You can expect a lot from natural wines, but it should be remembered that the Gaussian curve applies here as it does to everything else in this world. So you will come across exceptional wines, good wines, wines that are a little less good, and wines that are bad.
Georgians know that a richly set table is a great way to enjoy their wines.
Perhaps it would be better to ask what to expect from wine. The uniformity or calcification of smells and tastes has gone so far in wine that the various descriptions and assessments of wines, which are obviously made in-vitro, are sometimes grotesque. Ranting about this and that fruit, herbs, spices, old leather … makes no sense to me personally if they are mainly the result of an oenologist’s tinkering with yeasts and many other flavour enhancers and enhancers. The Emperor’s new clothes. Nothing else.
So what can we expect from wines that are the result of hard work and minimal intervention? Diversity, above all. It is fair to say that natural wines sometimes brutally show the essence of this noble drink. Those coming from young vineyards are obviously easier – regardless of the vividness of the substrate. Some people like to call them “fresh”, which is nonsense, because freshness is something completely different. They have more pronounced fruitiness and usually less complexity. They often come on the market in the calendar year following the harvest and are intended to be consumed over two or three years. But they may also surprise us with their ageing well and much longer than expected lifespan.
But it is the older vineyards, especially those over 30 years old, that bring complexity, multilayeredness and characteristics that are virtually absent in conventional wines. These are wines that conjure up the rounded whole of the terroir in which they were made: all that the vines have received from the soil and the depth and breadth of their roots, and from the climatic and microbiological influences above ground.
A glere vineyard, from which prosecco colfondo (with sediment) is made in Veneto.
Bubbles that open up new dimensions
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, you may have noticed that I often mention what I call ‘minerality’. This, of course, comes mainly from the elements and rocks in the substrate, which the plant would not be able to absorb without the presence of micro-organisms. You will be able to smell it on your nose, as the smell of stone, wet stone, chalk or even flint. It can even have subtle “petroleum” notes, as is the case with some of Čotar’s white wines. On the palate, the minerality is mainly expressed in a pleasant salinity, which, in combination with the acids, gives the wine freshness and balance. Take, for example, wines from more southerly, Mediterranean regions. Take the southern Rhone in France, Etna in Sicily or La Mancha in Spain. Red wines from these areas often have an alcoholic strength of around 14 or 15% or even more. They may have a slightly more pronounced, sometimes robust body, but thanks to their rich minerality and the right acids, they are balanced and full of freshness. In local parlance – very drinkable.
Further north and/or higher up, natural wines are at home, often with less pronounced fruitiness, but all the more elegant minerality and layered complexity. Think Jura, Burgundy, especially Chablis, and of course Champagne. Some white wines from these regions have a tension and energy that is like being charged with electricity. The best examples are some of the champagnes from small, family-owned producers such as David Leclapart, Emmanuel Lassaigne, Tarlant, Laherte, Laval, Dehu, Lahaye …
Čotar wines are proof that natural wines can be very long-lived.
These are wines that open up a whole new dimension to the world’s most revered sparkling wines. On the one hand, we have million-dollar Champagnes, which more often than not exploit their geographical origin to achieve higher prices, but which do not even accidentally show up in the wine itself. On the other hand, a wealth of varieties, micro-locations and vineyards that bring us indescribable pleasures in the form of the so-called grower Champagnes. The still wines of Champagne – Coteaux Champenois – are a special story. As rare as the lynx in Slovenian forests. The precision, elegance and expressiveness of the acids, minerality and aftertaste in some examples are such as to shock one. Imagine top-quality Chablis on another level!
At a festival like Raw Wine in London, you can experience the full diversity of natural wines.
Orange wines are also getting better
Let’s go back to bubbles for a moment. Natural sparkling wines in general have brought something of a renaissance to the world of wine in the last decade. The return to the so-called ancestral production method has resulted in a wide range of high quality bubbles at really affordable prices. This is a technique where the must/wine is transferred somewhere around two-thirds of the way through the alcoholic fermentation into the bottles, where fermentation continues and finishes. These wines are usually not deglazed, which is why Italians call them colfondo (with sediment). The French term used worldwide is Pét-nat, short for Pétillant Naturel – naturally sparkling. The pressure in the bottle is lower compared to the conventional method, which means that there are fewer bubbles. They are usually simple, pleasant wines with a wonderful freshness and as such ideal for the summer heat.
And of course, we cannot pass by the white wines with prolonged strawberry skin contact – the white macerated (orange, n.d.) wines that have been enjoying a resurgence since sometime around the turn of the millennium. At the beginning, many were too crude, almost cumbersome and often full of mistakes, due to lack of practical experience. In recent years, however, we have tasted more and more wines with soft, almost silky tannins and beautiful balance. Many have nice oxidative notes instead of the oxidation that occurred in the past. They love to pair with food, which is the basic point of wine, but the varietality that some people are so fond of emphasising is still present (to a lesser extent).
Majas and Matassa – great wines from the south-west of France
