TRANSCRIPT
It's harvest time in California and winemaker David Rothchild, who has eight vineyards in Sonoma County, can see an opportunity.
"There aren't as many wine drinkers right now, and the wine drinking population is ageing and they're not attracting a younger audience. I think that the younger audience is very attracted by natural wine. I think that it's a different flavour. There has been a movement towards lower alcohol, higher acid wines, wines that are more refreshing."
Natural wine sales are up in the U-S.
One of the big American alcohol retailers, Total Wine, which operates 257 stores in 28 states says natural wine sales have more than tripled from a year ago.
Winemaker Pax Mahle has been making natural wine for over a decade.
"The natural wine movement is great for the consumer because it is providing an alternative to the mass-produced wine that may have a lot of chemicals in it or have vineyards that are farmed with pesticides or chemicals that have proven to be very bad for you. So, we insist that our vineyards are grown a minimum way organically."
Unlike organic wine, which is certified by the U-S Department of Agriculture, natural wine has no set standards in the U-S.
Some of the natural winemakers elect to add sulphites, a chemical found naturally in wine, as a preservative, while others don't.
Some filter their wines, while others leave them cloudy and full of sediment.
Wine critic Ziggy Eschliman says she's not convinced natural wines are worth the higher prices they can command.
"There's not a lot of reliability from bottle-to-bottle in a lot of these - quote unquote - natural trending wines right now. I don't think that you're seeing a lot of consistency. I had a sparkling natural wine recently, and I had one bottle that was very flat. And then I bought another bottle, and it was very effervescent. So, I don't know, my bang for the buck was a little bit at a loss there."
The natural wines are typically less predictable than regular wine.
And that's what natural wine shop owner Erin Coburn finds so interesting.
"It tastes a little bit more tart and there's more sort of acidity to it. And it feels like it's dancing on your palate. And I sort of describe this as a way of feeling like the wine is alive. You're tasting something that is this living product. It feels like the most honest expression of what that grape was like in the vineyard. That's the exciting part about natural wine."
