Why Natural Wine Is the Biggest Drink Trend in Austin Right Now
Act natural this summer
By Taylor Tobin, Fri., May 26, 2023
A rich orange liquid that catches the light and gleams like amber when I swirl it in the glass. A hit of apricot and oolong tea and green apple on the nose. A slightly sweet flavor of honey and cherry and spices, balanced with a hint of acidity and herbal bitterness. That's Paleokerisio, the semi-sparkling natural wine from Greece that first got me excited about this wine style, which is quickly making its mark all across the country. It's perfect with cheese and charcuterie, it can stand up to chilled temperatures (great for summer in Austin), and it's a bit fizzy and very lively. And Paleokerisio is just one occupant of the wonderfully weird wing of the wine world known as natural wine.
But what exactly is "natural" wine? It's a question that I've grappled with while enjoying a glass of natural Grenache on the huge outdoor patio of LoLo wine bar and bottle shop in East Austin or a bottle of pét-nat (short for "pétillant naturel") at the sleek bar of Golden Hour in far South Austin. My wish to better understand these quirky wines led me to ask experts from all over Austin what we're really talking about when we talk about "natural wine."
What Is Natural Wine?
This was my big question of the day, but the wine pros I consulted had some interesting news for me: This style of wine can't really be defined. "Natural wine" and "low-intervention" wine aren't official categories according to any wine-world governing body, so the rules that winemakers and wine vendors try to impose are loosely held and subject to adjustment.
For Adam Wills, co-owner of LoLo (1504 E. Sixth), natural wine is "like a forever-slithering snake – you just can't put your finger on it, [even] if you think you've nailed it." But he doesn't see this as a negative. "People draw parallels between wine and music all the time. Drinking natural wine feels like going to Breakaway Records and finding this one little gem that nobody has heard of, and when it was pressed, they only made like 500 copies, and now you're listening to it. It's kind of the same addicting feeling of discovery and adventure."
Natural wine is also commonly referred to as "low-intervention wine," which sums up what sets it apart from conventionally produced wine. For wine to be considered natural, it generally must be made with organic (or biodynamically grown) grapes that haven't been treated with hormones or pesticides; the grapes should be hand-picked rather than mechanically harvested; the fermentation should be done with "native" yeast; and the amount of sulfites (a preservative added to wine to help it stabilize and maintain its flavor over time) should be either zero or far less than what's added to conventional wine.
The yeast used to ferment natural wine isn't like the "culture yeast that's created in a lab" and used in conventional winemaking, according to co-owner Evan Dunivan of Golden Hour (7731 Menchaca Rd.). Just as natural wine grapes are grown without chemical aids, the wine fermentation needs to be "wild," using "the yeast that is naturally occurring on the plants in the vineyard in the terroir." There's no standardization and no effort to use the yeast to make the bottles of a particular vintage all fit into a particular flavor profile. Therefore, Dunivan explains, "you may have variations from vintage to vintage; honestly, [there's] a lot of variation from bottle to bottle."
Natural wine is inherently chaotic, but Richard Roettgen, the general manager of the Meteor (a cafe, bike shop, and natural wine bar and bottle shop located at 2110 S. Congress), tells me that even when this type of winemaking looks precarious, there's a natural order in place. "It's about being responsible and thoughtful and careful and letting the wine be what it wants to be instead of taking a product and manipulating it to reach an end result. The journey is the end result," he insists.
Why Does Natural Wine Appeal to Wine Experts?
Natural winemakers have the liberty to try new techniques and play around with new taste profiles, and the possibilities are endless. That potential excites Grant Richardson, co-owner of the Violet Crown (7100 Woodrow Ave.), a specialty coffeehouse, natural wine bar, and bottle shop in Brentwood, who says that "each bottle captures a unique time and sense of place that can't really be replicated." The lack of chemical additives and human intervention mean that natural wine won't be "covered up with a lot of manipulation in the cellar and intensive farming practices that really just strip wine of any personality and make it feel more like a replicated mass produced product."
Richardson told me that he knows a thing or two about organic farming, as he and his husband launched Crisp Farms, an organic greenhouse farm in Smithville that's "one of the biggest certified organic indoor farms in Texas." To get that "organic" designation, the Crisp Farms team had to go through a certification process, and that hands-on experience stoked Richardson's interest in farming practices, which ultimately brought him to natural wine.
I asked Richardson whether his guests ever seem hesitant to try natural wine, since – as we've all learned by now – its definition is fuzzy and tough to articulate. He said that he eases customer concerns by reminding them that "natural wine is wine as it should be, just stripped down to its core."
He also helps clients understand that the idea of natural wine as a funky and strange drinking experience doesn't apply to all natural wines. While some drinkers (like me) love a wine with shades of musk and vegetal accents and bitterness and sharp acidity, there are just as many who prefer something more traditional in flavor, and Richardson knows how they feel: "The natural wines I tend to gravitate toward aren't the really funky, exotic, outlandish ones that natural wine gets pigeonholed as. And I think that that loud, vocal minority has colored a lot of people's views on what natural wine is and made it a little bit harder to bridge the gap between conventionally made wine and natural wines."
One of the first Austin wine pros to start trying to bridge that gap is Sam Rozani, who took over the Sunrise Mini Mart (1809 W. Anderson) at a Crestview Citgo station in 2009. Rozani tells us that it was a regular gas station before he took over. "I was already drinking craft beer, so I was thinking that I could educate people with my craft beer. I started doing [in-store] tastings," he explains.
Rozani's love of "farmhouse [beers] with nothing added to them" led to his appreciation for natural wines. He credits the no-additives, "cleaner" formula for natural wines at least in part for its popularity; as customers become more mindful about what they're putting in their bodies, they gravitate toward wines that don't rely on artificial ingredients or human manipulation.
As a wine shop owner, Rozani also relishes the opportunity to show people that natural wine is accessible from both a flavor perspective and a financial perspective. "People think that natural wine is expensive, but I don't think so." Rozani points out that, while natural wine might cost a bit more than its mass-produced competitors, shoppers are getting better value for their dollar. Natural winemakers don't use big companies as middlemen, so if their prices are higher, it's "because of the work that these [winemakers] have done" to produce a low-intervention wine without chemicals or mechanical fermentation and filtration.
How Did Natural Wine Become a Big Deal in Austin Specifically?
Low-intervention wine has undoubtedly made an impression on the Austin beverage scene, and if you're wondering why our city is so willing to embrace this style, the experts all tell me that Austin's independent and creative spirit perfectly suits this most ancient and natural type of winemaking.
"Austin likes one-off, quirky, unique kinds of things. And natural wine is very much in that vein," says Roettgen. "I'm glad that it's trending. If Austin is a booming market, there's gonna be more people that are reaching out to us to bring stuff here that we haven't had before. A rising tide lifts all ships."
LoLo claims to be Austin's first bar primarily dedicated to natural wine, and Wills says that, when LoLo opened four years ago, natural wine could only be found at a few restaurants and a handful of shops. "I think a lot of people that open businesses are opening businesses for themselves and hoping that other people are attracted to it as well. There was a gap there and we did our best to fill that gap," he says.
As someone who eats out in Austin a lot, I see a huge market for organic food in general, and Rozani agrees that the growing interest in natural wine is connected: "The market [for natural wine] is a lot like people wanting to eat organic food and shop at stores like Whole Foods and Central Market."
Dunivan also sees a link between the natural wine movement and "the farm-to-table movement we saw 20 years ago." If people want to "know where their food comes from," then they're likely to be interested in how their beverages are produced, and they don't want to drink wine made with grapes that were "caked in pesticides."
Because the restaurant chefs I know are some of the most ingredient-selective people I've ever met, Dunivan's argument that all chefs in new restaurants should be pushing for all-natural wine lists makes sense: "If you're specifically getting your beef from this one cattle rancher, why aren't you making sure you know exactly where your wine comes from as well?"
Fair question.
But a frequent issue with the natural wine market (in Austin and in other cities) is that it's not always made accessible to a wide range of communities. As a far South Austin resident, I started to find it tiring to schlep to East Austin to visit LoLo or to venture north for Sunrise Mini Mart ... which is why Dunivan's determination to open Golden Hour on the stretch of Menchaca Road between William Cannon and Slaughter was such great news. "We're certainly introducing a lot of people to this style of wine. But then there are also a lot of people such as myself who live nearby and have wanted a place like this here. It's just one of those things where, if you want it, you have to make it yourself," he says.
Which Natural Wine Regions Are the "Ones to Watch"?
I've already given a shout-out to my beloved Greek Paleokerisio, but Greece is not the only nation making big strides in the natural wine world.
In Rozani's view, any exploration of natural wine should start with the nation of Georgia. "Georgia is the country where all the natural wines started, right? Also, Slovenia. Both regions [provide a] great education because that's where it all started," he says.
We all know that France is a big deal in the wine world, and Wills tells us that French regions like Alsace near the German border are making some great natural bottles. "There's a new generation of winemakers making really beautiful, approachable, affordable, specifically white [natural] wines. We're talking Silvaner, Pinot Blanc, Riesling," he says.
Another region to watch, according to Richardson, "is Swartland in South Africa." He tells us that a lot of young winemakers in Swartland are making very inventive and DIY natural wines, and there's something "garage-style" about their process and products, as if they're the Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak of the new winemaking generation.
Natural wine's popularity shows no signs of slowing down in Austin, and the growing number of wine bars, restaurants, and bottle shops helmed by passionate people with a genuine love for this appealingly eclectic wine style will keep my fellow Austin wine enthusiasts well-informed and very well-quaffed.
