Natural Wines of the World
Natural wine isn’t a trend—it’s a return to an older rhythm of farming and fermenting, one that lets vineyards speak louder than technology.
And it all begins in the vineyard. Whether it’s the fierce Tramontane winds of Côtes Catalanes, Slovenia’s red terra rossa over limestone, or the Carpathian-cooled slopes of Transylvania, these wines come from places where chemical shortcuts simply aren’t needed. Old vines, deep roots, and biodiversity do the heavy lifting. You’ll taste that in this month's wines like Maurer’s Red Fruit November—Cabernet harvested well into November on fossil-strewn hillsides—or Andert’s Pamhogna Weiss Orange, grown in a mixed-farm ecosystem where vegetables, herbs, and animals coexist with vines.
But the cellar is where natural wine shows its personality. Rather than polishing the wine into a single “correct” style, these producers lean into what the grapes naturally want to become. Donkey & Goat’s Carignane from Testa Vineyard captures the concentration of old-vine Mendocino fruit through partial whole-cluster fermentation. The Hermit Ram blends Pinot Noir and Gewürztraminer in a co-ferment that gives a nod to the ancient and rebellious Alsacian blend, which lifts aromatics in ways no single-variety approach could. Meanwhile, Štoka’s Vitovska Pet-Nat honors a style once made for family celebrations—bottled before fermentation finishes, bright, salty, and full of the Karst’s wind-driven identity.
We love natural wines because they are so great at revealing a region’s uniqueness. Zillinger’s Revolution White stands as proof that Austria’s loess-rich hills don’t need intervention to show complexity—the family has farmed organically since the 1980s, long before it was fashionable. Even the generous 1-liter Șefu Pinot Blend from Transylvania tells a cultural story: a nod to the region’s tradition of communal table wines, refreshed for modern drinkers who want purity without pretense. And maybe there’s a little Dracula in every bottle, who knows?
There’s carbonic Grenache bursting with juicy color, a siller from Hungary glowing pale ruby with Roman-era roots, orange wine built on thick-skinned Petit Manseng, and a Pet-Nat that reminds us why bubbles were once spontaneous, celebratory, and deeply regional. These wines aren’t just “natural”—they’re alive, shifting in the glass, revealing layers with a little air, and showing that when you let go of control, the vineyard has more to say than you’d ever expect.
What ties all these wines together is transparency. Not clarity in the literal sense—some of these wines are hazy, unfiltered, or a little wild around the edges—but clarity of intention. They show the vintage, the place, and the farmer’s hand without disguises. Natural wine doesn’t aim to be perfect; it aims to be honest. Come celebrate natural wines with us and Drink Differently!
