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If you’ve been to any wine bar or restaurant with an extensive wine menu recently, you’ve more than likely noticed a few “natural wine” options on the list, along with the higher price tag attached to them. . Besides being a buzz term that you can use to impress your friends or colleagues at the next happy hour, what is a natural wine? And does the fact that it’s natural mean it’s better for you than regular, conventional wine?
This type of wine may have just started appearing in more places in the United States, but it’s not exactly a new concept. According to a report published in Food, It is believed that natural wine originated in France around the 1960s as an alternative to wines that used additives and pesticides. From there, it is believed to have gone global after wine master Isabelle Legeron developed Raw Wine, a maker of natural, biodynamic and organic wines, which helped popularize natural wine in 2009.
Although natural products haven’t caught on everywhere yet, they seem to be on the way as they continue to creep into bars and restaurants. However, we wanted to know if trying this wine was worth it and if it could provide different health benefits than drinking a regular glass of wine.
What exactly is natural wine?
Although natural wine seems to be a hot topic on people’s lips, there aren’t many clear definitions of what exactly it is.
“Although there is no real accepted definition of natural wine, most winemakers and drinkers have come to accept that natural wines are those that use organically grown grapes and use no additives. in the winemaking process,” says Mat Morin, The sommelier chair.
“Natural wine is not a term that has a regulatory body or even a clear definition, and it is often used interchangeably with terms such as ‘low intervention,’ ‘raw,’ or ‘naked,'” explains Will Howardsommelier of Rococo Steak in St. Petersburg, Florida. “The intention of making a ‘natural’ wine is to do so with no additives, minimal sulfites, and no organic or biodynamic farming practices. However, this label has created controversy in the wine world because anyone can market its wine using the word ‘natural’ without any restrictions.”
According to food report, in addition to being additive-free and containing minimal sulfites, natural wines have “minimal intervention during the fermentation process” and are unfiltered, which apparently gives them their slightly cloudy appearance and flavor notes. less fruity than ordinary wines.
Is it different from organic wine?
According to Howard, “‘Natural wine’ is a term in the wine world that is also loosely related to organic and biodynamic wines.”
Indeed, the report of food states that a growing interest in organic wine is what has created multiple divisions of these types of wine, including biodynamic, clean, and natural wine. In other words, “natural”—along with clean and biodynamic—falls under the “organic” umbrella.
The report states that biodynamic wines are very similar to organic wines in that they both require sustainable farming practices, but biodynamics is allowed to have a higher level of sulfites than an organic wine. Grapes used in biodynamic wines also must not contain roundup, a common herbicide.
Clean wine is another subset under the organic umbrella, and it is very similar to a natural wine. According to food report, clean, natural wines are made with the intention of using fewer additives, but natural wine focuses more on getting back to the “roots” of winemaking.
Ultimately, natural isn’t much healthier than regular wine
So, is natural wine actually healthier for your body than conventional wine? Overall, the differences appear to be slight, and even then more research should be done, as only small studies have been recorded.
For example, a small triple-blind study published in Nutrients found that natural wine induced a lower blood alcohol concentration – the measure of how much alcohol is in your bloodstream after drinking – than regular wine when consumed in the same amount and within same circumstances. Research claims that this could be due to a number of reasons, such as differences in the yeasts used as well as the lack of pesticide residues.
Even though there were differences in blood alcohol levels, there do not appear to be any long-term health effects of natural wine versus conventional wine that have yet been discovered. And finally, it’s important to keep in mind that when it comes to the effects of alcohol on your body, natural wine is still wine.
“While natural wine or organic wine can ease the worry of avoiding pesticides or other additions, high alcohol consumption, whether natural or not, is linked to an increased risk of developing certain cancers. And Drinking excessive amounts of natural alcohol can also negatively affect liver health, cognitive function and have a host of other effects, just like conventional wine can,” says Lauren Manaker, MS, RDN, dietitian and author First Time Mom Pregnancy Cookbook And Fueling Male Fertility. “So no matter what grape variety a person chooses, be it natural, regular, biodynamic, etc., limiting consumption is a good idea.”
It really depends on your own goals when choosing a wine. If avoiding pesticides and reducing your sulfite intake is important to you, you might want to try a natural or organic wine. But, if you’re ok with a more conventional wine, you can stick with a regular wine, as long as it’s in moderation.
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