Wine Chronicles: Natural Wines Promise, and Its Limits, for Napa Cabernet

Summary: Natural wine remains difficult to define, even as interest in it has grown over the past decade. This column considers that debate through the lens of Napa Valley Cabernet and related varieties, weighing the appeal of minimal intervention against the risks of technical flaws. It argues that natural wine can be compelling when done well, but that inconsistency still makes the category a hard sell for many drinkers. It also suggests Cabernet remains one of the best grapes for exploring how site, farming and winemaking choices shape a finished wine. Napa Valley Features is reader-supported. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a paid subscriber. Subscribe NAPA VALLEY, Calif. — A reason Napa Valley Cabernet is so highly regarded may have as much to do with the grape and its genetics as with the region itself. It has long been known that the Cabernet family of grapes, which includes Merlot and Cabernet Franc, offers more complexity than almost any other red wine grape grown anywhere. When it is grown in an ideal location and farmed intelligently, it can produce world-class wines that compete with any reds, not only for their complexity when relatively young but also for their ability to age brilliantly for many years. Among white wines, a similarly spirited debate could be held over Chardonnay, Riesling and Sauvignon Blanc, perhaps with Chenin Blanc in the discussion as well. After writing about Cabernet and its cousins for more than 50 years, I realize I may have used both common and outlandish descriptions for Cabernet’s many personalities. Some of those traits may be due primarily to where the grape is grown. Others are a result of how the wine is made, because it is known that different soils or trellising systems, even in otherwise identical locations, can produce different results. Add to that fertigation, irrigation, dry farming, sulfur additions, midseason vineyard tactics, the negative or positive effects of pests — everything from insects to wildlife — and then the impact of human decisions that include harvest date, fining, filtration, color extraction, skin contact, fermentation temperature, barrel aging and oxygen. The list is almost endless. House Style and Technical Change Controlling all of those variables once was impossible. From all I have read about Bordeaux, especially in the 19th century, the differences between one producer and another were radical. Older wine writing often referred to an identifiable “house style,” shaped by a property’s soil and by certain local quirks that may have reflected each producer’s unique situation. This is not unlike the eucalypt, or mint, aromas that once were part of Heitz Martha’s Vineyard Cabernets from the 1960s through the 1990s. I imagine sanitation in early Bordeaux posed huge challenges. Some producers may have had a faint element of mold in their production facilities that was difficult to eradicate. It is possible that some owners lived by a laissez-faire manifesto, while a nearby property may have been run by someone meticulous about eliminating the same problem. So the wines may have been similar, yet the first may have been funky and the second absolutely clean. And the first still may have appealed to certain buyers because they admired that house style and were unaware the wine was technically faulty. Thanks largely to the efforts of California’s wine scientists, as well as those in Europe and Australia, especially at institutions specializing in wine studies, improvements in sanitation helped eliminate many flaws. In some cases, “house style” wines were normalized, occasionally to the disappointment of loyalists who preferred a historical style. By making wines more technically sound, wine science may also have narrowed some of the old terminology once common to Cabernet. But the grape itself still offers so much that no one ever lacked for descriptions of its wide variety of aromas and flavors, especially those that make wines specific to each property’s signature traits. Share What Natural Wine Is — and Is Not For a small group of people, however, making what they perceived to be “manipulated” wine was an abomination. They disparaged what they saw as artificial methods for removing endemic elements in the winemaking process, arguing that such practices defiled the concept of making wine. Modern winemaking, they said, brought wine closer to the laboratory than to the soil. These people advocated what they called natural winemaking. They believed wine had become so technologized that it altered the path nature intended for the grape to follow. Those who believed wine should be touched as little as possible said they cherished principles that had dominated winemaking in Europe in the 19th century and earlier, before standardized sanitation techniques became widely appreciated for their ability to make more stable wines. When this movement began, I thought of it as quaint. Later, however, I and many wine lovers found that what was called “natural” could also include odd, curious and sometimes bizarre aromas and tastes. Apparently, to love natural wine was to accept a certain degree of unusualness. It is certainly true that diversity had always been a hallmark in Bordeaux. It was what differentiated one château from another. In some years, nature blessed some producers and cursed others. Differences between vintages varied not only from area to area, but also gave real meaning to the vintage charts that tried to summarize general wine quality from year to year. About a decade ago, articles began appearing saying interest in natural wines was rising. More people seemed interested in the idea. At the beginning of this movement, if that is the right term, most of the natural wines I tasted were a little strange. I was unimpressed. However, as time went by, I could see there was something fascinating about making wine this way. Not every wine was spoiled. Some were merely rustic. To a degree, that could be a good thing. It gave newcomers to wine an opportunity to see what a less interventionist process delivered. As zealous as the natural wine cognoscenti can be, they all face one major roadblock in their effort to win over more drinkers: almost no one agrees on what a natural wine is or how to make it. Definitions have been proposed, but none has been widely accepted. One point many adherents agree on is that grapes for natural wine should be organically grown or farmed biodynamically. Another proposed rule is that the term “natural” should apply only to wines made without anything artificial in the process. That can include avoiding prepared yeast strains to initiate fermentation, fining agents, sulfur dioxide, filtration and chemical sprays in the vineyard to ward off pests. Subscribe Today’s word puzzle: Challenge your vocabulary with this week’s mystery word. Submit your answer in the poll, and check the bottom of the page for the correct answer. Loading... The Consumer Problem In seeking supporters, the most fervent natural-wine advocates often run into a familiar problem: many wine drinkers discover, sometimes to their disappointment, that natural wines can have problems. That, alas, is one of the complications advocates do not always emphasize to consumers trying the category for the first time. Wine educators would say a wine with an easily identifiable flaw is not drinkable, no matter how “natural” it may be. Such wines are therefore unlikely to be appreciated by many wine lovers. For about 8,000 years, all wine was “natural.” No one used anything but grapes and wild yeasts, and no other interventions were employed. About 1,000 years ago, humans stopped consuming spoiled wine, even though it was not necessarily dangerous to consume. In the mid-1850s, Louis Pasteur explained the principles of fermentation for the first time. As a result, winemakers began to understand how to improve wine quality. Some of the processes later developed involved tactics that today’s natural-wine proponents decry. I have tasted perhaps 200 wines described as “natural.” Some were perfectly sound. A few were excellent. But traditional winemakers would say making natural wine can be fraught with challenges. A friend and 40-year Sonoma County winemaker who has studied natural winemaking says it can attract people willing to tolerate some very strange wines. “Many of them think that benign neglect is a virtue,” he said. He also said consumers dislike buying wines that vary from bottle to bottle. In November 2019, The New Yorker published a lengthy article about natural wines. The author suggests the movement was, in part, fueled by a desire to be chic, current and hip. Toward the end of the piece, she writes that she may have felt cheated by natural wines after ordering a $16 glass at a restaurant, even though a waiter warned her it might have a “farty smell.” She called the wine “dirty.” No true wine lover wants a wine whose perfume suggests sewage. But wines with bizarre or aberrational aromas are not solely the product of natural winemaking. I have smelled wines with aromatic flaws made by iconic Napa Valley Cabernet producers where the winemaking simply got out of hand. This is a worm-can topic I would prefer not to open further, not because such wines are rare, but because they can be unbelievably expensive and are often sold into a market where buyers may not have the technical vocabulary to describe what has gone wrong. I will not get into details here because it entails too much arcane chemistry, it would irritate enough people that it might require witness protection and most readers would assume I had an agenda. I do not. But many also would not believe me. The problem is that although flawed Cabernets are not especially widespread, the issue can apply to wines that sell for exorbitant prices. Anyone who discovers such a flaw may feel he or she has little recourse. If someone paid $500 for a bottle of a swillish Cabernet, would that person be certain it was a flaw, and would that person have the nerve to bring the bottle back to the producer and ask for a refund? A Costly Lesson in Sydney Unfortunately, I have had too many experiences with natural wines that ended up costing me money I could not recover. The worst day came about a decade ago on a trip to Australia, where I spent a week judging an international wine competition. After one grueling day in which I evaluated well over 100 red wines, a friend asked whether I wanted to visit an unusual wine bar. I said yes. He said the food was pretty good and the wines were all natural. The Sydney bar, called 121BC, featured only Italian natural wines. The waiter began pouring almost everything he had in the place. Not one was sound enough to consume. I returned everything. He kept bringing more. Had any of these clunkers been presented to a UC Davis enology professor, they would have received a failing grade. Among the descriptors I would have used were “dirty,” “swampy,” “moldy,” “bacterial,” “funky,” “acetic,” “sweaty saddle” and, at the positive end of the scale, “rustic.” Yet these were wines commanding $8 to $12 per glass in an upscale Sydney café-bar. It cost me about $300 to determine that the natural-wine movement still had a long, long way to go. I recently learned that 121BC is now defunct. I think the natural-wine movement still has ground to cover when it comes to defining why a buyer should spend money on such a product. Some of the terms I would have used following my Australian experience are generally not found in Napa Valley wines. Most wineries know consumers today are, in general, skilled enough to recognize when a Cabernet has a technical imperfection. And with the price of Cabernet grapes still elevated, making a natural wine from them might be considered risky. And yet I believe the natural-wine movement still has opportunities to prove itself as a valid strategy. One reason, as outlined above, is that Cabernet remains a marvelous grape variety with much to teach newcomers to wine and much to excite those who thought they had seen it all. -- Dan Berger has been writing about wine since 1975. Subscribe Share Wine Discovery: 2023 Matthiasson Cabernet Franc, Napa Valley ($70): The aromatic complexity of this fascinating wine has varietal precision, but in a way only Cabernet Franc purists may fully understand. The good news is that no one needs to be a purist to appreciate how exciting it is. Winemaker Steve Matthiasson says the aroma is distinctly unique — “dry autumn leaves, poblano, chili, peppers, and sage marry together with perfumed vibrant red fruits.” Its connection to the Cabernet family is undeniable, but the best parts of this wine are that it comes from the cooler areas of Napa, in Carneros, has subtle oak, great balance and only 12.5% alcohol, a major benefit because nothing interferes with its savory herbal and spicy aromas. It will clearly be even better in a few years, but it is so exciting now that it is hard not to pull the cork and delight in its family resemblance to other Cabernet cousins. Explaining the wine is not easy because it has hints of the Loire Valley but with Napa depth. Today’s Polls: Loading... Loading... Loading... Leave a comment Recent Wine Poll Results: In Dan Berger’s article "Wine Chronicles: Syrah and Pinot Noir — A Blend Worth Testing," the focus was on whether syrah and pinot noir could work as a compelling blend, especially in warmer climates where pinot noir may add acidity and lift to syrah. Berger connected the idea to Australian wine history, Napa Valley experience and examples of long-lived lighter pinot noir. The article’s polls showed strong reader openness to the concept, a mid-range price preference and uncertainty about unfamiliar blends driven mainly by quality concerns and limited information. Question: What does the word “clinometer” mean? Summary: Definition of clinometer. Most respondents correctly identified it as a tool measuring slope or incline with 68% of 28 respondents selecting that answer. Smaller shares chose device measuring vine sap flow and gauge for barrel humidity at 11% each while 7% chose instrument for soil salinity and 4% chose method of grape cluster thinning. Total responses: 28. Question: A syrah–pinot noir blend sounds appealing. Summary: Appeal of a syrah–pinot noir blend. Readers responded positively with 41% strongly agreeing and 31% agreeing that the blend sounds appealing. Another 17% were neutral or unsure while 10% disagreed and no respondents strongly disagreed. Total responses: 29. Question: What would you pay for a syrah–pinot blend from a Napa Valley producer? Summary: Price willingness for a syrah–pinot blend. The largest share of respondents preferred the $36–$50 range at 43% followed closely by $20–$35 at 39%. Smaller groups chose less than $20 at 14% or more than $75 at 4% and no respondents selected $51–$75. Total responses: 28. Question: What is your biggest hurdle in buying unfamiliar blends? Summary: Biggest hurdle in buying unfamiliar blends. Unclear quality is the leading barrier with 47% of 30 respondents selecting it followed by too little information at 30%. Hard to find locally accounts for 17% while price accounts for 7% and no respondents selected other. Total responses: 30. This Week's Word Challenge Reveal: The correct answer is C: “A film-forming spoilage yeast.” “Mycoderma” is an older microbiological term for film-forming growth on the surface of alcoholic liquids such as wine or beer when oxygen is present. In wine, it refers to spoilage organisms that can create a skin or scum on the surface and are associated with oxidation, instability and other faults rather than healthy fermentation. That makes the term especially relevant in discussions of cellar hygiene, topping practices and the risks that can accompany low-intervention winemaking. The word entered English in the mid-19th century, with OED evidence from 1846. It comes through New Latin from Greek elements meaning “fungus” and “skin,” a fitting name for a surface film. Although modern taxonomy has revised many of the old classifications, “mycoderma” remains a useful historical term in wine microbiology and fermentation history. Napa Valley Features is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a paid subscriber. 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