I just can’t help but wonder how typical of the average active wine drinker is Lettie Teague’s assessment off her exploration into the meaning and taste of “Natural” wine. Teague, a respected and award-winning wine writer for the influential and widely read Wall Street Journal, investigated this nebulous category of wine and concluded the following: “My tasting didn’t lead me to any profound conclusions, although it did lead me to believe that some natural winemakers are more talented than others….
It’s nearly time again for what now appears to be an annual celebration of unsubstantiated and unsupported claims and assertions about wine. It’s time again to denigrate 99% of the world’s wine and winemakers. Of course, I’m talking about the coming RAW WINE FAIR, a celebration of “natural” wine taking place in London on May 19 and 20. On the cusp of this important occasion, I think it appropriate to examine some of the claims that are being made about…
Sometimes, in mounting a defense against accusations, we inadvertently expose the weakness of our position. This is what has happened with the Italian “natural wine” community. An open letter to Italian wine publisher Gambero Rosso (which earlier published a scathing and largely unfair diatribe against “natural wine”) by a group of Italian “natural wine” producers offended by being attacked in its pages, reveals that these “natural wine” producers understand the fraud that they are perpetuating.: “We are the first to…
In June of 1973 my father spanked me. I haven’t forgotten it either. I arrived home on my bike around 8pm, a good 2 hours later than I was told to. When asked why I was late, I told my folks that baseball practice went long. That’s what provoked the spanking. I lied to my father’s face. It wasn’t baseball practice. I just wanted to hang out at my buddy’s house, knew I didn’t have time to, did it anyway,…
I’ve been, and will continue to be, a harsh critic of the “natural” wine movement for a number of different reasons. But now it’s time to give credit where credit is due. Alice Feiring has long been a darling of this small movement. She has championed its champions and its wines, defended it against criticism and been on hand nearly where ever necessary to discuss its trends and substance. And of course, she has written extensively about “natural” wine. Today,…
