Ever more mainstream, the long-held stereotype of natural wine as flawed and funky is full of more holes than Swiss cheese these days. As wine consumers have continued to embrace these wines for a combination of their farming and winemaking ethos, their punk rock bonafides remain intact.
‘I believe our awareness of climate change, the need to act more sustainably overall to alter our lifestyles and reduce our footprint has led to the popularity of organic, biodynamic and natural wine,’ says Marko Kovac of Karakterre, the natural wine salon highlighting Eastern and Central European wines.
‘If we’re choosing EVs over gasoline-powered cars, why not do the same when we consider what to consume? Beyond just environmental issues, we want to be healthier. Organic, biodynamic and natural wines, being free of many chemicals used in conventional farming, are indeed healthier – though we can’t escape the reality that they are alcohol in the end and should probably be consumed in moderation.’
Marko Kovac of Karakterre. Credit: Karakterre
A natural evolution
‘Yes, the movement has seen a significant shift from what in previous years has been perceived as a bunch of underground weirdos drinking the funky stuff – and that’s a great achievement,’ Kovac admits.
‘In the early days, there was a need to fight for the place at the table, being laughed at by the conventional wine industry and professionals, hence the notions of wine needing to be cloudy, without any sulphites added, and even welcoming of certain wine faults. It was maybe the only way natural wine could have made a name for itself.
‘However, we must admit that, in many cases, those same wines were in some cases truly undrinkable. In a way, everyone needed to grow up: the winegrowers, the industry, the market and the consumer. It was just such a radical message.
‘The formula obviously worked. Today, you find organic, biodynamic and natural wines on many tables across the globe. It is not an isolated movement anymore. It’s not just a trend. Everyone has “evolved”: the winegrower trading the faults for a more sensible product, the professionals adopting the category, and the market asking for these types of wines.
‘Of course, on both sides, one still sees extremes – wine professionals who refuse to enter the category and winegrowers who refuse to use sulphur. But the two worlds have come closer than ever. That’s evident through global wine lists and how even conventional wineries are shifting to more sustainable production.’
A place at the table
As the movement has taken up space on shelves in well-pointed bottle shops and fine dining wine lists, it has found champions in the kitchen who are true believers.
These chefs see a direct connection between the embrace of care and stewardship in the farming that goes into their ingredients in the kitchen and the like-minded practices in vineyards and cellars of natural winemakers.
Ana Roš of Hiša Franko
Chef Ana Roš of Hiša Franko. Credit: Suzan Gabrijan
‘Personally, I’m drawn to natural wines because they align with my philosophy of staying close to nature,’ says Ana Roš of the three Michelin star Hiša Franko in Slovenia.
‘Just as I prefer minimal intervention in my food, I appreciate wines made with as little interference as possible. It’s important to me to know what I’m putting into my body, and natural wines provide that sense of integrity.
‘For the past 25 years, I’ve been drinking natural wines. It’s a legacy from my ex-husband’s (Valter Kramar) father, Franko, who opened Hiša Franko in the early 1970s. At that time, when natural wines were often called “wines with mistakes”, Franko was already collecting wines from pioneers like Valter Mlečnik and the Batič family. This passion for natural wines was carried forward by Valter, an ardent advocate and drinker of natural wines who has always believed in their importance.
‘At Hiša Franko, this legacy thrives. Our wine list is now almost entirely natural, and we offer two distinct wine pairings. The first, “Classy”, features refined, elegant wines with a more polished character. The second, “Funky”, celebrates the wilder side of natural wines – those that Valter loves most. It’s fascinating to see how guests divide themselves into these two distinct groups of preferences.’
Daniela Soto-Innes of Rubra
Chef Daniela Soto-Innes. Credit: Rubra
After famously leaving the iconic New York restaurants that she founded with chef Enrique Olvera, Cosme and Atla, Mexican chef Daniela Soto-Innes unveiled her long-awaited Rubra in Nayarit, Mexico last autumn. Located on the coast in Punta de Mita, the restaurant hosted its first wine dinner with pairings from Austria’s natural wine rockstars, Gut Oggau.
‘Wine has been one of my growing passions through the years,’ Soto-Innes explains. ‘The level of spiciness in my cooking, for example, has gone down a lot because I want the food to pair well with wine. I want the two to sing together.’
As a chef in New York City, she learned and discovered new wines in the city’s eclectic wine bar scene. Just before opening Rubra, she’d been on a whirlwind tour of the natural producers of Alsace and counts among her favourites Pierre Frick and Domaine Lissner.
‘All of our guests on the first evening were intrigued by the Gut Oggau wines. We selected them for our opening because their wines, like our food, are fresh and alive,’ says Soto-Innes, who works with her beverage director, Andrea Hernández, former sommelier at Quintonil, a two Michelin star restaurant in Mexico City.
Hernández curates a list focused on organic, biodynamic and low-intervention wines.
‘While not completely natural, 90% of our list are producers who work organically or biodynamically and our largest producer farms 60 hectares, so we’re supporting small, family farms. It’s a niche for our Mexican guests, and that’s exciting to show them something new,’ Hernández explains.
‘Natural wine goes so well with Mexican cuisine. Like our food, it expresses place, and the acidity frames our flavours and spices, much better than big Riojas or California wines traditionally served in Mexican fine dining.
‘Chef Dani and I are both spiritual people, and we both believe we have a responsibility to the environment and how we source food reflects that. So it makes sense that we’re drawn to natural producers connected to the land like Gut Oggau. We want to partner with people like that, who feel that greater sense of the world around them.’
What goes with Gaggan?
Gaggan Anand in his Bangkok restaurant. Credit: Clive Pursehouse
An experience dining at Gaggan in Bangkok‘s southeastern Watthana District is much more like a performance than a meal. Set up as a theatre in the round, guests sit in pitch black as Gaggan Anand and his culinary team perform under black lights, and a booming, curated playlist is picked to accompany the menu.
A neon sign in red cursive script on the restaurant’s far left wall captures Gaggan’s ethos. ‘Be a rebel,’ it reads.
How did one of the world’s most iconic chefs, who needs only go by one name, come to have a 100% natural wine list at his eponymous restaurant and nearly as famous Indian-Mexican fusion joint, Ms Maria & Mr Singh, just upstairs?
‘We needed a wine programme that would respond to my “madness” in the kitchen, to be honest,’ Gaggan tells me. ‘We thought, hey, we are doing all these crazy, highly personalised, progressive dishes, so our wine programme should follow this madness! It’s worked.’
Alongside his well-known and controversial dishes, like ‘Lick it up’ and ‘Rat’s Brains’ an array of the world’s top natural wines are paired.
‘Like the food, the wines we feature are equally personal and made by small family farmers just like those we get our ingredients from. And both our food and the wines are natural! Today, Gaggan is a rare upscale restaurant with a fully natural wine list, well it’s not a list per se, as much as a curated part of the dining experience.’
Sommelier Vladimir Kojic runs the entirely natural programme at both restaurants.
‘Vladimir will take you along on the wine journey as our chefs and I take you through each dish, aiming for the perfect accompaniment. In our minds, the wine is on equal footing with food.
‘We hope to help people understand that wine, like food, is deeply personal! It’s an expression of a person, a place, something integrated into our lives, not separate from our experience.’
Credit: Clive Pursehouse
