Both organic and natural wines share some common values, particularly around sustainability and environmental stewardship. Both have also become a much more common dinner party talking point. But, organic and natural wines have important differences.
In the Vineyard
Despite a lack of legal definition for natural wine, Legeron said ‘there is a general acceptance in the natural wine community as to what is and is not permissible’. Growing organic grapes is generally seen as a prerequisite for making natural wine. That is the main reason why ‘all-natural wines are organic but not all organic wines are natural.
In the Cellar
Where practices begin to diverge is in the cellar itself. While organic winemaking rules are stricter than for non-organic wines, and regulations differ between countries, ‘broadly speaking, organic wine cellar regulations permit the use of additives, like yeast, winemaking aids, like fining agents, and processing, like sterile filtration and pasteurisation, that would not be allowed at all in natural winemaking.
The Rule of Law
Organic wine has been legally defined in both the vineyard and the cellar, albeit certification rules may vary and not everybody agrees with the boundaries. At the government level, the US and EU differ over the addition of sulphites, for example. Natural wines have so far defied all attempts to create a legal definition.
Some supporters are relaxed about this. It’s a bit of an anti-establishment movement. Strictly speaking, natural wine is pure, fermented grape juice with nothing added. The aim is to bottle a drink that is alive and full of the naturally occurring microbiology that existed on the grapes and in the cellar too.
However, several winemakers who do not use the ‘natural wine’ term would argue that they share this goal and employ some of the techniques; critics say it is unhelpful to infer that other wines are somehow inferior or do not properly reflect their origins.
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