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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 - - 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
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The Natural Wine movement
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- 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
- ak/amphorae/Nomblot eggs etc
- Unfiltered/unfined
WHAT IS NATURAL WINE?
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The role of SO2 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
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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
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- 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
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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
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AUTHENTIC WINE Naturally made
Adding as little as possible, and performing as few manipulations, yet retaining sense of place
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
Appropriate ripeness
Picking early enough to retain freshness and definition, and avoiding high potential alcohol
Environmentally sensitive
Minimizing the carbon footprint of the wine through all stages from grape to shelf
Sense of place
Respecting terroir: listening to the vineyard site and allowing it to express itself in the wine
Fault free
Vigilance to prevent wine faults that obscure sense of place
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The vine in its native environment
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Intervention in the vineyard: split canopy, leaf plucking, extenday
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Ripeness: Syrah, cool climate Ripeness: Syrah, warm climate
Picking date: early late Green flavours Unripe Harsh bitter tannins Optimum picking window for terroir expression Picking date: early late Meaty, olive notes? Violet aromas Mix of red and black fruit Inky dark More black fruit than red Less freshness and lower acidity Fresh, peppery Sappy red fruits Spicy, with bite Green herbal notes Sweet fruit Savoury and tannic Fresh dark fruits Pure sweet fruit Good natural acidity Lush, sweet Black fruits Smooth and rich Dead fruit High alcohol Soupy, flat, porty Optimum picking window for terroir expression
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In the winery
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Yeasts: cultured and natural
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Spinning cone column
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Grape juice concentrate
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The importance of elevage
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