Inspired by the great thread started by @Robert_Dentice and @Jayson_Cohen’s idea, I figured I would start this thread. I am by no means a natural wine expert but I’ve really enjoyed a lot of those I’ve tried. Please let’s not devolve into a thread trying to define natural wine! I’m hoping this thread will help forumites find new bottles to try.
I’ve been on a huge German wine kick lately and I’ve been able to find a lot of great recommendations on this forum, for which I am grateful. Just tonight I got a chance to open this beautiful bottle from Kissinger:
2022 Moritz Kissinger Weissburgunder - Germany, Rheinhessen (1/3/2025)
Kissinger is of my favorite latest discoveries. This wine is a clear step up from the entry level “Null Ohm”, with noticeable vibrancy and concentration. The natty edge is intriguing, refreshing, energizing. Highly recommended.
Fantastic idea and what a perfect wine to start with! Thank you. The German wine scene is really evolving and growing in a good way. I tasted with two fantastic growers in the Mosel last week that are in the natural camp - Thorsten Melsheimer and a new project Grandboise Weine.
I highly recommend trying all of the Melsheimer wines including the no SO2 wines.
And these are not yet imported into the U.S. but are available in Europe. I don’t love Pet Nat but I did really like these.
I have a couple of Melsheimer wines on deck for when I return to the US next week - I hadn’t tried any yet and I didn’t realize they were in the natural camp. I’m even more excited to dig in now! I’ll have to check out Grandboise. There are so many new producers coming out of Germany, my head is spinning! Thanks so much for championing all these great wines.
Melsheimer has been biodynamic since 2013 and organic since 1995. He has two lines one 0-0 and one with very low SO2. He adds nothing in the winery and lets the wine ferment slowly. The vineyard work is as labor intensive as any winery in the world due to the steepness.
I just want to second this. Please lets not get into arguments about what a natural wine is. Lets discuss each wine on its own merit, even if you don’t fully agree with the notion of the wine being a “natural wine”. I’ve certainly been guilty of drowning threads in discussions about the subject and it added nothing in the end.
So great to get this thread started. I will try to keep it active.
Seems to be a hard question to define natural wine in 2025, but I hope this qualifies!
2022 Chateau Cambon Brouilly
Biodynamic, unsulfured, unfiltered. Wine is a joint project of Lapierre (whom I love) and Joseph Chamonard (whom I have never tried). This is classic Brouilly, classic bistro wine. It explodes with fresh crunchy red fruit (ripe strawberry dribbling down the chin) – these flavors are why I love carbonic maceration. Palate is balanced acidity and silk tannins with round mouthfeel. It is not complex but it is wonderful in its simplicity with an intoxicating nose.
This wine is both natural (fresh, honest) but also beautifully refined (balanced, silky), without any weirdness.
Agree. To my knowledge, Roederer is the only maison that is organic/biodynamic and otherwise sorta fits the definition of Vin Naturel that we aren’t going to argue about in this discussion.
I don’t get hung up on strict definitions in this area and while there are some others I can think of that would probably fit, I would say André Beaufort deserves mention too. Happy to be corrected if I am off.
the former poster boy for natural wine gone wrong. Thankfully, no longer the case. I used to only buy in restaurants. it wears the 15% as well as can be expected and still relatively light.
HA! I actually just drafted up the start of a similar thread and came in to post only to find myself beat to it. Thank you, @Luca_Giupponi!
It’s a huge category that is tricky to define. Sure,b iodynamic vineyard practices, natural yeast fermentation, a highly skeptical approach to sulphur and filtering are probably the basics, but that encompasses several wines not typically thought of as natural. I guess Justice Stewart’s standard of “I know it when I see [drink] it” applies.
While it certainly feels at times like there is forum consensus that natural wines are unserious, broadly flawed, and generally worth of derision rather than serious study, I also know that there are multitudes of delicious, interesting well-crafted examples that deserve our collective attention. The “natural” category being one of, if not the, fastest growing segment of wine and the mainstay of most wine lists at trendy new restaurants, it’s a not only a category that draws in many younger would be wine-conissuers, but is something even seasoned veterans should seek to understand more. Hopefully we can foster a balanced discussion focused on the epicurean value of these wines. Just as annoying as having some hipster try and gaslight you into thinking mouse is okay or desirable is having a whole world of juice dismissed out of hand. So hopefully discourse can not only highlights the diversity of the genre and broadens the horizons of all berserkers, but also acknowledges the potential inconsistencies and watch-outs that can happen as well.
