the grapes throughout the process.

If you’ve tasted orange wine before, you’ll know this usually has a somewhat sour flavour profile. This is typical of most natural wines.

Other popular varieties, according to Wine Folly, include sparkling wines like Pétillant Naturel and Col Fondo Prosecco.

Are natural wines better for you?

This is a tricky one. As Wine Folly writes, some believe the lack of additives makes this type of wine better for you. There are also those who believe a lack of sulfites reduces the risk of headaches. The website states, however, that evidence does not prove this theory. It may be down to personal preference, this one.

Have you tasted any of these babies before? Let us know what you think in the comments below!