What is Natural Wine?
Today, La Cabane tries to offer the widest range of naturally crafted and organically grown wines. Among these wines, each producer has his own farming methods and sensitiveness regarding natural wines. Some of them grow their grapes organically while others go further by using biodynamic methods in the vineyard. During the winemaking process they all adopt addition-free stances in the cellar and drastically limit their interventions on the wine. To fully understand the diversity of La Cabane’s portfolio, some explanations about natural wines are required though.
1-Organic wine
Those wines do possess the label according to their country of origin. The basic requirements are generally specific and engage the farmers not to use any chemical fertilizers and other synthetic products in the vineyard. It does not prevent the vintner to use conventional winemaking process after harvesting. This point is probably the most contentious as, even though the grapes are organically grown, the wine making is not. It leads, unfortunately, to a lack of coherence in the "organic" approach and wines of variable quality.
2-Biodynamic wine
They are of particular interest, because they are following Rudolf Steiner concept, and go a step further in terms of wine making process. Here lies the foundation of true organic wines, with a strict limit in the use of additives, stringent requirements and at the end obtaining a biodynamic certification (Demeter, originally from Germany the oldest certification, and Biodyvin from France).
Moreover, in the vineyard, the use of natural compost, preparation, that are sprayed according to Nature rhythm, moon cycles and help not only the vines but primarily the soil in giving the best grapes, who are hand picked of course.
Biodynamic main objective is to heal, regenerate, respect the Earth, the landscapes and provide healthy foods to Man. Here the Nature is considered as a whole with multiple interactions (Universe/Soils/Man).
3-Natural wine
This is probably a very interesting concept, born in the 1950’s in France impulse by Jules Chauvet in Beaujolais. This movement is also the realisation that the use of chemical fertilisers and additives in the wine world was leading to generic wines, tasteless and without any specific characteristics that would make a wine unique and more over harmful to health.
Similarities can be found with biodynamic viticulture. In Natural wine, the concept of “Pure fermented grape juice” described quite well those wines. Here, organic grown grapes and a natural wine making process, ie no artificial yeasts, no added sugars, acid, tannins and other synthetic additives are used. Added sulfites (SO2) to the minimum and more often than not, no added sulfites at all.
It requires an enormous amount of work in the vineyards, as biodynamic wines, to achieve the best grapes possible. In the cellar, pampering of the natural yeast is a must, THEY ARE GIVING THE UNIQUE TASTE OF THE WINE! No filtration and fining to finish the process is also part of giving what the wine should be.
No label exists for natural wine, hence wine lovers who become importers, distributors and retailers are the only point of entry to make discover those wines with a difference.