Natural Wine, Terroir, and the big bad Brett Monster

While back home for the holidays, I took a little hiatus from blogging and anything too worthwhile beyond applying for internships for my Masters thesis. I did, however, take advantage of my parents’ generosity and happiness to have me stateside to try some amazing wines.

Every, and I mean EVERY, first sip of wine that my dad took, he would say, “Alright now, what’s driving the tractor... is it fruit or is it earth?” I have no idea where he heard this and for the first few times, I let it slide. But after the 10th time, I disintegrated into my old snotty teenage self, “OK. Daaaad, st-ahhh-p!”

Then again...

What is “driving the tractor”?

For winemakers, we hope to produce a wine where the fruit and terroir are recognizable and not hidden by anything else, any so-called defaults. Terroir, or “sense of place” is abused and overused in this industry, and I can understand how it could be hard to tell the difference between the earthy aromas of terroir and the earthy aromas of a default? Is that bright raspberry, fresh mushroom character of Burgundian Pinots terroir or a small hint of Brett?

Hold up... Brett??

Hint: not your little brother’s cute friend with the shaggy hair. "Brett" is short for Brettanomyces, a wild yeast that can be a huge problem at the end of fermentation and during aging, particularly when proper sanitation in the winery hasn't been employed. Brett is considered a wine fault because it generally masks the fruity aromas and produces the ethyl-phenols and vinyl-phenols compounds causing unpleasant aromas like “medicinal, leather, bacon, burnt rubber, spicy, clove.”

Now, I don’t mind a bit of Brett in my wines... I even prefer a kinda funky wine with Brett to squeaky clean, boring example of the same varietal. A 1999 Chateau Musar still goes down as one of the most spectacular wines that I’ve ever tried despite the extraordinary presence of Brett. The weight of the Musar's Cabernet Sauvignon could carry it.

But, still Brett is by definition a wine fault. Why? Because Brett in a Cabernet Franc from the Loire smells the same as Brett in a Cabernet Sauvignon from Pauillac, which smells the same as Brett in a Pinot Noir from New Zealand. In other words, these wines lose their “sense of place” and become nearly indistinguishable.

In the past 30 years, wineries have taken drastic measures to clean, sanitize, and then clean some more to make sure that Brettomyces doesn’t get hold of those sweet, sweet berries they've just harvested. Prevention measures have sometimes been too extreme, and have created overly sanitary environments, and overly controlled, additive-ful wines.

Enter the backlash: i.e. the “natural wine” movement.

Natural wine is very hot for any cool sommelier or wine lover in the biz. And why shouldn’t it be? A product without any additives or anything taken away should be the future…

Grapes! Sugar into Alcohol, and Voilà! Wine!

And I agree. Less is more! That said, I’ve also been burnt on a lot of natural wines.

For example, last night, I went to a natural wine bar in Bordeaux (oxymoron?) and we ordered three glasses “vin mystere” (basically a blind tasting that could have any varietal or area of the world). Of the three wines, one had really high Volatile Acidity (another wine fault), and the other: Brett. I had a really hard time getting over the VA on the first, a 100% Mencia from northwest Spain, and had to try to guess via the mouthfeel (I didn’t get it). The second wine was decanted with a bunch of friends; a Cotes de Rhone that said it was “Natural, Gluten-Free, Vegan, Organic.” OK. Cool. But the wine disappointed. The fruit on the backend and the mouthfeel were really interesting but the Brett was so perceptible that it was difficult to get over and enjoy.

For a while, I was on the “natural wine or die” bandwagon. Last February, I went to Girona, Spain to visit my old cycling buds and stumbled on a Natural wine bar, Mon Oncle. Tasting Notes...

I drink kombucha every morning. But wine should probably not taste like kombucha. But then again, why the hell not? You do you, Tom Rimbau.

So I guess I'm saying I'm conflicted on the subject. I’m certainly not here to bash natural wine. Natural wines that are well-made with little perceivable VA or Brett are the winners in my heart. Par contre, I’m sick of the little vigneron who praises VA and claims the Brett is the sign of terroir. I’m glad that grapegrowers and guys like Nicolas Joly are around to push the limits. Their extreme naturalwine-ness (can we make that a word?) pushes wine producers worldwide to become more sustainable in their practices because consumers are becoming more informed and are asking for it.

Give me le bon vin. If natural, tant mieux.

Cheers,

Maura

P.s. I'll be at La Dive Bouteille Natural Wine fair in the Loire in 2 weeks, if you're there say hi!