Natural wine has no legal definition, but since 2020 it has a charter. The Syndicat de Défense des Vins Méthode Nature, founded in 2019 by a group of French growers, wrote it with the French consumer authority. Under the charter, all the grapes must come from certified organic farming, the harvest is by hand, fermentation uses only native yeasts, no oenological additive is used, no harsh physical treatment such as reverse osmosis or flash pasteurisation is allowed, and no sulphite is added before or during fermentation. Two logos exist: Vin Méthode Nature, with no added sulphites, and Vin Méthode Nature under 30 milligrams per litre, when a little sulphur is added after fermentation.
Our natural wines follow the same spirit without requiring membership of the syndicat: estates that work this way, whether or not they use the logo. We class them estate by estate, from what the domaine states about its method. The page draws mainly on Burgundy, and on the Jura, the Loire, the Rhône and Bordeaux; estates from the Aosta Valley, Sicily, the Valais or California also appear.
Among the Burgundy estates with a page here, Domaine Prieuré Roch ferments with whole bunches and adds no sulphites at any stage, and Domaine Naudin-Ferrand ferments several cuvées without added sulphur, adding a small dose only at bottling.
The wines above are the current selection. See also our organic wines, biodynamic wines or the new arrivals.
