How do you recognize an organic wine?
Only one answer: the next day! More digestible, without chemicals, they do not give a headache. That’s not to say that conventional wines give you a headache. It is often difficult to tell the difference when these are worked without too many inputs and respect for nature. But the differences do exist.
More fruity, with accentuated floral notes and a less heavy nose, organic wines often have a lower alcohol content. They benefit from greater minerality and sapidity.
Short in the mouth? It is sometimes true. In question, the refusal to make up wines, especially with wood. You will find these wines with the AB label on the label or the back label.
Biodynamics, wine homeopathy
“Biodynamics is to wine what homeopathy is to man,” summarizes David Renaud, winemaker in the Crozes-Hermitage appellation. Now, what is a disease if not an imbalance of the organism. In the vineyard, we seek to find balance. »
For this, the biodynamic winegrowers use preparations based on medicinal plants, cow dung and quartz which act energetically on the soil. They take into account “cosmic rhythms”, such as the lunar calendar.
How to recognize these wines? By referring to the back label which must bear the Demeter or Biodyvin label. Wacky? Certainly not. Very prestigious areas such as Romanée-Conti (Burgundy) or Coulée de Serrant (Savennières) are worked biodynamically.
Natural wines to rediscover the essence of the grape
If you like full-bodied, tannic wines, natural wines are not for you. Pure, naked, natural, singular, alive for some; they give off a bad smell, sparkle, are cloudy for others.
To taste them, you have to forget your prejudices and rediscover the essence of the grape. The difference with organic and biodynamic wines is made in the cellar where they ferment with indigenous yeasts (present in the berry of the grapes) and are vinified without inputs.
Natural wines are cloudy when the winemaker does not filter them. These suspensions are the same ones found in certain pressed fruit juices. The smells of wet straw, animals or stables simply show that the wine lacks oxygen.
And if it fizzes slightly, it’s because the fermentation left a little CO2. Either way, air it out. A perfectly balanced natural wine will remain so all its life.