The Secrets of Natural Wines with Isabelle Legeron, MW
10-15 years ago, no one was talking about natural wine. It wasn’t even a concept the average consumer was aware of. But now there is a growing emphasis on natural wines in the industry and everyone is asking - what are natural wines?
According to Isabelle Legeron, the first female Master of Wine from France and a highly acclaimed expert on natural and low-intervention wine, natural wine is a wine that is made while preserving life throughout the winery and wine-making process. This includes everything from the trees and plants around the vineyard to the bees and insects that might come into contact with the vines. She describes these wines as being “alive.” There are no additives that will strip the wines of their microbiology. (If you’re curious I did a whole episode about natural wines in Episode 60 of The Wine CEO Podcast and you can listen to learn more.)
Last year when I focused on Vegan, Organic, and Natural Wines for the month of January, I explained that technically any winemaker can call their wine ‘natural’ and then interpret what that means to them, but there are 5 main requirements that are generally accepted in the wine industry for natural wines:
The wine must be made with grapes that are grown in small vineyards that are either organic, sustainable, or biodynamic
The wines should be unfined and unfiltered
The wines should be made with little to no added sulfites
The wines should be fermented with natural or native yeast strains instead of commercially made yeast strains
The wine should be made without any additives (no chemicals, stabilizers, or nutrients….. basically you can’t use anything other than the grape juice and native yeast)
Some traditional sommeliers may say that natural wines are mousy or don’t have great aging potential, but that’s not necessarily true! If the wines are produced with good farming and production practices then Isabelle says that they can age really well for 10-15 years or more. Though there are mousy natural wines out there, this can be avoided through the careful work of the winemaker to ensure the quality and age-ability of natural wines. There are many producers who are making wonderful natural wines! Many natural wines are being produced in Europe, especially in countries like France, Italy, Spain, Austria, and Germany. But more countries are getting involved in the natural wine world like the Czech Republic, Slovenia, and even regions like California in the U.S.
Natural wines are still breaking into the mainstream market, but thankfully there are people like Isabelle Legeron, who owns and operates one of the top natural wine communities, Raw Wine. Raw Wine connects producers of natural wines with each other and also with consumers who are looking for natural wines. It’s a great opportunity to expand the growing natural wine community and to allow the consumers to hear more of the process and journey directly from the farmers and winemakers themselves. Isabelle sees her role as a connector of people and helping growers sell more and more natural wines at the right price. It can be expensive for growers to farm organically, harvest by hand, and bottle without additives. Fair prices are really important for all of this hard work and Isabelle works to educate consumers on why these bottles might be more expensive, by allowing the winemakers to speak for themselves. For those who cannot attend these fairs or can’t find natural wines in their local stores, Raw Wine also has a wine club that includes interviews with the winemakers that allow consumers to hear the stories of natural winemakers, along with receiving Isabelle’s tasting notes for the wines that are selected.
If you want to learn more of the secrets of natural wine, then listen to Episode 110 of The Wine CEO Podcast and if you want to check out Raw Wine, then visit their website rawwine.com. If you’re looking for some reading to learn more about natural wines, then check out Isabelle’s Book Natural Wine: An Introduction to Organic and Biodynamic Wines Made Naturally. This book is mostly directed toward consumers and it’s full of stories from growers and experts in the field. There’s no better time to try some natural wines and I would love to know what you think of them!
Send me an email at sarah@thewineceo.com to let me know what you think of natural wines!