What is natural wine?

European wine legislation has no category of natural wine; what is laid down are organic wine, the designations of origin and the labeling rules.

Regulation 1308/2013 recognises the categories wine, sparkling wine, semi-sparkling wine and liqueur wine. Delegated Regulation 2019/33 governs the designations of origin, the traditional terms and the labelling. Neither contains natural wine as a concept.

Anyone who sees the term on a bottle is therefore looking at a designation by the maker or by an association, not at a European category.

Vin Méthode Nature requires organically certified grapes, hand harvesting, fermentation on native yeasts, no corrective techniques and at most 30 milligrams of sulphite per litre.

The charter came into being in 2019 and was subsequently recognised administratively in France. Anyone who wants to use the designation joins the syndicate, has the wine analysed and accepts random checks.

The terms vin nature and vin naturel are in fact not permitted; only the established wording with the accompanying logo may appear on the label.

Sulphite is partly formed naturally during fermentation and is also added to prevent oxidation and unwanted micro-organisms.

Above a threshold laid down in legislation, its presence must be stated on the label, because sulphite is among the substances that can cause hypersensitivity. That obligation is in Regulation 1169/2011 on food information to consumers.

The statement therefore says that there is sulphite in it, not how much; anyone looking for a limit has to look at a specification such as that of Vin Méthode Nature.

Organic wine is regulated and inspected at European level, whereas natural wine has no European definition and therefore no European inspection either.

An organic certification mark says something about the cultivation of the grapes and about the permitted treatments in the cellar. A country may on top of that recognise its own claim, such as France with Vin Méthode Nature, which sets organic certification as a condition.

Organic and natural wine therefore overlap, but are not the same.

Without a legal definition, natural wine cannot be recognised by a single word on the label; the French logo Vin Méthode Nature is the clearest indication.

Other indications are an organic quality mark, a low stated sulphite value or a mention of unfiltered. None of these is a guarantee in itself, because every maker may decide for themselves what they call natural wine.

Vraagt u het aan de toonbank in Bathmen, dan kijken wij samen wat er precies op het etiket en in het lastenboek staat. Wij verkopen geen alcohol aan mensen onder de 18 jaar: NIX18.