Natural Wines
Most wines that you can buy in your local supermarket or off license are mass produced using mainstream methods of growing grapes (viticulture) and winemaking (vinification). This section of the wine business is about making lots of wine as efficiently as possible as buyers will want to buy as cheaply as possible. This means using chemicals that result in wines that taste expressionless and indifferent.
Natural Wines are made from smaller independent producers who genuinely care about the wines they make. They are the opposite of mainstream winemakers and focus on quality and not quantity.
The following are processes used in mainstream winemaking:
Fining
Fining is a way of providing wine with clarification and stabilisation. A fining agent is added to the wine to adsorb and coagulate the colloids, the microscopic particles in wine that cause cloudiness.
Dried blood powder used to be used as a fining agent for wine but these days it's more likely to be extracts from egg whites, milk, fish bladders or American Bentonite clay deposits which allow for rapid clarification of red and white wines in addition to removing the proteins that cause cloudiness in white wines.
Filtration
This is the process that enables solid particles to be strained out of the wine using various types of filters and is a quicker and cheaper process than natural settling. The two main types of filtration are sheet filtration also known as depth filtration and membrane or surface filtration. Sheet, or depth filtration uses a fairly thick layer of substances such as perlite, or cellulose powder. Once the wine has passed through the filter particles are captured in the channels and clear wine passes through.
Surface, or membrane filtration relies on a fine film of plastic polymer with holes that are smaller than the particles being passed through.
Chaptalisation
Sugar is added to the grape must or juice prior to and during fermentation in order to increase the alcohol levels. Other products are also used, such as concentrated grape must, or rectified concentrated grape must. A common practice mainly in northern Europe but not so much in Southern Europe where the climate makes it unnecessary. The EU, and many quality winemakers disapprove of this process as it leads to a larger quantity of wine that ends up unsold.
The following are Chemicals used in mainstream winemaking:
Ascorbic Acid
Used as an Antioxidant in winemaking. It's white to light yellow in appearance and comes in powder or crystals which are dissolved in the wine.
Bentonite
Adsorbs protein molecules from wine, especially for white wine where it is used as a way to reduce cloudiness or haziness in warmer temperatures.
Calcium Carbonate
Balances the pH levels in wine to make it less acidic.
Carbon Dioxide
Carbon Dioxide is used to coat the wines contained in tanks to protect them from oxygen. Some winemakers think that it makes white wine taste fresher.
Copper Sulphate
Used to remove unwanted elements of sulphur.
Diammonium Phosphate
Another type of Industrial yeast.
Industrial Yeasts
Some winemakers will add Industrial yeasts to the wine during fermentation.
Oak Chips
Cheaper way of adding the oak flavour to wines, now illegal in much of Europe.
Pectinolytic enzymes
Chemical added to wine to assist with the extraction of flavour.
Potassium bicarbonate
If a wine has high acid levels this will be added to reduce the acidity.
Potassium bitartrate
Added to wine as a chemical stabiliser.
Tannins
Tannins occur naturally but are also added to help refine the structure of the wine.
Tartaric Acid
Increases the acidity levels in wine.
Sulphites
When you see the term "contains sulphites" on a bottle of wine this means that the wine has used sulpher dioxide, sumptuous acid (hydrated sulphur dioxide), bisulphate ion, sulphite ion and other varients of complex sulphites. Sulphur is most widely recognized in winemaking as sulpher dioxide as a way of preserving wine and as a disinfectant. It is also added to preserve freshly picked grapes as meta-bisulphate. EU guidelines for winemaking permit the following levels of sulphites:
Red Wine: 160mg/litre
White Wine: 210mg/litre
Rose Wine: 210 mg/litre
The problem for the consumer is that wines do not have to define the exact amount of these chemicals used.
Water
illegal addition to wine that is used to control the alcohol levels of wine, but in some cases is added to increase production.
The following are terms used in Natural wine making:
Organic
The term organic wine means that the wine is made from organically grown grapes, the term can be slightly misleading as the wine itself is not organic. Organic viticulture involves farming without the use of chemicals, for French wines the main governing body is called ECOCERT. Organic viticulture is being taken very seriously by winemakers given the current trend in organic food and organic produce generally. Some of the better known winemakers such as Dr Loosen in Germany now practice organic viticulture.
Biodynamic
Biodynamic is the term used to describe the natural approach to viticulture and is based on the theories of Austrian born Rudolph Steiner (1861-1925). Biodynamics combines ecological and sustainable methods of agriculture that incorporate many of the practices of organic farming, but was discussed before organic farming was practiced.
Steiner was against chemical farming as he believed that fertilisers and pesticides were the root cause of poor quality produce. At the same time he did not believe that this was the only cause of the problem, he also thought that the whole involvement of chemicals in farming were against the spiritual balance of nature. Steiner considered that the world and all it contained were both spiritual and material at the same time.
In terms of agriculture and viticulture this means that the vineyard is allowed to grow and develop without the use of any chemicals. Only homeopathic remedies are used and the vineyard is considered as one entity and therefore should be allowed to prosper freely and in harmony with all organisms contained within.
