Now all we want is 'natural' wine

The typical modern, winemaking process is anything but what could possibly be labelled as 'natural'.

The art of commercial wine making involves a lot of pesticides, chemicals and mechanical processing.

As much as wine marketers would have you believe that 'they work in harmony with nature' - they actually do everything humanly possible to keep nature the f*ck out of their craft.

What is now being called 'natural wine' is wine made in the way that it used to, before the invention of agri-processing about 100 years ago.

Natural wine is 'simply wine with nothing added or taken away.' Which means, no pesticides in the growing process, no heavy machinery to harvest grapes, no filtering, and no added flavours, sugars, or sulfites.'

As you would probably expect from people in the wine industry - there is a lot of internal controversy as to what can be classified as a natural wine. Frankly everyday people who drink and enjoy wine couldn't care less as to what the technical classification might, or might not be.

What is however undeniable is that consumers are increasingly demanding products that do less harm to the environment and to themselves. Even if the term 'natural wine' has been around for a few years now, the demand for these wines is becoming ever more mainstream.

Foodie magazine Bon Appétit defines natural wine this way...

'It’s Elvis. It’s the Sex Pistols. It’s N.W.A. It’s that thing your parents could never understand. Natural winemakers buck conventions and break regional rules. These wines have an undeniable energy that fills your belly and tickles your toes and sits in your soul. It’s not for awarding points. It’s for feeling—for feeling everything a winemaker put into it, for feeling where it takes you, and for feeling free to enjoy however you’d like.'

And now that we've read this - we can't unread it, and now all we want is this so-called natural wine. The craft revolution has finally come to the wine world.

So how might this emerging concept affect the broader wine industry in the years to come?

Our sense is that it's not something to simply pooh-pooh as a few long-haired hippies throwing a tantrum in the vineyards; it a part of a broader, emerging environmentally-aware, consumer consciousness that should be carefully considered and analysed as a part of the overall strategic business direction of producers.

If you are a wine producer, our recommendation would be to include it in your next scenario planning workshop and critically evaluate the risks and opportunities that it presents.

Changes like this one, that happen in big, important systems, have a systemic knock-on affect and can significantly alter the conditions under which a business will need to operate in the future. Agile leaders take these 'scanning hits' and workshop them to better understand the threats and opportunities that they may create. Cherryflava editor, Jonathan Cherry, has extensive experience facilitating these workshop sessions with organisations; feel free to get in touch using the 'Contact' tab above, to arrange yours.

Links:

So, What Exactly Is Natural Wine?
The oaky Chardonnays and trophy Barolos of yesteryear have given way to a natural-wine culture that’s fun, unfussy, and a little tipsy. Here’s how to join the movement—quick—before someone finishes that magnum of unfiltered Beaujolais over there.
Love Natty Wine? These Are the Best Sites to Buy It Online
Don’t live near a natty juice emporium? Stunt on your snobbiest wine friends by stockpiling every hard-to-find bottle from these online natural wine retailers.
Five “natural” wines from South Africa that are really good! | Britt on Forbes | BKWine Magazine |
There is a wine revolution quietly going on in South Africa. Or more correctly, a second revolution. The first one was when apartheid ended and the KVW iron grip on the wine sector also came to an end. That led to the birth of the modern wine industry in South Africa, where today you can […]