First natty wine I’ve seen at Costco.
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no clue if this has been around a whileScary!
That’s funny and there’s some truth to it, but there’s a lot more to the history of natural wine, which for millennia before the advent of S02 and other modern additives and technologies was the only kind of wine there was.
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In my view, “natural wine” is a marketing technique used most often (and for good business reason) by wine producers in obscure wine regions using obscure varietals. Typically, natural wine producers let bacteria and yeast like Brett run amok. This is a good thing because it results in a wild, tangy, kombucha-like flavor that is enjoyable to folks who have drunk a lot of kombucha and eaten a bunch of yogurt (the target audience for natural wines). If the wines were made in a more controlled way they would taste thin and boring due to the dubious-quality grapes. We’ve had about 10 wines at Botanica and found them all consistent with this view. But they’re tasty for the price.
But what do I know I’m a teetotaler now. 2+ weeks sober!
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Eh DRC is a natty wine and is still one of the most revered on the planet. There’s shit natty wine and great natty wine much like there’s shit old world wine and great old world wine.
There’s huge variety in natural wine these days. Some you wouldn’t guess were natural.
i decided that barnyard wine is not a good thing… it’s very rare that a modern natural wine is actually good. what they achieve is not what we prize as fine wine lovers. but the old tradition of european Bio wines were also natural, but they did not allow for sheep turd nose and heffer bedding finish…
i too went through the phase even had a natural membership at Domaine but it quickly became obvious that it usually is a tangent on wine… it is a detoir for good juice. i make 4 different ferments at home including kombucha and tepache and am not opposed to funk… collected obscure sour wine for a very long time as well
love Tabula forever!
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I drink them all the time and that’s not true. It’s not rare for them to be unpleasantly weird, but I avoid most of those by not buying orange or Georgian wines unless I’ve tasted them. Certain wineries and importers have reliably delicious wines.
I’ve been sticking to Meinklang as we’ve enjoyed a few of their bottles and they are reasonably priced. The orange stuff has been hit or miss for us.
I tend to agree with @Nemroz & @PeonyWarrior it has been really hit and miss with me buying natural wines even at reputable shops it can be hard to get good advice (IME anyway) because many of their customers like/don’t mind the off flavors or thin bodied acidic reds.
Pretty frustrating really, but maybe I just haven’t found the formula for buying natural wines like Robert has
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Drink at a natural wine bar once or three times a week.
I like fruity, light-bodied, high-acid reds, natty (Caleb Leisure 40 Pulses) or not (e.g. Alsatian Pinot Noir).
I think i’ve just done it enough and came to the conclusion that a light pinot or granache is always preferred by me so why mess around. friends always bring by natural bottles from Vinovore… There’s always something interesting about them but as a whole it’s just not a preference
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You ever drink Julien Altaber Burgundies? Tasting blind I don’t think many people would peg them aa natty.
Briefly belonged to Good Luck Wine Club (run by the Vin de California people) and the Altaber Pinot was one of the best wines we got. I like the funky stuff in the right setting as well, but have bought more Altaber since and second that pick for people less funk-inclined.