Part 3 Terroir is fragile Can be lost through: High yields Wrong - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Part 3

Terroir is fragile Can be lost through: High yields Wrong grape varieties in wrong place Picking too late (a common problem) Poor work in the winery (e.g. too much oak, wrong sort of oak, Brettanomyces, oxidation)

The Natural Wine movement

WHAT IS NATURAL WINE? • General principle: adding as little as possible • No official definition – an unofficial alliance of producers • No cultured yeasts – natural ferments and malo • No acidification or chaptalization • Hand harvested grapes • No sulfur dioxide save for a bit at bottling • Often whole clusters used • Fondness for older oak/concrete/larger oak/amphorae/Nomblot eggs etc • Unfiltered/unfined

The role of SO 2 in wine • Microbicidal • Prevents oxidation • Free and bound fractions – best practice has high ratio of free to bound • Proportion in molecular state is important • Relationship with pH • Naturally produced by yeasts (5-15 mg

Objections to natural wine • Can be ideological • Naturalness is important, but, not for its own sake • At its worst, it is obsessed by process, just like its enemy, industrial wine – natural wines can lose their sense of place and taste more of the production process • Niche movement, failing to separate out interesting non-natural wines from boring industrial wines

• A natural wine is not necessarily an authentic wine • Working more naturally increases the chance of producing an authentic wine…up to a point • The natural wine movement has had a positive effect reaching beyond the natural wine niche

I prefer ‘authentic wine’ • More inclusive term • Doesn’t imply that all other wines are ‘unnatural’ • Wines judged by how well they demonstrate interest and a sense of place, not how they were made

Sustainable viticulture Seeing the vineyard as an agroecosystem, using beneficials and cover crops where appropriate, vine spacing and trellising to allow the vines to reach a natural balance Naturally made Appropriate ripeness Adding as little as possible, and performing Picking early enough to retain freshness and as few manipulations, yet retaining sense of definition, and avoiding high potential alcohol place AUTHENTIC WINE Sense of place Environmentally Respecting terroir: listening to the sensitive vineyard site and allowing it to express itself in the wine Minimizing the carbon footprint of the wine through all stages from grape to shelf Fault free Vigilance to prevent wine faults that obscure sense of place

The vine in its native environment

Intervention in the vineyard: split canopy, leaf plucking, extenday

Ripeness: Syrah, cool climate Optimum picking window for terroir expression Green flavours Fresh, peppery Meaty, olive notes? Inky dark Unripe Sappy red fruits Violet aromas More black fruit than red Harsh bitter tannins Spicy, with bite Mix of red and black fruit Less freshness and lower acidity Picking date: early late Ripeness: Syrah, warm climate Optimum picking window for terroir expression Green herbal notes Fresh dark fruits Lush, sweet Dead fruit Black fruits Sweet fruit Pure sweet fruit High alcohol Smooth and rich Savoury and tannic Good natural acidity Soupy, flat, porty Picking date: early late

In the winery

Yeasts: cultured and natural

Spinning cone column

Grape juice concentrate

The importance of elevage

Thank you for listening Jamie Goode www.wineanorak.com Twitter: @jamiegoode