Natural wine is having a moment. Walk into any trendy wine bar in Brooklyn, Portland, or East London, and you’ll find a menu dominated by funky, unfiltered bottles with hand-drawn labels. But ask five people what “natural wine” actually means and you’ll get seven different answers.
As someone who has made wine on three continents — including alongside producers who would call themselves natural — I want to give you a clear, honest breakdown of what this movement is, what it isn’t, and whether these wines deserve a spot in your glass.
There Is No Official Definition
This is the first thing you need to know. Unlike “organic” or “biodynamic,” there is no legally regulated certification for “natural wine” in most countries. France introduced a “Vin Méthode Nature” label in 2020, which is the closest thing to an official standard, but it’s voluntary and not universally adopted.
Generally, the wine community defines natural wine as wine made with minimal intervention in both the vineyard and the cellar. In practice, this typically means:
In the vineyard:
- Organic or biodynamic farming (no synthetic pesticides, herbicides, or fertilizers)
- Hand-harvested grapes
- Focus on biodiversity and soil health
In the cellar:
- Fermentation with native (wild) yeast only — no commercial yeast strains
- No or very minimal added sulfites (SO2)
- No fining or filtering
- No added sugar (chaptalization)
- No added acid or water
- No use of commercial enzymes, tannin powders, or other additives
For context, conventional winemaking legally permits over 60 different additives and processing aids. Natural winemakers aim to use none of them.
Most winemakers that we’ve worked with in Australia, Burgundy, Portugal, California and Washington add a minimal amount of sulfites but not too much else. What you want to stay away from are large batch producers that buy cheap grapes and manipulate the taste with tons of additives. You know what that’s called? A bad hangover.
Natural vs Organic vs Biodynamic: What’s the Difference?
This causes a lot of confusion, so let’s clarify.
Organic wine is made from organically farmed grapes (certified by USDA, EU, or equivalent bodies). However, the cellar rules are relatively relaxed — organic wines can still use commercial yeast, fining agents, and moderate levels of sulfites. In the US, “made with organic grapes” allows up to 100 ppm of added sulfites; “USDA Organic” wine allows none.
Note: There are many small producers (us included) that may farm organically, but don’t have the USDA Organic label — as this costs $$$.
Biodynamic wine follows the agricultural philosophy of Rudolf Steiner, treating the vineyard as a self-sustaining ecosystem. Biodynamic farming is organic at its core but adds practices like planting and harvesting according to lunar cycles and using specific preparations (like burying cow horns filled with manure). Certified by Demeter. Cellar rules are stricter than organic but still allow some additions.
Analemma Wines and Hiyu Wine Farm are two great producers in the Columbia River Gorge that adhere to this philosophy.
Natural wine goes further than both in the cellar. No (or almost no) sulfites, no commercial yeast, no fining, no filtering. The vineyard practices are typically organic or biodynamic, but the real distinction is the hands-off approach in the cellar. Some of the best wines we’ve ever tried are made this way; also some of the worst wines. As they don’t have any preservatives (sulphur), they can be a bit of a surprise upon opening!
Think of it as a spectrum: Conventional → Organic → Biodynamic → Natural, with each step representing less intervention.
What Does Natural Wine Taste Like?
This is where things get interesting — and polarizing. Because natural wines ferment with wild yeast and aren’t stabilized with sulfites, they can taste quite different from conventional wines. Common characteristics include:
- Funk: Some natural wines have a funky, barnyard-like aroma (from a yeast called Brettanomyces or from volatile acidity). Fans call this “interesting complexity.” Critics call it a flaw. The truth is somewhere in between — a little Brett can add character; a lot can overwhelm the wine. Our rule of thumb: If it distracts us more than a little from enjoying the wine, then it’s too much.
- Cloudiness: Unfiltered wines are often hazy or cloudy. This is purely cosmetic and has no impact on quality or safety. We tend to enjoy unfiltered wines more than filtered ones. We do understand why some folks find it unappealing though.
- Effervescence: Some natural wines have a slight fizz or pétillant quality from residual CO2 trapped during fermentation. This is intentional in styles like Pétillant Naturel (Pét-Nat).
- Fruit-forward freshness: The best natural wines are incredibly alive — vibrant, juicy, and electric with fresh fruit flavors and a dynamic texture.
- Unpredictability: As mentioned, bottle variation is more common with natural wines. Without sulfites to stabilize, the wine can evolve differently bottle to bottle. This is either charming or infuriating depending on your personality.
- Orange: There’s no better poster child for the natural wine movement than natural wine. It shows the winemaker let white wine grapes behave in their natural element without any disruptions, keeping skins on unlike white wines as we know today. This is common practice in places like Slovenia and Friuli, but only recently became in vogue here in the US.
Speaking of orange wine, here’s our favorite book about the topic–give it a read!
The Case For Natural Wine
Natural wine advocates make several compelling arguments. The farming practices are better for soil health and biodiversity. The wines express terroir more authentically without the masking effects of commercial yeast and heavy oak. And there’s a philosophical appeal — wine has been made for thousands of years without the modern additives that conventional winemaking relies on.
From a health perspective, some people report fewer headaches and hangovers from low-sulfite natural wines. This is anecdotal and not conclusively proven by research; there are actually more sulfites in canned tomatoes and dried fruit than the typical wine bottle.
The Case Against (Or at Least, for Caution)
The natural wine movement has a quality control problem. Without sulfites as a preservative, wines are more vulnerable to spoilage and oxidation. The “minimal intervention” philosophy means some winemakers are essentially crossing their fingers and hoping for the best — and sometimes the result is genuinely flawed wine.
The marketing can also be misleading. “Natural” implies that conventional wine is somehow “unnatural” or harmful, which isn’t accurate. A well-made conventional wine from responsible producers is perfectly fine to drink. And some “natural” producers use the label as a shield against criticism — if the wine tastes off, they claim it’s just “natural character.”
The sweet spot, in my experience, is producers who are rigorous about farming and thoughtful in the cellar — intervening minimally but skillfully, rather than not intervening at all. It’s too easy for a lazy winemaker to blame the faults on natty wine.
How to Start Exploring Natural Wine
If you’re curious, here are some practical entry points:
- Start with Pét-Nat: These sparkling natural wines are typically light, fruity, and approachable. They’re a fun gateway.
- Try producers who are “low-intervention” rather than dogmatic: Winemakers who farm organically/biodynamically and use native yeast but add a small amount of sulfites at bottling for stability. This gives you the character of natural wine with fewer risks of flawed bottles. Matthiason in Napa, Analemma in Columbia River Gorge, Windy Oaks in Santa Cruz are a few that come to mind.
- Visit a natural wine bar: The staff can guide you toward styles you’ll enjoy. Cities like Portland, NYC, Paris, and Melbourne have excellent natural wine scenes. See our picks for the best wine bars in the world.
- Explore these grape-friendly varieties: Gamay (Beaujolais), Cabernet Franc (Loire Valley), Trousseau (Jura), Nerello Mascalese (Sicily), and Chenin Blanc (Loire) are all grapes that shine in the natural wine world.
The Bottom Line
Natural wine isn’t a gimmick and it isn’t a religion. It’s a philosophy of winemaking that, at its best, produces wines with incredible vitality and sense of place. At its worst, it produces expensive vinegar masked with a trendy label. The key is to taste widely, trust your palate, and not get caught up in ideology on either side. Like most things in life, it is nuanced.
FAQ
It’s still alcohol, so “healthy” might be a stretch. However, because it’s made without synthetic pesticides or heavy additives, you’re definitely consuming fewer “extras.” Plus natural wine tends to be a little less “big” with lower alcohol. But let’s be real: if you drink a lot of it, you’re still going to have a hangover.
Natural wine prices can vary tremendously based on region, grape and producer. But with regards to why natty wine tends to lean pricier than others, it comes down to labor and risk. Hand-harvesting grapes and managing a vineyard without cheap chemical herbicides is back-breaking, expensive work. In the cellar, when you don’t use additives to “fix” a bad batch, you risk losing the whole thing if something goes wrong. You’re paying for that manual labor and the winemaker’s “all-in” gamble on every bottle.
Yes. All wine contains sulfites because they are a natural byproduct of fermentation. When people talk about “natural wine,” they usually mean zero added sulfites. If a label says “Contains Sulfites,” it might just be the tiny amount (usually under 10mg/L) that the yeast produced all on its own.
Yes, and often faster than conventional wine. Think of it like farm-fresh produce versus a preservative-packed snack; it’s alive and a bit more fragile. It’s more sensitive to heat and light, so don’t leave a bottle in a hot car. Once it’s open, the “living” components can turn to vinegar pretty quickly—so if you open it, plan on finishing it.
It’s a wild spectrum. It can range from the cleanest, most vibrant “electric” fruit you’ve ever tasted to something that smells like a barnyard floor. The hallmark is often a bit of “funk” or a cider-like tartness. The best ones don’t just taste like wine; they taste like a specific place and a specific moment in time.
