PHOTOGRAPHS BY VICTOR PROTASIO
FOOD STYLING BY EMILY NABORS HALL; PROP STYLING BY CLAIRE SPOLLEN
BY JENNA HELWIG
Biodynamic
This official certification comes with a complicated list of requirements, based on principles developed by an Austrian philosopher in the early 20th century (not joking). Namely, no pesticides can be used, planting and harvesting need to follow astronomical cycles (including moon phases), and soil often has to be specially treated with things like manure and herbs. Also, burying cow horns with compost to encourage soil health is part of it, says Charlie Gaeta, director of private client sales and market cultivation for the award-winning wine shop Dedalus in Burlington, Vermont. “What it boils down to is complying with a very strict and uniform standard of holistic farming methods.”
Biodynamic farming has parallels with regenerative agriculture, another term sometimes used in connection with wine (but not often seen on the label). “There are no strict guidelines for regenerative agriculture per se,” says Lindsay Hoopes, second-generation owner of Hoopes Vineyard in Napa, California. “But the idea is that farming should be looked at as a connected web of plants and animals, so biodiversity, no chemicals, minimal mechanized intrusions, and a focus on soil health are critical.”
Natural
This term isn’t legally defined, and there’s no certification for it, Gaeta says. “It’s more a set of standards. In the vineyard, farming is done organically and/or biodynamically. In the winery, low intervention is key—removing the human element as much as possible.”
Natural wines can be off-putting to some drinkers, says Tanisha Townsend, a certified wine specialist and the founder of Girl Meets Glass, a Paris- based wine education company. “Not using certain types of additives can result in less predictable wines, where the flavors vary from year to year,” she explains. “The look of the wine may also be cloudy because fining and filtering, ways to remove impurities, aren’t allowed.” Even though the word “funky” is often used to describe natural wines, many drinkers feel they capture terroir—a distinct sense of the place where the grapes were grown— better than conventional wine.
Organic
The requirements for this certification depend on where the wine is produced, says Natascha Patterer, wine director at the Bowery Group restaurants in New York City. “But it often involves stringent limitations on pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides.” The USDA Organic seal on a bottle means the grapes and any additives are organic. It also means no sulfites were added (some may occur naturally). Or you might see the phrase “made with certified organically grown grapes.” In this case, the grapes and additives are organic, but some sulfites, which help preserve freshness and prevent oxidation, may have been added.
Skin-Contact
The color of wine generally comes from contact with grape skins, Hoopes says. “Grape juice is clear. Wine that has any color—be it pink, orange, golden, or red—obtains its hue from leaving the skins in contact with the juice during fermentation.” This means you can make white wine from any grape, even red ones, if you don’t use the skins.
Thus, all red wines are skin- contact wines, Townsend says. “But we usually see that term to describe rosé and orange wines. Most rosés are made with red grapes, where the juice and skins macerate together for a shorter period of time than red wines.” The length of time helps determine the color of the wine.
As for orange wine, a relatively new (and quite trendy) category in the United States, no oranges are used. Rather, it’s made with white grapes in the style of red wine; i.e., the skins and juice hang out together for up to weeks at a time, Patterer says. “Macerating the juice on the white grape skins for a longer period yields tannin and textural elements that are similar to red wine, but the color is more orange since the grape skins are light.” And now you know!
About Jenna
REAL SIMPLE’s food director and the author of five cookbooks, Jenna is an enthusiastic eater, drinker, and home cook. Her go-to cocktail is a Negroni, and her wine of choice is anything bubbly. Cheers!