Honest Wines
Vineyard view of Gonzalez Bastias in Maule, Chile.
The world of wine is as old as civilization, starting in Euro-Asia (now the Republic of Georgia) moving west with many empires propagating the culture of wine through out the Mediterranean basin, The Americas, Africa and Oceania.
Winery of Gonzalez Bastias in Maule, Chile.
Nowadays wine is an elaborate and complex topic with many sides and views. Let’s enter into the realm of our focus, honest wines.
What’s an honest wine? To us, honesty in wine means transparency and purity at every step. This means low intervention practices in the vineyards, winery, bottling and aging, which in turn produces balanced wines with a sense of place. Honest winemaking safeguards the true identity of where the grapes are grown and capturing what mother nature gives us each year. It has its science but it also captures the interpretation of the person making the wine. Winemaking is an art form with hundreds of decisions being made to make the best wine the vine can give us. Healthy and happy vines means great wines.
We dive in into some common denominators to better understand honest wines.
Montsecano Winery in Casablanca, Chile.
Organic Farming: entails the principle of only sustainable usage of natural fertilizers and compost while avoiding any chemicals/artificial products in the vineyards and winemaking process.
Biodynamic viticulture: the practice of balancing the resonance between vine, man, earth and the universe. Following organic agriculture principles but goes further into the vibe of the belonging of the vineyards with the universe with a specific calendar of fruit, flower, leaf and soil days connected to the celestial flow of everything. This defines which day the farmer does specific work in the vineyard during the growing season and dormant season. It also relates to the end consumer of the wine. According to the principles of biodynamic the best days to drink wine are fruit and flower days. Yes, there is a biodynamic calander.
Native/Wild Yeast: also known as ambient natural yeast, or non-commercial yeast strains. Just as grapes come in many shapes and forms, so do yeast strains. When using ambient yeast, climate conditions affect fermentation, sometimes speeding it up or slowing down. It lets nature take its course.
Dry Farming: means eschewing man made water irrigation in the vineyard. The vines get water from the sky when mother nature decides to give them water and the vines work really hard to absorb pockets of moisture and access to underground water if they are old enough to reach it. This also entails animal plowing between the vineyard rows to expose more moister to the vines.
Use of natural fertilizers: think decomposed steams, grass, leaf, tree barks, earth and yes, animal manure.
Low Intervention practices: as little as possible human intervention, manipulation in the vineyards, winery and cellar. Let the grapes do their thing.
Unfined and Unfiltered Wine: raw crushed grape juice with all the sediments, particles and residues of the fermentation. Mostly found in red wine and orange wine. This helps the wine also maintain its evolution in the bottle. This comes with risk of bacteria and residues of dead yeast that can damage the quality of the wine.
Stabilization of the Wine: all wines have natural sulfites. When bottling, some producers decide to use small amounts of sulfur-dioxide to kill off yeast cells to prevent a second fermentation. This also helps the wine travel better. This is very different than the overuse of sulfur to heavily manipulate the wine throughout the winemaking process.
Biodiversity: the backbone of sustainable agriculture. The vineyard environment impacts whether grapes thrive. By keeping the equilibrium between grape vines, flora, fauna, livestock, soil, air and water quality, biodiversity leads to healthy and vibrant fruit. Everything is interconnected.
Low Carbon Footprint: means more love for human/livestock labor and less and less mechanization in the vineyards and winery. Using gravity feed fermentation in the winery, usage of bulls, cows or horses to plow the soil, more usage of renewal power such as solar energy, usage of rain water, zero-minimal waste infrastructure in the vineyard, no use of chemical industrial products, environmentally friendly bottles, recyclable packaging etc.
Temperature and Aeration: both are key. All unfiltered/unfined wines need time open to express themselves and taste best when enjoyed at the correct temprature. For whites, that means 48-52 degrees F. For orange and rose, 50-54 degrees. Reds, 54-59 degrees F.
Faults on the Wine: with honest wines, we look for balance, drinkability and most importantly clean wines. Wines that check all the boxes: fruit, acidity, minerals, structure, fruit and balanced alcohol levels. Unfortunately many honest-natural wines don't travel too well. Some can develop faults such as brett (vineyard hay smell), volatile acid (nail polish, rotten egg smell), mousy ( smell of “corn nuts, puppy’s breath and vomit) or refermented (cooked fruits smells, bubbles where there shouldn’t be any bubbles). It’s more common that expected, so be on the lookout!