(Andrea Rice/ Healthline) — From orange to glou-glou, piquette to pét nat, organic, biodynamic, unfiltered, and zero-zero, natural wines are much more than a low-sulfite alternative to conventional wine.
Natural wine is not a new trend or buzzword despite its recent rise in popularity. Humans have been fermenting grapes without additives for millennia.
Like regular wine, natural wine is grown wherever conditions are ripe: in the heart of the Mediterranean and around the world in similar hospitable microclimates.
The funk, flavor, and juiciness factor of natural wine is unique to the terroir (soil) in which its grapevines were grown and harvested.
The crisp whites of Slovenia’s Vipava Valley take on the minerality of surrounding limestone mountains. Just south of Barcelona in Priorat, Spain, there are bold, intense reds that are infused with slate absorbed by roots that grow through layers of rock in this arid, mountainous region. (…)