Actually Franck Balthazar’s sans soufre Cornas would be a very good representative. I guess thats available in the US as well?
And I can see Olek Bondonio’s Barbaresco cuvées are available in the US.
A slightly easier to source list than what Robert proposed 
For a tasting like this, it could be fun to focus on 1-2 producers from regions that have a strong history in natural wines. To me, those are:
Jura: Ganevat, Cavarodes, or Labet
Beaujolais: Foillard, Metras, or Lapierre
Burgundy: Chantereves, Lienhardt, or Dandelion
Loire: Bernaudeau, Bretaudeau, or Collier
Auvergne (could be considered part of Loire?): Arbre Blanc (hard to find, though) or Bouju
Rhone: Anglore, Stephan, or Dard & Ribo
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And he is making wine again.
isn’t it negoce tho?
His Paris importer told me they were made by him and that the estate wines were coming next. It is all VERY confusing. He never made wines from the exact same plots. And as you say a Japanese winemaker took something over. Tasting and spending time with him was an amazing experience.
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24 replies and no mention of Eric Texier and Emidio Pepe? My heart is broken 
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One of my concerns would be how these wines handle traveling across the pond in their condition. And I mean that in all honesty.
Some of these wines are quite fragile and probably too well in their own domestic market, but may not do as well after traveling.
Of course, this is an over generalization, but something that certainly should be noted.
Are you throwing out hypotheticals or have you experienced natural wines imported through the proper channels (i.e. temperature controlled, from the importer, not grey market) showing poorly in the US vs Europe?
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I agree that proper freight conditions will likely result in better wines. So far the overwhelming majority of names mentioned are imported by companies that are familiar with this and ship accordingly. I would also add that several of the names are sort of quasi-natural in terms of what many people associate with the category. ie, they’re pretty clean and stable and use sulfur so they’re not going to be quite as susceptible to going haywire as more hardcore examples. But that’s kind of a moot point anyway since I would have confidence in their transcontinental shipping. Local warehousing and delivery would be more of my concern but, again, I think by this point anyone distributing such prominent names as these understands what they’re doing and not going to risk spoilage by skimping on substandard conditions.
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Not talking about any specific wines here, but I have experienced a lot of variability on wines that have been imported from overseas that are considered natural. I believe this variability is one of the challenges with these wines.
It’s simply another variable that you have to consider when purchasing and consuming these wines.
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This argument has been used for decades and long before people were even speaking of “natural.” Ol’ Bob was notorious for writing about that in the Advocate, no? I know people still try to get away with shipping without reefer or with a thermal blanket but I really don’t think anyone playing the natural game in a serious way (ie what’s been recommended here) is going to risk their inventory by shipping without temp control.
Speaking of stability, Cavarodes is probably the one name mentioned so far that I would skip if you don’t want to risk some hardcore natural funk. A long time ago some were talking about him like he was the next Ganevat but, even in France, people know the wines are often tainted. Haven’t followed them or talked to anyone about them for a couple years so maybe he’s cleaned things up a little.
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It has - and it still needs to be made, even with wines that are far from natural. It’s one of the reasons I have a love/hate relationship with certain CdP producers. Many bottle unfiltered with a touch of RS with very small amounts of brett, but given the ‘right’ conditions during transportation - not only across the pond but within the US and even at a specific store - blooms occur and you end up with a lot of bottle variation. This is part of the ‘excitement’ about wine - it’s slight variability - but it’s also aggravating to hear wonderful things about a specific wine only to have a bottle that was ‘affected’ at some point and smells ONLY like horse shit or is mousy or ‘name your fault’.
Cheers
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We did a big Cavarodes tasting a while ago and none of the bottles were flawed. I can’t speak of some of his earlier wines, but every bottle I had was great, hence the recommendation.
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Good to hear. Seems like many, such as Cornellisen, chose to lose a little bit of the early dogma in favor of more stability and consistency.
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This conversation made me think of Cornelissen even before you said it. I actually had really good luck with his wines even in the before days but understand that many did not. I haven’t bought in a while and should try the more recent wines.
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Shi-Ro which I’ve had, has been excellent. I’ve tucked away my other Cab Francs from the domaine for a long sleep.
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I’m with you there. I’ve by now learned to minimize my risk with him, and I now only order the whites, which I think are best anyhow, besides his Vin Jaune.
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Perhaps Patrick Piuze Chablis, Envinate from Spain, Roche aux Moines from the Loire, Foradori from Trentino/Alto Adige, Foillard from Beaujolais?
The wines are good, no idea why anyone would include Hirotake in a project, but it seemed to work here.
I mean if you’re a group of investors wanting in, not fully proficient in the language, then I guess he’d be a great hire. To his skills as a winemaker, I’m sure you could’ve found better fits to consult, both in the Loire and in Rhone.
Edit; I see it’s Kaya Tsutsui doing the main work, and Ooka only consulting a bit.