Natural Ain't Perfect (isn't that the point?)

I received so many private emails about this Dave McIntyre's Washington Post story that I felt it was time to call out the my inner Wine Cop and make some arrests. I'm on the road, in New Orleans for the ICSWI --champers, sparklers---and not sure how I'm going to address it, probably in steps...let me start here, meanderingly. My cousin lives a safe life. She is a teacher. Her life is measured. Other than drinking plenty of Diet Coke, she takes little risks and goes to the doctor often. She does not like spice. She doesn't like vinegar. It's not the taste. Ask her and she can't tell you why. And if she drank wine, which she does not, she would most likely drink the safe wines. No one debates whether a real tomato is truly superior to a hydroponic/ gmified one. Taste there is simple and direct and perhaps the politics. But whether a wine is made by proxy, by numbers and hyped up on hormones and additive and all sorts of adjustments? That one brings on the polemic, the rationalization, the fight, the right vs. left. Whether or not you're on board with natural wines is something like whether or not you're a MAC or a PC person. It’s a little like whether you not only tolerate but hot food. It’s a little like whether you prefer your apricots nice and bright orange and bland or brown and flavorful. Consider me a Mac, a spicy food and a brown apricot kind of woman. It's not about trend, it's about taste. I like my wines natural, either hard core or natural enough. But when it comes to wine, one arena I have little tolerance for are the wines those are conventional. Wine's that are revolting at best (sometimes I just can't get past those added tannins and bad acid jobs) and boring at first. Or the sulfur that burns my nose. I came into the world of natural wine because at one point I was throwing too many wines down the drain. When I evaluated which ones were getting my thumbs up I saw a remarkable commonality. They were grown by either organic or biodynamic viticulture. They were made with native yeast fermentation and little manipulation in the cellar. Some of the wines were hardcore natural, unsulfured, a genre that like spoking pot, takes a taste or two to resonate with. Mostly all were low sulfur. As McIntyre acknowledged, the best of these wines had a life and vitality, not ever seen in conventional ones and this alone should have made him stand up and applaud but for some reason he chose to disparage. It would seem that for this article, if the wine is natural it must be a superior wine, and if not, the category is besmirched. Yet, as acknowledged, the best of these wines have life and excitement an adventure and are compelling in a way that conventional wines are not and can never be. And that is the reason they are gaining in popularity and working away from the fringe into the mainstream. As they creep in, the old guard dig in their heels and even more greatly defend the conventional way of making wine. So the title of the piece, Natural Isn't Perfect (writers rarely write their heds, by the way, so we can't fault McIntyre on this one) seems to be starting from a platitude that makes no sense. Not only are natural wines not perfect, that word has no place in the category. Oh, I suppose we talk it in the way that an egg is the perfect food, (or the potato for that matter) one can talk about the concept of natural being perfect, but that is in theory alone. Now, are all natural wines great? Not at all. There's lots of bad winemaking in the world and this sector is not immune from little knowledge or little talent. Okay, let's get into the sandbox. 'The natural-wine movement has been sweeping France for a few years now, with stylishly dressed millennials in trendy wine bars in affluent urban neighborhoods celebrating the peasant vignerons who defy globalization in defense of terroir. ' This is the second graf and I've already been told that the writer is coming to this story with some pre-conceived notions and perhaps the writer took a similar piece by W. Blake Gray too seriously. And there are some hints of ad hominen. Wine bars in affluent urban neighborhoods? He indicates that he went to one bar only, in Troyes. Yes, in the old part of the town, and it's not like Troyes is fashionable. In fact, since the time of Rashi, the Aube has never been fashionable. Back to Paris. The trend started almost 30 years ago but swelled in the mid-90's and lately exploded. The 19th arr. 25 years ago? Fashionable? Like around Gare de L'est before it was renovated? Oberkampf before it was hip? These places are mostly put together by spit and two by fours by people who are sourcing fantastic bio food and wines and the clientele comes in various sizes, widths and looks. There are more up-town folk drinking this wine and showing up in scruffy places, slumming even. Yes, the wines are 'cool' right now, but that's not why. People from all socio-economic strata are enjoying them. The wines are becoming more accepted into the mainstream. Yet, while there are wine bars in mostly all arrondissments in Paris, I would say the toniest have few if none. The 16th? The 8th? Yes, the 1st has one or two, but towards the Marais, out of the fancy zone. (off to a meeting, a cocktail or something...to be continued. )