Organic Wine Making Organic Grapes Become Natural Wine

Organic Wine Making

Discover How Organic Grapes Become Natural Wine

Let's pretend that we're in the vineyard and discussing producing what's popularly known as "Natural Wine," which perfectly aligns with your objective: organic grapes, natural yeast, and very little or no sulfites added. With the least amount of intervention, it's all about allowing the grapes and terroir to express themselves.

Video on Organic Wine Making: Using organic grapes and natural yeast, with minimal or no sulfites

Video on Organic Wine Making Organic Grapes Become Natural Wine

Discover how organic grapes become Natural Wine — step-by-step, from vineyard to bottle. This 10:04 video uses stock footage and follows my written script word-for-word to explain organic grapes, wild yeast spontaneous fermentation, minimal intervention, aging in neutral vessels, and low/no sulfite bottling. Perfect for natural wine curious viewers who want a clear primer on terroir-driven, small-intervention winemaking. Shot for 9:16 format with ALL CAPS subtitles and spoken-word highlights. If this deep-dive into vineyard harvest, must preparation, fermentation, maturation, and micro-dose sulfiting resonated, please like and share the video. #NaturalWine #OrganicWine #WineMaking #WildYeast #NoSulfites #Vineyard #MinimalIntervention

The first step: The vineyard and the harvest are the basis.

Everything begins in the vineyard, to begin with. We must use organically cultivated grapes. There are no man-made pesticides, herbicides, or fertilizers allowed by this. The objective is for plants that are naturally resistant to disease and a healthy soil ecosystem. Since healthy, clean grapes are the greatest line of defense against spoilage and the primary reason we can use less sulfite afterwards, this stage is crucial.

The grapes are usually hand-picked when it's time for harvest. With this, we can be very picky and only put the best, cleanest bunches in the basket. To maintain their freshness and minimize the chance of unexpected fermentation beginning before we want it to, we frequently collect the grapes early in the morning, when they are still cold.

Step 2: Preparing and Crushing the Must

We must prepare the 'must,' which is the freshly crushed grape juice, skins, and seeds, after the grapes arrive at the winery.

For white wine, the grapes are typically squeezed right away in order to separate the juice from the solids. This maintains the juice's light hue and restricts the release of tannins from the skins.

We crush the grapes for red wine – sometimes gently, maybe even by foot treading in some traditional settings – and want that rich color and structure. leave the juice with the skins and sometimes the stems. The term for this concoction is the 'must.' Most importantly, we do not introduce any commercial yeast or high concentrations of sulfur dioxide (SO2) at this point in this organic, natural method. Why? Since the next stage's essential component is already present.

Step 3: Natural Yeast-Initiated Spontaneous Fermentation

At its core, this is the essence of making natural wine. Indigenous, or 'wild', yeast that are naturally found on the grape skins and in the winery are what we depend upon.

We simply wait after placing the must in a container, which could be a clay amphora, an old wooden vat, or a stainless steel tank. After a day or two, you'll begin to notice and hear a soft bubbling. The grape sugars are beginning to be transformed into alcohol and carbon dioxide by the wild yeast that is awakening. This is spontaneous fermentation. Although it may be slower and a bit more erratic than fermentation using cultured yeast, the result is a genuine representation of the vineyard's increased complexity.

The skins of red wines create a cap over the liquid during this period. We frequently have to either 'pump over' the juice onto this cap or 'punch down' this cap. This maintains the skins' moisture, extracts color and tannins uniformly, and controls the temperature.

Step 4: Maturation and Post-Fermentation

When the majority of the sugar is gone and the yeast has finished its work, the wine is essentially complete.

We use a gentle press to separate the liquid from the skins and seeds for red wines. The wine is then moved, or 'racked,' into a spotless aging container.

Several containers may be used for maturation. Old, neutral oak barrels, terracotta amphorae, or concrete eggs are preferred by many natural winemakers. Unlike a new oak barrel, the vessel's primary advantage is that it imparts very little flavor while enabling the wine to gradually breathe and develop. The duration of this stage might vary from a few months to several years, depending on the desired aesthetic.

We monitor the wine very carefully during the ripening process. We may rack the wine a few times, moving it from one container to another, to remove the 'lees' (the dead yeast cells and grape solids).

Step 5: Stabilization and Minimal Intervention

We typically steer clear of fining and filtering during this all-natural process. Filtration is the physical removal of any lingering sediment or cloudiness, while fining employs chemicals that bind to particles to clear the wine. In the opinion of natural winemakers, these methods remove taste and personality. As a result, the wine may occasionally retain a minor haze, which is an indication of the least intervention.

The wine's inherent stability is the most important factor. We don't utilize chemical stabilizers. We depend on the cleanliness of our procedure, the wine's inherent acidity and alcohol, and occasionally the chilly winter weather to aid in the wine's settling.

Step 6: Low or No Sulfite Bottling

Lastly, it's time to put it into bottles. This is the point at which we could make our most important choices concerning additives, namely sulfites.

Because they are a byproduct of yeast activity, every wine contains some natural sulfites. That's all there is to a wine that says 'no added sulfites'. The winemaker may add a small, protective dose of sulfite—far lower than what is used in conventional or even certified organic wine—just before bottling to produce a wine with the least amount of sulfite. This micro-dose is, in effect, a last line of defense against oxidation or deterioration as it travels to your glass.

The objective is to only employ the bare minimum—or perhaps none at all—to safeguard the wine without compromising its lively, natural flavor. The bottle is corked, closed, and prepared.

And that's all there is to it! Trust is the foundation of the process: trust in the quality of the organic grapes, trust in the potency of the natural yeast, and trust that there will be minimal interaction. The best way to create a genuine, expressive wine is through intervention.