Wine: natural wine (324)
GUARDIAN NEWS SERVICE
(WINE6NOV)
By Fiona Beckett
STANDFIRST: natural wine is big business these days, but what does the term
actually mean? And are the wines any good?
The biggest buzz in the wine world right now is about "natural" wine, but
there's some confusion about exactly what that means. Most are organically
grown, some are biodynamic, but it's what happens in the winery that
counts.
For the purists, this means no chemical additions whatsoever, and that
controversially includes sulphur. A good thing, you might think, but it's
sulphur that helps to keep wine bright coloured, fresh and stable (and,
when consumed in excess, gives you headaches and hangovers).
Unsulphured wines can be weird, especially the whites, which can taste
more like scrumpy, but others - such as the 2009 Macon-Cruzille Aragonite,
a gloriously lush white burgundy from Domaine des Vignes du Maynes (13%
abv) - have an incredible length and purity of fruit that you don't tend to
find in conventionally-made wines.
Most winemakers add a little sulphur when bottling to keep the wine
stable in transit but still eschew commercial products such as the
cultivated yeasts and enzymes that are needed to make the fermentation work
efficiently - and that can make a wine produced in France, say, taste the
same as one produced in Australia. Wines may also be unfiltered and
unfined, which may leave them slightly cloudy.
If this doesn't sound too appealing, just give them a try. The best
place to start is a wine bar that specialises in natural wine.
If you like what you taste, try the Cuvee des Galets Cotes du Rhone 2009
(14%, abv), from the go-ahead co-op of Les Vignerons d'Estezargues just
east of Nimes - it's a breezy, exuberant red that has become my favourite
everyday drinking at home with pretty well everything from garlicky
sausages to veggie lasagne. Or the vivid La Nine Minervois 2007 (13% abv),
from Jean Baptiste Senat, which is a suitably autumnal organic Languedoc
red (mainly grenache and old vine carignan) that would be perfect with
pot-roast pheasant or a warm, sweet, spicy lamb tagine.
GUARDIAN NEWS SERVICE
(WINE6NOV)
By Fiona Beckett
STANDFIRST: natural wine is big business these days, but what does the term
actually mean? And are the wines any good?
The biggest buzz in the wine world right now is about "natural" wine, but
there's some confusion about exactly what that means. Most are organically
grown, some are biodynamic, but it's what happens in the winery that
counts.
For the purists, this means no chemical additions whatsoever, and that
controversially includes sulphur. A good thing, you might think, but it's
sulphur that helps to keep wine bright coloured, fresh and stable (and,
when consumed in excess, gives you headaches and hangovers).
Unsulphured wines can be weird, especially the whites, which can taste
more like scrumpy, but others - such as the 2009 Macon-Cruzille Aragonite,
a gloriously lush white burgundy from Domaine des Vignes du Maynes (13%
abv) - have an incredible length and purity of fruit that you don't tend to
find in conventionally-made wines.
Most winemakers add a little sulphur when bottling to keep the wine
stable in transit but still eschew commercial products such as the
cultivated yeasts and enzymes that are needed to make the fermentation work
efficiently - and that can make a wine produced in France, say, taste the
same as one produced in Australia. Wines may also be unfiltered and
unfined, which may leave them slightly cloudy.
If this doesn't sound too appealing, just give them a try. The best
place to start is a wine bar that specialises in natural wine.
If you like what you taste, try the Cuvee des Galets Cotes du Rhone 2009
(14%, abv), from the go-ahead co-op of Les Vignerons d'Estezargues just
east of Nimes - it's a breezy, exuberant red that has become my favourite
everyday drinking at home with pretty well everything from garlicky
sausages to veggie lasagne. Or the vivid La Nine Minervois 2007 (13% abv),
from Jean Baptiste Senat, which is a suitably autumnal organic Languedoc
red (mainly grenache and old vine carignan) that would be perfect with
pot-roast pheasant or a warm, sweet, spicy lamb tagine.