What Is Natural Wine? A Plain-English Guide
Posted by PAUL BALDI
Natural wine is wine made from organically farmed grapes, fermented with wild indigenous yeasts, and bottled with nothing added and nothing taken away. No commercial yeasts, no fining agents, no added sulphites beyond trace amounts at bottling, no acidification, no concentration. Just grapes, fermentation, and time.
Where did natural wine come from?
The natural wine movement has its roots in France — specifically Beaujolais and the Loire Valley — where producers in the 1980s and 1990s like Marcel Lapierre and Nicolas Joly began questioning the industrialisation of winemaking. They started farming organically and fermenting with wild yeasts instead of commercial lab yeasts, and discovered that wine made this way tasted more interesting, more alive, and more specific to a place.
What makes a wine "natural"?
- Organic or biodynamic farming — no synthetic herbicides, pesticides, or fertilisers
- Hand harvesting — grapes picked by hand to preserve fruit integrity
- Wild yeast fermentation — fermentation started by indigenous yeasts, not commercial lab yeasts
- No or minimal sulphites — conventional wines can contain up to 350ppm added SO2; most natural wines contain fewer than 30ppm
- No additives or manipulation — no added sugars, acids, tannins, enzymes, fining agents, or flavour compounds
- Unfined and unfiltered — bottled without filtration, which is why they often appear slightly hazy
Natural vs organic vs biodynamic
Organic wine addresses the vineyard — farming without synthetic chemicals. It says relatively little about the cellar, and organic wine can still be made with commercial yeasts and significant sulphites.
Biodynamic wine goes further, treating the vineyard as a living ecosystem following a lunar calendar and using specific preparations to build soil health. It is organic in practice but more holistic in philosophy.
Natural wine encompasses both, but extends the philosophy into the cellar. The defining feature is what is not done: no commercial yeasts, no fining, no excessive sulphites.
What does natural wine taste like?
Natural wine does not taste like one thing — it tastes of where it comes from. That said, natural wines tend to share certain characteristics: higher acidity, lower alcohol in many cases, and more aromatic complexity from wild fermentation. They may appear slightly hazy — this is a sign of minimal filtration, not a defect.
What food pairs well with natural wine?
Natural wines are among the most food-friendly wines in the world:
- Light natural reds (Gamay, Poulsard, Pinot Noir, Trousseau) — charcuterie, roasted chicken, salmon, duck, mushrooms, soft cheeses
- Natural whites (Chenin Blanc, Chardonnay, Aligoté, Savagnin) — oysters, seafood, vegetables, aged Comté, roasted chicken
- Grower Champagne and pét-nat — oysters, fried food, sea urchin, aged Parmesan
- Orange wine — spiced dishes, pork, firm cheeses, umami-forward vegetables
Where can I buy natural wine online in the US?
Voilà Wine ships rare and natural wines from small French producers to over 40 US states, with free shipping on orders of $300 or more to the West Coast and $500 or more nationwide. Our selection includes cult producers like Stéphane Bernaudeau, Charles Dufour, and Nicolas Raspiller whose wines are difficult to find outside of specialist importers.
