{"id":178214,"date":"2025-04-09T05:16:48","date_gmt":"2025-04-09T05:16:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/alcohol\/for-wine-writer-alice-feiring-natural-wine-is-not-just-a-trend\/"},"modified":"2025-04-09T05:16:48","modified_gmt":"2025-04-09T05:16:48","slug":"for-wine-writer-alice-feiring-natural-wine-is-not-just-a-trend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=178214","title":{"rendered":"For Wine Writer Alice Feiring, Natural Wine Is Not Just a Trend"},"content":{"rendered":"


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When I was working on <\/span>Food & Wine<\/span><\/i>\u2019s official wine guidebook in 2000, I had to taste hundreds and hundreds of designated wines and I found that I hated most of them. Then, I started to really drill into what it was that I was or wasn\u2019t liking in two bottles from the same part of, say, the Loire Valley, or Rh\u00f4ne. And as it turned out, according to my research, the wines I was most drawn to were largely organically farmed and made with low sulfur, native yeasts and no new oak. At the time, I didn\u2019t know about all the additives that were possible in winemaking or all the high-tech processes\u2014but as I learned more and more (and wrote more and more), I became convinced that natural wine was, indeed, most compelling to me.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

At that time, how did your industry peers respond to your affinity for natural wine?

\n<\/b>Well, I didn\u2019t really start <\/span>talking<\/span><\/i> about natural wine until probably 2010, except for a few journalistic pieces here and there. My first book didn\u2019t even mention natural wine, because natural wine was just… wine. It still is.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For the most part, back then, editors wouldn\u2019t even engage with me on the subject. I remember a <\/span>Gourmet<\/span><\/i> editor telling me once that he\u2019d love to work with me, but that I absolutely could not pitch a story on natural wine. For a lot of publications, it was a threat to various advertisers and stakeholders. It was dangerous and controversial.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

How have you watched the natural wine scene shape-shift since the early aughts?

\n<\/b>Of course, when anything goes from fringe to mainstream, things will change substantially. Around 2001, when I was getting really interested in these wines, there weren\u2019t many places to drink them. There were definitely some spots in Paris\u2014but just a few of them\u2014and in New York, The Ten Bells wasn\u2019t even open yet. There were a handful of places that had one or two natural bottles on the menu, but for the most part, if I wanted to drink what I liked, I had to drink it at home. Now, <\/span>there are places everywhere<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Also, back then, natural wine wasn\u2019t being <\/span>marketed<\/span><\/i>, exactly. That was before all the goofy, super designed labels and social media promotion. A lot of people were even selling their wine directly to consumers. Now, I\u2019m not shaming anyone on that front. There\u2019s so much competition\u2014people really do have to do what it takes to sell their wines. But the problem is that, now, the ethos is: \u200a<\/span>Hey, I want to make my living off of natural wine by marketing natural wine and let\u2019s make it a party. <\/span><\/i>I have mixed feelings about this. Again, I don\u2019t fault anyone for wanting to make a living off of doing what they love … but I do have a hard time with natural wine being marketed as a party drug when it can be very serious and very well-made.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

How have you watched the world of wine media change over time?

\n<\/b>There <\/span>used<\/span><\/i> to be a number of publications that took wine quite seriously, but as creative control has been passed down at various publications, things have changed. That said, it has always amazed me that wine and food are so separate in this country\u2014and from a media standpoint, I don\u2019t think wine has ever been given the respect it deserves at the table. If you ask me, in addition to rising prices, that may have something to do with the wine industry failing right now.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Given that natural wine appears to have reached Peak Hype, it seems like plenty of folks are declaring that the pendulum is swinging in the <\/b>other<\/i><\/b> direction\u2014and natural wine is over.

\n<\/b>I think the people who are saying that natural wine is over are the same people who, 10 or 15 years ago, would\u2019ve been opposed to the premise to begin with. And to me, it\u2019s irritating because it\u2019s ignorant. Sure, there are people who are opposed to FUBAR wines, but that\u2019s not the same as disliking natural wine on the whole. Certainly, there are people out there who need to get their shit together and make some better wine, but those few lazy producers are not at all representative of the whole oeuvre of natural wine. You know, it really pisses me off, because I have no idea how or when that became the association. And it\u2019s so narrow-minded.<\/span><\/p>\n

These people who are claiming they\u2019re <\/span>over<\/span><\/i> natural wine … for me, it\u2019s like, excuse me, what do you actually know about these wines and these producers? What is it that you do and don\u2019t like? If you met one guy you didn\u2019t like from any given culture, would you say, <\/span>It\u2019s a culture of terrible people?<\/span><\/i> \u201cNatural wine\u201d is not synonymous with \u201cflawed\u201d just because you had one subpar bottle, and people need to understand that. There\u2019s so much incredibly clean, tight, beautiful natural wine out there.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Do you have any predictions for the natural wine scene moving forward?

\n<\/b>The fact of the matter is, traditionally made\u2014what we often call \u201cnatural\u201d\u2014wines have been around for eternity, and for that reason, I don\u2019t think there\u2019s any chance they\u2019re going anywhere. I mean, you\u2019re not going to improve on a beautiful heirloom tomato, right? You\u2019re not going to say it\u2019s going out of fashion.<\/p>\n

The difference is, now, there\u2019s a whole lot of money-making industry behind additives, which is certainly a force that\u2019s working against us. But we need to stop associating natural wine with something that\u2019s fucked up. There are trends <\/span>in<\/span><\/i> natural wine and phases in marketing, but natural wine itself is not the trend.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Are there any immediate upshots?

\n<\/b>You know, I spoke to a lovely Slovakian winemaker\u2014[Zsolt S\u00fct\u00f3, of] <\/span>Strekov<\/span><\/a>\u2014about additives in wine. He said to me, <\/span>Hey, I know I should be adding some sulfur to balance out my wines, sometimes. That way, I\u2019d throw out less wine. But I just can\u2019t<\/span><\/i>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s the kind of statement that gives you hope. I just love it\u2014he really believes in his wine, and in zero-zero production. But he\u2019s not so interested in selling more and more that he\u2019ll put wine he doesn\u2019t stand behind on the market. That\u2019s not a trend\u2014it\u2019s fantastic, honest winemaking.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When I was working on Food & Wine\u2019s official wine guidebook in 2000, I had to taste hundreds and hundreds of designated wines and I found that I hated most of them. 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