Natural wine: a definition that's still being argued over
The term "natural wine" has no legally binding definition in France — or not quite. A handful of grower associations, notably AVN (Vins Naturels) and La Renaissance des Appellations, have drawn up shared charters that set out clear principles: grapes grown organically or biodynamically, hand-harvested, fermented spontaneously using only the wild yeasts that live on the grape skins, with no added sulphur or very low doses — purists set the ceiling at 30 mg/L total. These charters are voluntary; they carry real weight within the natural wine community but have no legal force.
What separates natural wine from conventional wine is the absence of winemaking interventions: no laboratory-selected yeasts, no enzymes, no acidity correctors, no fining agents, no filtration. The wine is made with the fewest possible additives. The result is a living product — sometimes unstable, capable of evolving differently from one bottle to the next. That variability is both its appeal and its weakness.
It's worth separating three terms that get conflated. Organic wine (certified Agriculture Biologique, or AB, in France) means the grapes were grown without synthetic pesticides or fertilisers, but the winery is still allowed to use a fairly long list of conventional cellar techniques — selected yeasts, fining, filtration, and up to 150 mg/L of sulphur for reds. Biodynamic wine follows the same field principles as organic, and adds the calendar-based farming practices and herbal preparations developed by Austrian philosopher Rudolf Steiner in the 1920s — essentially treating the vineyard as a self-sustaining organism. Natural wine goes further in the cellar: almost nothing added, almost nothing removed. The three approaches can overlap — many natural winemakers are certified organic or biodynamic — but one does not automatically imply the others.
In 2020, France created an official label called vin méthode nature, a designation that can appear on the bottle and is audited by a third party. It was a genuine step forward. That said, many growers committed to natural winemaking choose not to use it — some on principle, some because certification feels at odds with the philosophy, and some simply because the paperwork isn't worth it for a small domaine.
What you'll smell and taste: the aromatic world of natural wine
Honesty first: natural wine has its own aromatic vocabulary, and it can be disorienting if you're used to conventional bottles. On the nose you'll often find fresh cider, kombucha, sourdough bread, sometimes kefir. These are not faults. They are the signature of wild fermentation — the smell of yeasts doing their work without the neutralising effect of a laboratory strain selected precisely for its invisibility.
In whites, expect rounder, slightly fuller textures than in a heavily filtered conventional white. Orange wines — whites made by leaving the grape juice in contact with the skins for an extended period, sometimes weeks or months, in a process borrowed from ancient Georgian winemaking — sit in a category of their own: tannic, spiced, genuinely complex. Think quince paste, turmeric, black tea, dried orange peel. They reward attention.
In reds, natural wines tend to lead with direct, fresh fruit rather than the oak influence or structured tannins you'd find in a wine aged in new barrels. A natural Beaujolais — made from the Gamay grape in the granite hills north of Lyon — or a natural Gamay from the Loire valley will give you something almost juicy: ripe red fruit with an easy drinkability that doesn't demand food or ceremony. This is where natural wine is at its most persuasive.
The faults that critics sometimes cite — brettanomyces (a barnyard or band-aid smell) or mousiness (a stale, musty aftertaste that appears when certain bacteria get out of hand) — are real, but they belong to poorly made or badly stored bottles, not to the category as a whole. A well-made natural wine, kept properly, bears no resemblance to those caricatures. As with any wine, the producer is everything.
The French regions that built the movement
Beaujolais is where it started. In the 1980s, a loosely connected group of growers centred on the village of Villié-Morgon — Marcel Lapierre, Jules Chauvet, Jean Foillard, Guy Breton, Jean-Paul Thévenet — began making wine without sulphur, with long, unhurried fermentations using the grapes' own yeasts. Lapierre's Morgon (Morgon is one of ten named villages within Beaujolais, known as Crus, each with its own geological character) became the reference point. The domaine is now run by his children, with the same approach intact.
The Loire valley is the other founding ground. The Loire is a long river running east to west across the middle of France, and its wine regions cover an enormous range of styles — from the briny, mineral Muscadet near the Atlantic coast to the powerful Chenin Blancs of Savennières and the red-fruit Cabernet Francs of Chinon and Bourgueil. It proved fertile territory for natural winemaking. Growers like Thierry Puzelat, Richard Leroy, and the Mosse family built their reputations on uncompromising wines that could be baffling on first contact and revelatory on the second. Jo Landron's Muscadet and Nicolas Joly's Chenins from Savennières are fixed reference points for anyone navigating this world.
In Alsace — France's easternmost wine region, pressed against the Rhine and the German border, producing aromatic whites from Riesling, Pinot Gris, Gewurztraminer, and others — Patrick Meyer and Bruno Schueller have been working without sulphur for decades on grand cru sites (grand cru is a formal classification in Alsace for the best-ranked vineyard plots). Their Rieslings and Gewurztraminers are precise, mineral, and capable of ageing for many years: the opposite of the stereotype that natural wine must be simple or short-lived.
The Roussillon, in the far south near the Spanish border, and Burgundy are seeing a growing wave of growers joining the movement. In southern Burgundy in particular, younger domaines are producing striking results in appellations like Mâcon and Saint-Aubin — areas where land prices remain within reach of a new generation. For reliable access to these smaller estates, the online retailer Vinatis lists several of these producers with detailed notes, which is useful when you can't simply visit a specialist wine shop in person.
French natural wine producers worth knowing
A list of fifty names would be possible. Here are the ones that matter most for orientation. Marcel Lapierre (Morgon, Beaujolais) is the historical reference: his Morgon Classique is the ideal entry point into natural wine — fruit, depth, and a drinkability that's genuinely rare. Jean Foillard, a friend and neighbour of Lapierre working the same volcanic soils, produces a Côte du Py that belongs in any serious conversation about French Gamay.
In the Loire, Thierry Puzelat (Domaine du Clos du Tue-Bœuf) makes Cheverny and Touraine wines — both are appellations in the central Loire — with a precision that belies their modest price points. Olivier Cousin in Anjou is a free spirit and occasional provocateur, but his biodynamic Anjou reds are wines of pure, uncomplicated pleasure. For oxidative whites and orange wines, Mark Angeli at Ferme de la Sansonnière is an essential address.
In Alsace, Patrick Meyer (Domaine Julien Meyer) vinifies the full range of Alsatian grape varieties with a clarity that sets the standard. His sulphur-free Sylvaner and Pinot Gris show what terroir expresses when nothing is added to smooth it over. Christian Binner applies the same rigour across the entire Alsatian palette.
In the Rhône valley, Dard & Ribo in Crozes-Hermitage — a large appellation on the left bank of the Rhône, south of Lyon, planted mainly with Syrah — are frequently cited pioneers. Their sulphur-free Syrahs are taut and peppery, with a freshness that surprises given the warmth of the region. And in the southern part of Beaujolais, the young Domaine de la Grand'Cour in Fleurie is evidence that the Beaujolais revival is a long-term shift, not a passing trend.
To find these domaines without attending invitation-only trade fairs, platforms like Vinatis list several of these producers with honest tasting notes and stock that's properly stored. A reasonable starting point if you're still building your bearings.
What to drink them with, and at what temperature
Light natural reds — Beaujolais, Loire Gamay, some sulphur-free Pinot Noirs — are best served cool, between 12 and 14°C (54–57°F). This is perhaps the most practically important difference from a conventional Bordeaux or Burgundy: these wines do not benefit from being brought to "room temperature" in a centrally heated apartment. Served cool, they're juicier, more precise, more enjoyable. Half an hour in the fridge before opening is not wrong.
For food, think charcuterie, cold meats, summery dishes, grilled fish. A natural Morgon alongside chipirons — small whole squid grilled on a flat iron plate, a staple of Basque cooking — is a pairing that works on every level. Orange wines are one of the few wine styles that hold their own against heavily spiced food: Indian curries, Thai dishes, anything built around turmeric or ginger, where a conventional white would be overwhelmed.
Pétillants naturels — pét-nat for short, made by the méthode ancestrale, meaning the wine is bottled before fermentation is complete so that the remaining sugar turns to bubbles in the bottle — deserve a mention. Finely fizzy, slightly hazy, they're best very cold, as an aperitif or with light starters. The most approachable versions are often under €15 — a sensible entry point if you're still undecided. See the wines under €15 for options in this category. (Prices are in euros; these wines are bought and shipped within Europe.)
One practical note: natural wines don't keep as long once opened. With little or no sulphur acting as a preservative, they oxidise faster than conventional wines. Ideally, finish the bottle the same evening or the following day. That's less a constraint than an invitation to share it — which is ultimately the point.
How to choose a good natural wine without getting it wrong
First rule: trust the producer more than the label. A bottle with "natural" printed large on a fashionable label guarantees nothing. A domaine that has been certified organic for ten years, sold by a specialist wine merchant who can tell you something concrete about the grower — that is a real signal. In France, a caviste is an independent specialist wine shop, distinct from a supermarket and from a cave coopérative (a growers' cooperative that pools production). A good caviste will stock natural wines because they've tasted them and believe in them, not because they fill a shelf category.
Use organic certification (AB — Agriculture Biologique — is the French label; Demeter covers biodynamic farming) as a first filter at the vineyard level. It's not sufficient on its own to define a natural wine, but it's a baseline. Then look at the back label: mentions like sans soufre ajouté (no added sulphur) or vinification sans intrants (made without additives) give you a picture of the cellar approach.
If you're new to the best French red wines and want to approach natural wine gradually, start with Beaujolais before moving toward more technically demanding styles. The named Beaujolais Crus in natural versions — Morgon, Fleurie, Moulin-à-Vent — are usually more immediately accessible than a long-maceration orange wine or an oxidative white from the Jura.
For whites, the best French white wines in natural versions are concentrated mainly in the Loire (Muscadet, Vouvray, Savennières) and Alsace. These regions produce natural whites with a firm acid backbone that makes them easier to approach than some southern French examples, which can lean heavier or more fermentative.
Final point: ask whoever is selling the wine how it has been stored. A natural wine kept in a warm stockroom or exposed to light can deteriorate quickly. Good storage — cool, dark, stable — is part of what a serious wine merchant or a reputable online retailer provides as a matter of course.
Common questions
Is natural wine always cloudy and fizzy?
Not necessarily. Haziness and a slight fizz are common because the wine hasn't been filtered and can continue evolving in the bottle, but many natural wines are clear and still. It depends on the producer, the grape variety, and the winemaking choices — some growers rack carefully and produce wines that look entirely conventional in the glass.
Natural wine, organic wine, biodynamic wine: what's the practical difference?
Organic wine (certified AB in France) means the grapes were grown without synthetic chemicals, but the winery can still use selected yeasts, fining agents, filtration, and up to 150 mg/L of sulphur for reds. Biodynamic wine follows the same field principles and adds the calendar-based farming practices and herbal preparations developed by Rudolf Steiner — treating the vineyard as a closed, self-sustaining system. Natural wine goes further in the cellar: no added yeasts, no fining, no filtration, and no or very little sulphur (under 30 mg/L total for the strictest producers). The three approaches can overlap, but none automatically implies the others.
Why do some natural wines smell of cider or sourdough?
Those are the signatures of wild fermentation — the process of using only the yeasts that occur naturally on the grape skins, rather than adding a laboratory-selected strain chosen for its aromatic neutrality. Wild yeasts produce a wider, less predictable range of aromatic compounds, which is where the cider, sourdough, or kefir notes come from. If it's balanced and intentional, that's the style, not a fault.
Can you find decent natural wines for under €20?
Yes. Beaujolais is the most reliable hunting ground: entry-level Gamay, Fleurie, and Chiroubles in natural versions regularly come in under €18. The Loire offers natural Muscadet and Gamay de Touraine at similar prices. Pétillants naturels — lightly sparkling wines made by the ancestral method — are often the most affordable way in, frequently found between €12 and €15. Platforms like Vinatis and specialist wine shops with a natural wine focus usually have a selection at these prices.
Can natural wines age well in a cellar?
Some can, genuinely. The great Chenin Blancs of the Loire (Savennières, Vouvray), Alsatian Rieslings made without sulphur, and Morgon from producers like Lapierre all age well over 5 to 10 years — sometimes longer. But many natural wines are made to be drunk young, within 2 to 3 years of the harvest, and that's by design rather than a limitation. Once opened, the absence of sulphur means they oxidise faster than conventional wines: aim to finish the bottle within 24 hours.