What is Natural Wine? The Complete Beginner's Guide
There is a moment, usually at a small wine bar with a handwritten list on the wall, when someone hands you a glass and says "try this — it's natural." The wine is often a strange colour. There might be a slight haze to it. It tastes like nothing you expected. It is either the best wine you've ever had or the most confusing, and sometimes it is both at once.
If that has happened to you and you're trying to make sense of it, you're in the right place. Natural wine is one of the most genuinely interesting things happening in the world of wine right now — and also one of the most misunderstood. This is everything you need to know.
The Problem with the Name
The first thing to understand about natural wine is that "natural wine" has no universal legal definition. There is no global certification body, no regulated standard that applies worldwide. A winemaker can call their wine natural and mean almost anything by it — or nothing at all.
The closest the world has come to a formal standard is France's Vin méthode nature charter, established in 2020, which defines natural wine as made from certified organic grapes, hand-harvested, fermented with wild indigenous yeast, with no additions except a maximum of 30mg/L of sulphur at bottling (and a zero-sulphur designation for wines bottled with nothing at all). It is a meaningful benchmark — but it is voluntary, covers only France, and represents one country's attempt to codify a practice that varies widely across producers and regions. For most of the world, "natural wine" remains an unregulated term.
This frustrates a lot of people. It also, inadvertently, gets at something true about what natural wine actually is: it is less a category than a philosophy. A set of commitments about how to grow grapes and make wine that rejects the industrialisation of the 20th century and tries to return to something older.
The working definition most people in the natural wine world use is this: natural wine is wine made from organically grown grapes, fermented with wild (native) yeast, with minimal or no additions or manipulation in the cellar. At its purest, it is just grapes and time — nothing added, nothing taken away.
That sounds simple. In practice it is one of the most demanding things you can attempt in winemaking.
How Conventional Wine is Actually Made
To understand natural wine, it helps to understand what it's reacting against. Modern commercial winemaking is a highly engineered process. A typical mass-market bottle might involve:
- Pesticides, herbicides, and synthetic fertilisers in the vineyard
- Harvesting machines that strip the vine of everything at once
- Commercial laboratory yeasts selected for predictable, consistent fermentation
- Sulphur dioxide added in large quantities as a preservative
- Fining agents (including egg whites, fish bladder, or bentonite clay) to clarify the wine
- Mechanical filtration to remove any remaining particles
- Acid, sugar, water, tannins, or oak chips added to adjust flavour
- Micro-oxygenation pumped through the wine to artificially accelerate aging
None of this is necessarily dangerous — most of these interventions are legal, widely used, and produce wines that billions of people enjoy every day. But when you drink a glass of conventional wine, you are tasting the result of a managed industrial process as much as you are tasting grapes from a particular place.
Natural wine starts from a different question: what if we got out of the way?
How Natural Wine is Made
It starts in the vineyard
Every serious natural winemaker will tell you the same thing: the wine is made in the vineyard, not in the cellar. This is not a metaphor. The health and vitality of the vine determines everything that comes after. Conventionally farmed vines — doused in pesticides, propped up with synthetic fertilisers — produce grapes that lack the microbial complexity and natural resilience needed to make wine without intervention. You have to fix problems in the cellar because you created them in the vineyard.
Natural wine producers farm organically at minimum — no synthetic chemicals. Most go further: biodynamic farming (which treats the vineyard as a living ecosystem governed by natural cycles), cover crops between rows, manual work rather than machines, and green harvesting to reduce yields and concentrate flavour. Many have vines that are decades or centuries old, with deep root systems that reach for minerals and water independently of human intervention.
All of this produces grapes that are genuinely alive — covered in wild yeasts, bacteria, and microorganisms that reflect the specific place where they were grown. This is the foundation of everything.
Fermentation with wild yeast
Conventional winemaking kills the wild yeasts on the grape skins and then adds commercial laboratory strains that have been engineered to ferment reliably, quickly, and predictably. The results are consistent — and consistent in a way that flattens the differences between places, vintages, and grape varieties.
Natural winemaking uses the wild yeasts already present on the grapes — yeasts that evolved in that specific vineyard, in that specific climate, over years or decades. Wild yeast fermentation is slower, less predictable, and more dangerous. It can fail. It produces wines that are more complex, more individual, and more expressive of their origin. It also produces wines that taste different from year to year, because the yeast population changes with each vintage.
This is not a flaw. It is the point.
Minimal intervention in the cellar
Once fermentation is complete, natural winemakers try to do as little as possible. No fining agents, no mechanical filtration, minimal or no sulphur dioxide. The wine is allowed to settle on its own, bottled when it's ready, and sent into the world with whatever character it has developed.
This is why natural wines are often slightly hazy — there has been no filtration to strip out the fine particles. It is why they sometimes have a slight spritz or petillance — residual carbon dioxide from fermentation, left in naturally rather than stripped out. And it is why they taste the way they do: alive, individual, and impossible to mistake for anything else.
Why Does Natural Wine Taste Different?
Natural wine can taste radically different from conventional wine — and the gap is wider than most people expect the first time they try it.
The most common descriptors people use for natural wine are also the ones that unsettle conventional wine drinkers: funky, earthy, cloudy, cidery, barnyard, sour. These come from the wild yeast and bacterial activity that natural winemaking allows — and they are not automatically flaws, even when they sound like they might be.
But natural wine can also taste like the cleanest, most purely mineral, most intensely place-specific wine you have ever encountered. The same philosophy that produces funky, challenging bottles also produces wines of extraordinary precision and transparency — wines where you can taste exactly where the grapes were grown, because nothing has been added to obscure it.
The range within "natural wine" is enormous. A bone-dry, mineral Assyrtiko from Greece made with zero additions is natural wine. So is a cloudy, slightly fizzing pét-nat from the Loire. So is a skin-contact Georgian amber wine fermented in clay for six months. They share a philosophy but taste completely different — which is itself part of what makes the category interesting.
What About "Funky" Wine — Is That a Flaw?
This is the question that divides natural wine enthusiasts and critics most sharply, and it deserves an honest answer.
Some natural wines are flawed. The same openness to wild fermentation that produces complexity can, if not managed well, produce volatile acidity, mousiness, or brett (brettanomyces, a yeast that produces barnyard or Band-Aid notes in excessive quantities). These are genuine faults — detectable by any experienced taster — and the best natural winemakers are skilled at avoiding them while still maintaining the character that makes natural wine worth drinking.
The natural wine world has, at times, been too forgiving of actual faults in the name of philosophy. A wine that smells of nail polish remover is not natural wine expressing itself — it is a wine with too much volatile acidity. A wine that tastes of mouse cage is not terroir — it is contamination.
The best natural wines are not funky in a way that obscures the fruit or the place. They have depth, energy, and complexity — a quality of aliveness that conventionally made wines rarely achieve. The goal is not weirdness for its own sake. It is authenticity.
Natural Wine vs Organic vs Biodynamic: What's the Difference?
These three terms are often used interchangeably. They are related but distinct.
Organic wine is a legal category. Wines certified organic must be made from grapes grown without synthetic pesticides, herbicides, or fertilisers. The rules about what can be added in the cellar vary by country — in the EU, organic certification permits sulphur dioxide up to certain limits; in the US, "made with organic grapes" and "certified organic wine" are different designations. Organic farming in the vineyard is a prerequisite for natural wine, but it is not sufficient on its own.
Biodynamic wine goes further than organic. It treats the vineyard as a self-sustaining living system, incorporates planting calendars based on lunar and cosmic cycles, and uses specific preparations made from plants, minerals, and animal materials to maintain soil health. Biodynamics has a philosophical dimension (it was developed by Rudolf Steiner in the 1920s) that puts some people off, but the farming practices it requires consistently produce healthier, more biodiverse vineyards than conventional methods. Biodynamic certification (through Demeter or Biodyvin) covers only the vineyard, not the cellar.
Natural wine is the most demanding position of the three: organic or biodynamic farming in the vineyard, plus minimal intervention in the cellar — no added yeasts, no fining, no filtration, little or no sulphur. It is the only philosophy that extends from vine to bottle without compromise. It is also the only one with no legal framework, which means the term requires trust in the producer.
Is Natural Wine Better for You?
This question comes up constantly, and it deserves a careful answer rather than a marketing one.
Natural wines contain significantly lower levels of sulphur dioxide than conventional wines. Sulphur dioxide is the main preservative in wine, and while it is safe for most people at the levels used in conventional winemaking, it can cause headaches and respiratory irritation in sensitive individuals. If you have noticed that some wines give you headaches and others don't, sulphur levels are a plausible (though not certain) factor.
Organic and biodynamic farming means no synthetic pesticide residues in the grapes — which carries across into the wine. Multiple studies have found residues of pesticides in conventionally made wines; organically farmed wines do not carry these residues.
Natural wines also tend to have fewer additives overall — no acidifiers, tannin powder, oak extract, or the various enzymes used in conventional winemaking. Whether this makes them "healthier" in a meaningful sense is hard to say, but they are closer to their raw ingredient than most processed food and drink products.
What natural wine is not is low in alcohol or calories. It is still wine. Drink it thoughtfully.
How to Find a Good Bottle
Natural wine rewards curiosity and the willingness to be occasionally surprised. Here is how to navigate it without getting lost.
Trust the producer above the category. "Natural wine" tells you about philosophy, not quality. A good producer who works naturally makes wines of extraordinary character. A careless producer who works naturally makes flawed wines and calls them terroir. Learn the names of producers you trust and follow them.
Ask questions. Any wine shop serious about natural wine will have staff who can explain exactly how a bottle was made — what the farming looked like, how much sulphur was added at bottling, whether it was filtered. This information matters. A good shop tells you what they know and admits what they don't.
Start somewhere accessible. Not all natural wine is strange. Plenty of it is immediately delicious — fresh, fruity, energetic, and easy to love on the first sip. Skin-contact whites from Slovenia or Croatia, light red Gamay from Beaujolais, Georgian Rkatsiteli fermented in qvevri — these are excellent entry points that reward curiosity without demanding commitment to the unfamiliar.
Give it a second chance. Natural wines can change dramatically in the glass as they open up. What tastes closed or strange at first may be extraordinary after 20 minutes. They also often benefit from being slightly warmer than the conventional serving temperature. Try it, wait, try it again.
Where to Start: From Our Cellar
These are wines we stock that represent natural wine philosophy at its most immediately compelling — bottles that will tell you clearly what this is all about.
A skin-contact white that changes minds
Bura-Mrgudić Rukatac 2024 — $23 · Croatia (Dalmatia)
Dalmatian Rukatac fermented with extended skin contact — amber-coloured, textural, alive. This is skin-contact wine as it was made in Dalmatia for centuries, before the world decided white wine had to be clear and cold. Dried herbs, citrus peel, stone fruit, and a gentle tannic grip that makes it genuinely food-friendly. Named after the bura wind of the Croatian coast. One of the best natural wine introductions at any price.
A natural Slovenian orange — the original tradition
Eazy Oranzna 2022 · Slovenia
Orange wine from Slovenia, the region where the skin-contact tradition never died. It was winemakers from this corner of the Adriatic — Joško Gravner and Stanko Radikon on the Slovenian-Italian border in Friuli-Collio, Giorgio Clai across in Croatian Istria — who first showed the modern wine world that white wine fermented on its skins could be among the most serious and age-worthy wines in Europe. This is an accessible, beautifully made expression of that tradition — aromatic, textural, and entirely natural.
Biodynamic organic Malvasia from Slovenian Istria
Rodica Malvasia 2023 · Slovenia (Slovenian Istria)
Rodica is a certified organic family estate in the hills above Koper in Slovenian Istria — Marinko Rodica farming 15 hectares of old vines the way his grandparents taught him, certified organic since 2009. The Malvasia is everything natural wine philosophy promises: white flowers, sea salt, mineral texture, and a finish that speaks clearly of limestone and Adriatic air. No additions. No pretension. Just an extraordinary place in a bottle.
Georgian Rkatsiteli — natural wine at its most ancient
Ocho "Who r u?" Rkatsiteli–Mtsvane 2022 — $27 · Georgia
If you want to understand where natural wine comes from historically, start in Georgia. Rkatsiteli fermented in clay qvevri buried underground is not a modern trend — it is 8,000 years of unbroken tradition. This blend of Rkatsiteli and Mtsvane is fermented and aged in qvevri with no additions, developing the characteristic amber colour, tea tannins, dried fruit, and mineral depth that defines the style. This is how wine tasted before anyone thought to "improve" it.
The natural Croatian red
Clai Ottocento Crni · Croatia (Istria)
Giorgio Clai — "the Godfather of Istrian wine" — is one of the most important natural winemakers in the Adriatic world. His Ottocento Crni is a skin-contact red blend from certified biodynamic vineyards in Krasica, northern Istria: spontaneous fermentation, long skin maceration, aged in large oak without additions. Dark, complex, and deeply savory — a wine that rewards patience and attention.
Amphora-fermented Italian white — ancient method, modern expression
Ottomani Anfora Bianco 2022 — $29 · Italy
Fermented in terracotta amphora in a technique that predates oak barrels by thousands of years — this is how wine was made across the Mediterranean long before modern winemaking existed. The amphora allows a slow, gentle interaction with oxygen while maintaining the wine's living microbiology, producing something that is simultaneously ancient and vivid. Textural, mineral, and utterly without artifice. A perfect example of natural wine in its most archaeological form.
Central European natural amber — the new frontier
Slobodne Supermajer Slovakia 2020 — $32 · Slovakia
Slovakia is one of natural wine's most exciting new territories — a country with deep winemaking traditions and a new generation of producers applying radical low-intervention principles to indigenous varieties. Slobodne ("freedom" in Slovak) is among the most important of these estates. The Supermajer is skin-contact white of real depth and character: amber, layered, and distinctly of its place. For the curious drinker who wants to push beyond the familiar, this is exactly where to go.
A Georgian red that shows the other side of natural wine
Martvilis Marani Ojaleshi Samegrelo Red 2020 — $25 · Georgia (Samegrelo)
While most people's introduction to Georgian wine is through the amber-coloured skin-contact whites of Kakheti, Georgia's western regions produce something entirely different. Ojaleshi is a rare indigenous red from the Samegrelo region — light in colour, high in acidity, perfumed with red berries and wild herbs, and made with the same no-addition, wild-yeast approach that defines Georgian natural wine. Elegant rather than powerful, this is the side of Georgian natural wine that surprises even experienced wine drinkers.
A natural Croatian white for complete beginners
Tomac Marany Sivi 2022 · Croatia
If you are completely new to natural wine and want something immediately beautiful rather than challenging, start here. Tomac is one of Croatia's most respected natural wine estates, farming biodynamically in the Zagreb uplands. Marany Sivi is a Pinot Gris made with genuine care and minimal intervention — fresh, aromatic, clean, and expressive without demanding anything unusual from the drinker. The gentlest possible introduction to what natural winemaking at its best can do.
Biodynamic Grüner Veltliner from one of Europe's great estates
Meinklang Grüner Veltliner 2024 · Austria (Burgenland)
Meinklang is one of the most important biodynamic estates in Europe — a vast family farm on the shores of Lake Neusiedl in Burgenland, Austria, where the Michlits family has been farming the land, the animals, and the vines as a single living system for generations. Everything is certified biodynamic: no synthetic inputs, no commercial yeasts, no additions. The Grüner Veltliner is a masterclass in what biodynamic farming does to a classic variety — the characteristic white pepper and citrus zest of the grape, but with an extra dimension of mineral precision and energy that conventionally farmed Grüner simply cannot match. Austria is one of the spiritual homes of serious natural wine, and Meinklang is one of its most important voices.
Gut Oggau Theodora — natural wine as a way of life
Gut Oggau Theodora 2023 · Austria (Burgenland)
Gut Oggau is one of the most beloved natural wine estates in the world — a biodynamic farm in Burgenland where Eduard and Stephanie Tscheppe-Eselböck have created something genuinely unlike anything else. Each wine in their range is named after a member of a fictional family — Theodora is the fresh, light, playful one — and the concept captures something real about how these wines taste: individual, alive, and full of personality in a way that no industrial process could reproduce. Theodora is a white blend fermented with wild yeast, unfiltered, with nothing added — the ideal bottle for someone who wants to understand what natural wine actually feels like to drink before going deeper.
Browse all amber & skin-contact wines →
Frequently Asked Questions
What is natural wine?
Natural wine is wine made from organically or biodynamically farmed grapes, fermented using only native wild yeasts, with minimal or no additions in the cellar — no commercial yeasts, no fining agents, no mechanical filtration, and little or no added sulphur. It has no legal definition, but the working standard in the natural wine world is: just grapes, wild yeast, and minimal sulphur if anything at all.
Does natural wine taste different from regular wine?
Yes, often significantly. Natural wines tend to be more individual, more expressive of their specific origin, and more variable from year to year than conventional wines. They can be cloudy, slightly fizzy, more textural, and more complex. Some people describe them as earthy, funky, or cidery. At their best they are among the most vivid, alive, and memorable wines in the world.
Is natural wine better for you?
Natural wines typically contain lower sulphur levels than conventional wines, no synthetic pesticide residues (since they come from organically farmed grapes), and fewer cellar additives. For people sensitive to sulphites or who want to minimise additives in their diet, natural wine is a reasonable choice. It is still wine, however — it contains alcohol and calories like any other wine.
Why is natural wine sometimes cloudy?
Cloudiness (or "haze") in natural wine is caused by fine particles — yeast cells, grape solids, proteins — remaining in the wine after fermentation. Conventional winemaking uses fining agents and mechanical filtration to remove these particles and create a bright, clear wine. Natural winemakers avoid these processes, leaving the wine in its more complete natural state. The cloudiness is not a flaw — it is evidence of what hasn't been removed.
What is the difference between natural wine and organic wine?
Organic wine is a legal certification covering farming practices in the vineyard — no synthetic pesticides, herbicides, or fertilisers. Natural wine goes further: it requires organic farming as a baseline but also demands minimal intervention in the cellar. A wine can be certified organic and still use commercial yeasts, fining agents, and high levels of sulphur. A natural wine does none of these things.
Why does natural wine cost more?
Natural winemaking is significantly more labour-intensive than conventional production. Organic and biodynamic farming requires more human hands and produces lower yields. Wild yeast fermentation is slower and less predictable, requiring more monitoring and care. No filtration means more time for the wine to settle naturally before bottling. The resulting wines are made in smaller quantities by producers who are farming and making wine as carefully as possible. The price reflects that.
Where can I buy natural wine in New York?
Sun & Soil is a specialist natural wine shop located in Andes, NY in the Catskills, carrying a curated selection of natural, organic, and low-intervention wines from Croatia, Georgia, Slovenia, Greece, France, Italy, and beyond. We ship nationwide across the US, and offer free delivery on orders over $300 within New York. Browse the full selection here.
The Short Version
Natural wine is wine made with as little interference as possible — organic farming, wild yeast, minimal additions, no filtration. It tastes more individual, more alive, and more specific to its place than most conventional wine. It can occasionally be challenging. At its best, it is extraordinary.
The movement is a reaction to a century of industrialisation that made wine more reliable and less interesting. The producers driving it believe — and have demonstrated convincingly — that the less you do to wine, the more clearly it speaks. That the land, the climate, the vine, and the vintage all have something to say, if you get out of the way long enough to listen.
That is what natural wine is. The rest is just finding the right bottle.
Go deeper: The Encyclopedia of Natural Wine — 20 key terms explained · The complete guide to orange wine · Georgian wine — the ancient birthplace of natural winemaking · Istrian wine — Malvazija, Teran & the Adriatic's natural wine tradition
