Natural wine is the contradiction of the harsh AOC regulations of the wine world.
Everything from the distance between plants in the vineyard, to the grape variety and the taste of a wine from a particular region is controlled, regulated and checked by public and/or political organizations.
In its very being the natural wine-movement contradicts regulations.
In order to understand this rather bold statement we must first understand how the wine world is traditionally constituted in the old wine world.
The old wine world
Up until the 1980’s the logic of quality in the wine world would bind itself inherently to the notion of geography by outlining itself as sort of a reverse pyramid – or a pyramid standing on its head. Meaning that all or most vins de tables or vino da tavola in Italy (etc) were perceived as cheap, poor quality wines because they had no particular geographical origin. A vin de table could be put together from wines around the country.
On top op that wines could be defined geographically by region, sub regions, sub-sub regions etc. to one particular vineyard, e.g. Romanée-Conti in Burgundy which is not only a widely known and respected wine producer but also the name of a vineyard measuring some 1,8 hectares.
So the logic has for quite some time been centered around the notion that the tighter the geographical definition the better. This is the AOC-system (appellation d’origine controlée)
The fall of AOC
Now, it’s clear that a big part of the old wine world has no interest in challenging this notion. It’s a system that sells wine. The consumer has learned from early on how a Burgundy, a Bordeaux, a Beaujolais should taste.
In this perspective the natural wine movement presents itself as a contradicting component where a lot of wines deliberately avoid the AOC status and winemakers seek to not confine themselves to the tight geographical schematics of the AOC and instead embracing the vin de table categorization.
