What are natural wines and which ones should you be sipping right now

We want everything we consume to be honest, free from any nasties and good for the planet. Alcohol is no different. The UK only has a handful of natural vineyards, but the trend is expanding as Nuria Stylianou discovers

The Albury vineyard in Surrey makes natural wine (Albury vineyard)

“Natural wines” – like organic farming and sustainable eating – while currently trending on Instagram feeds and popping up on restaurant menus, have been with us for thousands of years and are not the product of some modern health and wellbeing kick. They are, however, touted as being pure, kind to the planet, possibly better for your health… not to mention, delicious.

With the emphasis on low intervention and zero technological manipulation, both in the vineyard and in the winery – with, for example, no rebalancing of sugars or acidity, and no addition of yeasts – they are “as nature intended, a frank representation of a piece of land in a particular year … all the components necessary to start and complete fermentation and give balance and complexity must come from the vineyard itself,” according to Isabelle Legeron, Master of Wine and founder of rawwine.com, which lists the wines showcased at her artisan wine fair, held every year in east London, New York and Berlin.

Many farmers in Italy and France have spent their lives working their land to make wine, grow fruit and vegetables and rear livestock in the same way their fathers taught them. These makers have no PR machine or purity claims. Rather, the mindset is: “This is the produce from our back garden, here's what we can do with it. Come in, pour yourself a glass and I’ll make us something tasty for dinner.“

Now however, the natural wine scene is exploding, alongside the growing drive to know the provenance of our food – where and how our meat was killed or our fish caught; where our vegetables were grown and our wine made. In lieu of our own suitably untainted fertile land, Britons become very nosy about other people’s. And while we’ve established natural wines are no gimmick or fad, there is a lot of confusion between the terms we bandy around while we casually throw back a glass or two of the “natural”, “biodynamic” or “organic” stuff – sometimes without even realising.

There are as many good natural wines out there as there are bad, and this is true of all wines – conventional or not. There are always people wanting to jump on the latest bandwagon to make a quick buck – but what counts is always our enjoyment of the final product, as a demonstration of quality and skill.

So, in search of some clarity, there couldn’t be a better time to go through the differences between organic, biodynamic and natural.

What are the main differences between organic, biodynamic and natural wines?

Legeron says: ”Organic and biodynamic principles relate primarily to farming (although certification does also restrict cellar practices compared with conventional winemaking). Organic farming aims to eschew manmade synthetic chemicals in the vineyard, while biodynamic agriculture (developed and coined by anthropologist Rudolph Steiner in the Twenties) goes one step further and is a more holistic approach to farming based on prevention rather than treatment. For biodynamics, polyculture and animal husbandry are at the heart of farm life and vine treatments are, for example, based on plants, minerals and manures.”

Albury Vineyards in Surrey is one of the few biodynamic vineyards in the UK. Owner Nick Wenman explains: “Biodynamic practices encourage a natural harmony between the earth, the vine and the cosmos, as nature intended, without the need to use systemic chemicals. We believe that this results in a more naturally healthy, biodiverse and sustainable vineyard, producing better quality fruit and ultimately better quality wine, with a unique sense of place or terroir.“

What are the differences in the winery?

Organic and biodynamic producers will use sulphites – but at much lower levels than conventional winemaking, with biodynamic makers using even less than their organic counterparts. Wild ferments or organically certified commercial yeasts are permitted to kick-start fermentation; stabilising agents are allowed, though only bentonite and cream of tartar, and specific stabilising techniques can be used to prevent the wine appearing hazy or developing faults in the bottle, along with de-acidification and enrichment if the wine demands it. The key differences in comparison with conventional winemaking are the amounts and techniques allowed.

Legeron says: “Organic and biodynamic wines that are made with less additives or manipulations than permitted by their certified bodies, such as those with lower levels of sulphites added only at bottling, are called low-intervention wines.

“Like these wines, natural wines are made from grapes that are farmed organically or biodynamically but the main difference is the grape juice must be transformed into wine without adding or indeed removing anything during the process. Unfortunately, natural wine does not yet have a legal definition and so is open to abuse.”

Do these wines taste any different?

People expect a wine to taste a certain way but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the “right” taste – there’s a safety in recognising something familiar, your brain ticking off the checklist: “Aromatic, grassy, elderflower, high acidity? It must be sauvignon blanc.” Styles will vary according to the winemaker and their ability to highlight the innate qualities of the grape and its natural surroundings. “Raw” wines “have a broader spectrum of flavours and are usually wines of great purity, often produced without obvious oak additions or too much extraction”, says Legeron.

They are also much longer-lived when opened, “unlike many conventional wines that are identical, day in and day out, year in and year out, until the moment you open them and are then pretty much shot after 24 hours”.

This week, Legeron has chosen six of her favourite wines to try:

Valli Unite, Il Brut & The Beast, Vino Frizzante

£14, Aubert & Mascoli

“An inspiring co-op formed by a group of families in rural Piedmont. They cure their own meats, farm wheat and other grains, keep bees and run a great restaurant on site. Farming grapes and making wine is really just a tiny part of what they do. Reminiscent of pear juice with a touch of fresh almonds, Il Brut & The Beast is an easy-drinking, delicious bubbly suitable for any occasion.”

Ligas, Roditis, 2014

£19.50, Dynamic Vines

“With vineyards in Macedonia, northern Greece, Ligas is one of the very few natural wine producers in the whole country. Made from the indigenous Roditis grape, this is a round, opulent, Mediterranean wine with notes of persimmon and vanilla and a lovely freshness that makes it very moreish.”

Werlitsch, Ex Vero II, 2011

£27.90, Newcomer Wines

“Hailing from the stunning Styria in southern Austria, with its steep hills and sunken valleys, the biodynamic Werlitsch is part of a contingent of brilliant growers who have turned this former beer hop region into one of Austria’s natural wine strongholds. A smoky, mineral-driven wine with ripe apple and quince fruit notes.”

Mother Rock Wines, Force Majeure, 2015

£13, Ten Green Bottles

“The result of a collaboration between South African winemaker Johan Meyer and the founder of UK wine merchant, IndigoWine, this upfront, juicy, unoaked, thirst-quenching wine is made from dry-farmed Chenin Blanc harvested from bush vines in the Swartland.”

Ancre Hill Estates, Rosé, Wales, 2014

£15.99, Fine Wines Direct UK

“This biodynamic vineyard on the outskirts of Monmouth in Wales is living proof that the UK is going places when it comes to winegrowing and making. A pinot noir-dominated blend, this is a pretty rosé with some substance – light tannins, crunchy red berry fruits and a good length.”

Tom Shobbrook, Syrah, 2013

£40, The Winemakers Club, 020 7236 2936

“Tom Shobbrook is part of a new generation of inspiring young growers who have turned their backs on the highly technical Aussie wine industry of old and opted instead for an organic, low-intervention approach yielding brilliant wines of terroir. A full-bodied, dense, concentrated Syrah, this wine also shows wonderfully floral, perfumed notes with tight, elegant tannins.”

Isabelle Legeron MW is the founder of RAW, the artisan wine fair. For more information visit rawwine.com

Nuria Stylianou is our WSET-qualified wine and spirits columnist. Email her on nuria.stylianou@gmail.com and follow her on Instagram @nu_on_the_vine