Natural Wine: Less is more

By Ben Wood // October 1, 2015


Sharing a bottle of wine with a friend is always a treat. Perhaps you even move on to a second bottle – and the next day, you swear off wine for good, reaching for coffee and Advil. Many blame wine-induced headaches on allergic reaction to sulfites and other additives, usually inserted as preservative or antimicrobial agents.

Enter natural wine, an additive-free genre that claims to stave off that dreaded morning headache. It makes ideal imbibing for wine lovers sensitive to histamines and other allergens found in traditionally made wine.Is a germicide- and stabilizer-free product a trade-off for wine that will spoil faster? Not necessarily. Storing a natural wine at the proper temperature and away from light will help increase its lifespan.

Natural wine owes its origins to two French winemakers: chemist Jules Chavet and Marcel Lapierre, who inherited his family’s vineyard in Villié Morgon. Convinced that adding chemicals during production gave wine its penchant for causing headaches, they developed a method for minimizing the addition of sulfur. Lapierre even took his method to the vineyard, adopting meticulous chemical-free farming methods. Starting in the 1970s, Chavet’s disciples, including Lapierre, Guy Breton and Jean Foillard, worked hard to spread the natural wine gospel across the globe.

Over time, natural winemakers developed a key guideline: Wine must be organically grown and free of additives, including added sugar, foreign yeast and added sulfites (though a small amount occurs naturally during any kind of fermentation). Even standard practices like barrel-aging and filtration are frowned upon.

These are wines you can quaff without qualms: tasty, interesting and often wild in character. So pop that cork. Wine wants you back.


BUY IT: Going au naturale? These locally available bottles will get you started.

Jean-Baptiste Adam Les Natures Crémant d’Alsace Brut
$26. Starrs, 1135 S. Big Bend Blvd., Richmond Heights, 314.781.2345, starrs1.com

2013 Badger Mountain Chardonnay
$13. The Wine Merchant, 7817 Forsyth Blvd., Clayton, 314.863.6282, winemerchantltd.com

2013 Catherine & Pierre Breton Vouvray Moustillant La Dilettante Chenin Blanc
$21. Cork & Rind, 555 First Capitol Drive, St. Charles, 636.896.4404, corkandrind.com

2010 Maysara Cyrus Pinot Noir
$39. Starrs, 1135 S. Big Bend Blvd., Richmond Heights, 314.781.2345, starrs1.com