Let’s start with the big question: What is natural wine? As in many other industries, the word “natural” has been used quite widely, but these days there are clear rules about what qualifies a natural wine.
“The term ‘natural wine’ used to be extremely vague and ambiguous because it was not legally defined,” explains DaSuta. “As recently as 2020, it was given a concrete definition: a wine made from organic grapes that doesn’t suffer much, if anything, human intervention.”
What’s important to know here is that grape juice, when left alone in the right conditions, will turn into wine on its own. “Grape juice, free of synthetic chemicals or pesticides,” he explains, “must undergo spontaneous fermentation and cannot have additives, including sulfites.”
Sulfites, if you’re not very familiar, are added to many conventional wines and may be to blame for some people’s mild wine allergies (for a more in-depth explanation of sulfites, check out this simple guide). However, sulfites are not just an additive – they can also occur naturally.
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