And when it comes to the good bottles, I’d rather write them up as “wines” like any other, rather than singling them out as “natural” – it’s funny how many more people will enjoy natural wines when they’re not alerted to the fact (many more, I think, than there are drinkers who will only drink natural).
Reyneke Organic Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot, Western Cape, South Africa 2021 (£10.99, Waitrose) As someone who loves a lot of the wines that get grouped together as “natural wine”, I’m often taken aback by how much rage this loosely defined genre, with its (near) zero-tolerance attitude to winemaking additives, inspires.
It’s a similar story with biodynamics, the cosmic form of agriculture that requires its adherents to bury cow horns filled with manure in their fields and time their work to the astral and lunar calendar, and which, despite my reservations about the absence of science behind it, is used to make so many of my favourite wines – such as Chapoutier’s gorgeously fresh yet fleshy honeysuckle-and-apricot scented white.
I’ve heard complaints about how the wines are weird, dirty, mousy, or farmyardy in restaurants and bars, at wine trade events, and when I’ve poured “natural” wines for friends.
Natural winemakers might take heart from the fact, then, that organic is these days an unquestioned part of the mainstream, and even a marker of quality for some – an assumption that is perfectly justified in the case of Reyneke’s lushly inviting Cape claret.
