Natural wine is a simple yet powerful idea.

It’s the belief that an organic and non-interventionist approach to winemaking can create wine that expresses terroir in a truer fashion, is more interesting to the palate, more complimentary with food and, of course, healthier for the individual and the environment.

2011 was about figuring out whether this really rung true to me.

Whether this is a niche of consequence as well as interest. Whether when orchestrated in the hands of a master winemaker, it creates a product of quality as well as uniqueness. And whether we are entering an era where the economics of the artisanal winemaker combined with the reach of the web is a possible disruptor and game changer for the wine world.

Natural wine has been a passion of mine for a while now and this blog is an homage to the winemakers I respect the most.

Friends and neighbors are hard pressed to escape the tastings and stream of stories about the flavors and bouquets of Trousseaus and Poulsards from the magical vineyards of the Jura. The rich and layered Mencias and Garnachas produced from the ancient terraces hanging over the River Sil in Ribiera Sacra. The Frappatos and Nero D’Avolas grown in volcanic ash on the smoky slopes of Mt Etna in Sicily.

These deep natural pockets of organic and biodynamic winemaking, in 2011, became part of a much longer list of true natural winemaking legends in Friuli, Beaujolais, Manchuela, the Canary Islands, Champagne, the Loire Valley…everywhere they make wine.

There is always a short list of the best of the best, but this approach to winemaking has not only been happening quietly for generations in every winemaking region but is part of a global renaissance of a non-interventionist approach to making natural wine.

There are many like Jean Bourdy in the Jura who have been making wine on their family farms for scores of generations. And many more in areas like Ribeira Sacra, who are returning to ancestral terraces, cut by the Romans 2000 years ago, tended for generations then abandoned till just now.

But most important to me this year was getting to know a few of these winemakers as real people. My visits with Friulian iconoclast Fulvio Bressan especially in Trieste and Sandi Skerk in Carso were wildly exhilarating and provoking.

Attending tastings with natural wine rock stars like Philippe Bornard, Jean Bourdy Luis Rodriguez and Eric Texier was to understand the passion and humility of these individuals. They eschewed labels to a person yet spoke their own individual language that in concept, was common across all of them. These are individuals driven by intense emotions and their success is attributable to drive, self-belief and extraordinary skill.

The validity of natural winemaking doesn’t lie with its definition.

Artisanal, organic, biodynamic, sustainable and natural all bump into each other as parts of a new way of looking at an ancient tradition of winemaking. To some it’s tradition carried forth. To some a revolution of change. None of this speaks to quality but it does speak to a promise and an approach.

I wasted too much time this year arguing with wine journalists jockeying for definition and defensive of their own roles as taste makers in the hard-wired reality of the wine world today.

Labels on bottles are important certainly. Certification as assurance of credibility is critical. But these labels and certifications don’t create the reality, they codify it.

Our local shops and specialty importers are doing this job now, and well. Over time, this will move online and the category of natural or artisanal will be a first door on a search or referral funnel to finding what you like under this general contextual umbrella.

The response from the industry to the categories of natural and biodynamic is a bit too shrill to ignore. The percent of grapes grown organically or biodynamically is really small. The same with the overall revenue numbers of what is sold under this broad definition.

So…what’s going on?

Can a farmer like Christian Ducroux making wondrous no sulfer-added, 100% natural Beaujolais on his tiny 4-hectare vineyard on the hillside above the village of Regni-Durette in France really threaten the wine world?

Stangely, I think so.

Although Ducroux makes delicious wine of the highest quality, he does so in the most petite of vineyards, off the economic grid mostly with a lifestyle intent.

While there are huge variations in the definition of what constitutes natural—chaptalization, natural yeasts, filtration, sulfur not to mention vineyard practices–really wonderful wine that truly is an expression of terroir can be the result. When it’s in a goblet swirling rhythmically, it’s superfood for the soul, enthralling with bouquet, smile inducing and head nodding satisfaction when it all comes together.

This is where this gets interesting.

The most low tech (no tech actually), natural approach to making  wondrous wine is being made possible as business reality and a consumer connection by a platform of technical sophistication never before available.

The culture of the consumer has shifted on a global basis. It is not the exception to be eco-aware, health conscious, artisan supportive and curiously adventurous in seeking out new places, foods, cultures, people…and wine.

The social web has established the reality of the global local and the power of the niche to stand alone or as part of a marketplace. It has empowered the consumer, democratized information and distribution for industry after industry. It was made real the possibilities of marketplaces and given voice and commercial weight to the niche, the authentic and the unique.

I’ve blogged often about the wave of change that is sweeping our culture on how we find, purchase and consume our passions. Natural wine, defined as you will, artisanal at its very core, is part of this.

As I write this I’m sipping a truly wonderful glass of organic Malvasia from the Skerk Vineyard in Carso, Friuli, Italy. So rich and refreshing. Mineral. Vivacious. From Sandi’s cellar to my goblet. From my blog to your intent to taste I hope.

And I’m thinking of the old adage that says that the future is already here. It’s just a secret that only a few have discovered it.

To me, it’s already here and I’m living it.

Call it natural. Call it artisanal. Call it organic.

The market will decide but the connection between me in NYC and Sandi Skerk in Carso is quite real and tangible. I may have been attracted to Skerk because of his indigenous varietals, his natural approach and the magnificence of his cellar. But at the end of this string of filters, of categories, is the taste that binds.

This is a new culture of consumers demanding that the systems of discovery and distribution fit themselves to their wants. The wines are scattered in interesting pocket across the globe. The market, certainly in the states, is here.

The value chain between winemaker and consumer for natural wines is already present, like breadcrumbs scattered about. There is only that handshake between personal discovery and seamless commerce that is still wanting. And in my view, not for long.

With natural wines, taste is the test.

The crisp clarity, earthy freshness and subtle richness of natural wines drive a glint of satisfaction from friends whenever I uncork a bottle from some wonderfully small vineyard tucked away down a country road in Arbois in the Jura or under the clouded, vertical terraces of Etna in southeastern Sicily.

But for all the wonder of natural wines and ties to traditional wine making, this is a hidden category, not easy to find nor marketed nor understood well. In New York, visionaries like Dan Lillie and Jamie Wolff of Chambers Street Wines and handful of others have been tasting and educating and selling these wines for a number of years to a growing but still small population of natural wine aficionados.

This is changing…and in New York, seemingly overnight.

And the change is coming from where wine shines to the broader wine loving population…in restaurants and bars paired with food.

On newly printed restaurant menus and drink lists, designations of ‘O’ for Organic, “B” for Biodynamic and the mysterious (to me) “S” for Sustainable are showing up everywhere. Definitions of what organic means may be squishy and waiters sheepish when pressed for information, but great natural wines are moving full blast into the food and beverage business. This is a tipping point for market appreciation that has long been coming.

I couldn’t be more delighted by this.

My take is there are two motivations for this…both working together.

Natural wine is food friendly by nature. Crisp with flavorful acidity. Unique tastes and soft finishes. And with lower alcohol content to sit ‘with’, not on top of the food. Natural wines are a true expression of place. A reflection of each particular vineyard so there are distinct, unique and seemingly endless pairings between food and individual wines. This is no longer, just have a Trousseau with that Israeli Hummus, there is a unique ability to paint by grape and place and vineyard and winemaker…and chef.

Local chefs in most every downtown neighborhood I visit have found new taste mates with their winemaking counterparts from France and Italy and Spain, with a sprinkling of new-to-me wines everywhere from Lebanon. Israel. From everywhere actually.

More subtle and less overt than the taste pairing of natural wines with fresh food, but key, is the ‘organic’ roots of the fruit–the grapes themselves. There is a dramatic move towards the healthy and natural in what we put on our skin, wash our hair with and certainly what we eat and drink. For myself, restaurants that have natural or local or organic food, prepared with an eye towards seasonal freshness and healthy components, along with scream-out-loud taste is what I want. Organic is not why you eat there. But it is certainly a bonus and the baseline for taste and talent of the chef’s to work with. The same is true for wine.

You pair wine with food for taste. But both wine and food, at their best and at their core are natural and healthy. Wine and food are tied at the hip because at their source, they are from the earth.

Wine of course, is complex…much more is involved than simply growing the grapes in a natural way. And there is some mushiness and much debate about what organic means for wine. Whether this applies to only what happens in the vineyard or the cave as well. Whether sulfites can be added. The importance of using only indigenous yeasts and whether chaptalization (adding sugar) to boost the alcohol content is ‘natural’ or not.

I agree that these categories are not perfect but I’m thrilled and optimistic that placing great natural wines in front of a larger wine and food-loving group is the right direction.

I’m less interested in perfection and more in progress. And seeing terrific natural wines from small artisanal vineyards in our local restaurants is a huge step forward for everyone. And a taste revolution whose time has finally arrived.

Wine tells a tale of taste and place and people.

Nothing tells that story better, more individually and with more depth of passion then artisanal vineyards making great organic wine.

Is organic healthier? Certainly.

Is it better for the environment? Without a doubt.

Is it just the right thing to do? No question.

But this is not why we love it…

Wine is neither a cause, nor a medicine, nor an ethical act. But it is truly amazing, replete with passion, oozing stories and one of life’s great taste and storied pleasures.

What does organic have to do with any of this?

Organic wine is more than a choice to reject industrialized farming. It is a decision to focus on discovering the unique taste of each place. And with the decision, comes the concentration on the vineyard more than the cave, the characteristics of the place more than the chemistry of manipulating flavor.

An art critic, I believe talking about Brancusi, said that a truly great sculpture finds the image in the stone with the least number of chisel strokes. Great organic winemakers are sculptures doing just that with the land and the grape. Not painters starting with a blank canvas. The finished piece of sculpture is that unique taste of place in the bottle.

I’m not downplaying the very real complexities of defining and legislating organic, natural and biodynamic. The food industry is still in turmoil over this after a decade. I have ideas on this that I will share in another post, but first things first is to understand the ‘why’ for a market before getting stuck in the ‘how’ of it.

And taste and a deeper connection with the place and winemaker are the ‘why’ of organic wine to me…and I believe for the mass market as well.

Wine made in a natural way, in concert with the place is just more alive in the glass. More accessible and personal, more individualistic and more unique. That is not to say that all organic wine is good…far from it. All wine is neither equal nor good. Nor is all of anything.

An organic approach to wine turns the concept of regional terroir on its head. Certainly there are characteristics of Napa or Calistoga or Etna or Arbois, but in an artisanal world of natural winemaking, each place is unique, each vineyard a micro terroir in its own right.

Don’t take my word for this…taste it yourself.

Spend some time tasting both the Poulsard and the Trousseau from Evelyne and Pascal Clairet and their tiny vineyard, Domaine de la Tournelle in Arbois. You’ll find a fingerprint of taste that resides in the land itself across the differences in the grape.

Try the magnificent Trousseaus of Jacques Puffeney and Michel Gahier in Arbois. Tiny vineyards, adjacent to each other, each using an organic approach to tending the same grape varietal, yet each of these wines is uniquely different. This is the land speaking through the grape directly to us!

And the list of my most cherished organic vineyards, like dots on my world map of great taste goes through Spain, Italy, France, the Canary Islands and on and on.

So…what am I really trying to say?

Organic is the right way….in everyway, in life. There is no argument here as responsible informed people. But the real thing that matters and the point for vineyards and wine shops and wine drinkers…is that organic wine brings to your glass a taste, depth, richness and delight that has freshness, crispness and an overall sense of itself that is special.

Think about your local farmer’s market. When I head out to shop on Saturday, I ask each vendor the same question..”Do you spray or use synthetic fertilizer?” If no, I try it. If it tastes great, I’ll be back to buy more. I buy it and buy it again because it tastes great. I won’t buy it if it is sprayed…but I won’t return if it is not a taste delight.

Organic wines are invariably fresh and crisp and aromatic and unique to each spot…and vivacious at their best. They are not overextracted nor coerced into a preconceived taste mold. They are all about the vineyard.

When I started drinking the wines of Jacques Puffeney, he was referred to as the preeminent vigneron in Arbois. The definition of a vigneron as a winemaker who focuses on the importance of the land and vineyard over the craft of the cave, is I think, the key component of a natural and organic approach to winemaking.

I’m a fan of the organic wine iconoclast Salvo Foti of I Vigneri fame in the Mt. Etna area of Sicily. He believes that wine has its own composition that is created by the grape, the vine, the vineyard, the climatic conditions and the individual (vineyard worker and winemaker). I buy this. It doesn’t mean a total hands-off approach in the cave but it does mean that they are farmers first, curators of the process, second. Again, a true vigneron.

I am neither a purist nor an organic fundamentalist nor an orthodox biodynamic zealot. Sure, I certainly believe that natural food and wine is better for us and for the ecosystems of the world we are responsible for. Who doesn’t? But I start with what I like on my palate and I move on from there.

Great wine…organic or not is my passion and yes, the thought of opening my last bottle of 1990 Ugolaia Lisini Brunello di Montalcino that will melt my body and brain with pleasure…supersedes anything about how it was made. I’m human…obviously.

But when I go to my local wine shop, out to dinner with friends, or travel around the world to visit and taste…I’m drawn to the small artisanal organic wines and vineyards that embrace taste and passion for place first.

I relish the clarity that their dedication and passion for shepherding the vineyard with the goal of uncovering its natural taste brings to their wine, the wine world at large…and to my glass.

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My thanks to the team at Chambers Street Wines in Tribeca, NYC.

Especially Christopher Barnes and Sophie Barrett for leading me to incredible organic wines to taste. They may not agree with my conclusions in this post, but they are the best guides one could hope for.

I think of wine iconoclast Salvo Foti as Don I Vigneri of the Mt. Etna area of Sicily.

He is the leader of the natural wine movement in this volcanic, southeastern corner of Sicily. While extreme in some respects (racking and bottling under a lunar cycle), he is a pure spirit of natural viniculture and if you want to understand Sicilian winemaking in the Etna DOC, start with Salvo Foti.

Foti is the organizer and leader of the I Vigneri project, named after a Vintner’s Guild founded in 1435 to align the small vineyards in Sicily around the cultivation of the Alberello bush vine. 500 years later, the intent of the project is the same.

I Vigneri is an agricultural collective dedicated to indigenous grapes, natural cultivation and an obsessive attachment to the terroir of Etna. Today it provides the economic incentive for local wine experts and trades people to continue to work in the trade, keeping the skills intact. We of course are the beneficiaries of this.

Foti believes that wine has its own composition that is created by the grape, the vine, the vineyard, the climatic conditions and the individual (vineyard worker and winemaker). In his own words “It’s important that there is harmony and respect for each variable to make a wine that truly sings”.

Salvo Foti’s own label is called I Vigneri as well. And to be expected, the process is as natural and ageless as Mt. Etna itself. No fertilizers or pesticides. Hand cultivation and harvesting. No added yeasts. Unfiltered. Few sulfites.

The ’06 Etna Rosso Il Vigneri is a blend of Nerellos Mascalese and Nerellos Cappuccio. Comparisons to Biondi’s Outis make sense as the blend is similar, Foti consults to Biondi and the vineyards are adjacent.

This bottle is unique from all of the other indigenous grape blends I’ve tasted from Etna. It’s like a rustic cheese or dinner at a local inn in some corner of Italy. Like strong country fare, just pulled from the ground, spiced to bring out natural strengths in taste and strong by nature.

The wine is juicy, fruit forward with strong and tannins. Not overpowering but not for the light tasting palate. This is wine of the place…as unencumbered and as representative and as local as it gets.

I put a way a few bottles of this as a baseline for the Etna DOC. If you want to understand what wine without the modifications of time and modern culture and new techniques, grown on the steep slopes of an active volcano tastes like…this is it.

And it’s a pleasure.

Available from Chambers Street Wines for $32 a bottle.

The Biondi family has owned vineyards on the rugged hillsides of Mt. Etna on the eastern side of Sicily since 1635. I imagine the volcano then, just as it is most days today, shrouded in clouds, smoking and erupting erratically.

The passage of time has really not changed winemaking here. Impossibly steep hills and sandy volcanic soil make agriculture a manual affair and viniculture difficult and hostile to modern methods and machinery. But out of this ageless ruggedness, in the hands of the Biondi family, comes indigenous wine that is rich, complex and stamped with a permeating sense of terroir.

Ciro Biondi is the current owner of Vin Biondi. Wine has been marketed under the family name since the late 1880s but fell into deep disrepair until Ciro took the leadership role in 1999, started the restoration and hired winemaker Slavo Foti to create wine for the family from only native Sicilian varietals.

Everything is done by hand here, with pulleys and lifts to move grapes and materials up and down the mountain. Organic farming and manual harvesting are as much the nature of the landscape as of philosophy. Small sections of high elevation hillside plantings can take a team of 4-5 workers, 10 days to select and harvest.

The Outis (nessuno in Italian, nobody in English) is the name that Ulysses gave to Polyfemous the Cyclops on the foothills of Mount Etna. This bottle, the Biondi ’06 Etna Rosso Outis Nessuno, is a blend of the native Nerello Mascalese and Nerello Capuccio grapes from ancient 100 year-old vines on ungrafted root stocks. The real thing from another era for certain. They grow like bushes, clinging to the volcanic soil with very small yields but producing wines of depth and complexity.

This place is obscure and romantic to the imagination but the wine is really something delicious to relish as a daily red. Locals and wine aficionados claim that the Outis has the structure of a Barolo and the elegance of a Burgundy. A tall order but it describes the wine well.

The Biondi ’06 Etna Rosso Outis Nessuno is earthy, rich and layered. It pours light, like a Pinot Noir, but opens deeper as it breathes and is medium bodied to taste with quite amazing and lingering vanilla finishes.

At $28 a bottle, this is a real value. Lots of class, unique to its sense of terroir and a perfect package to transport you to the smoky heights of this volcanic vineyard.

Available from Chambers Street Wines and many online sites carrying organic and Sicilian wines.