We love "the new California wine" because these winemakers adopt the very best practices from the Old World—practices developed from hundreds of years of tradition—and then throw away the rulebook to make batshit-crazy deliciousness. Case in point: Vinca Minor's unholy trinity of "Carignan, Petite Sirah, Gewürztraminer." Here, as in all their wines, Vinca Minor is organically dry-farming old vines—not only an ecologically responsible approach given California's water crisis, but also a tried-and-true technique for maximizing flavor and concentration in the wine. That being said, how the hell do you even think to combine these three varieties? The Old World's sacrilege is the New World's genius. And the juice is pure California attitude: bright, cheerful, easygoing, with good acid and great fruit (cranberries, Morello cherry, pink grapefruit). God bless America.
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About Natural Wine
Great question! There are a lot of definitions for natural wine with the main term you'll hear being that it has had minimal intervention. To be more specific, our definition is that the wine must first be sustainably farmed, which typically means it was organically or biodynamically farmed.
Then, in the cellar the natural winemaking process has some differences as well! The wine is typically unfined, unfiltered, and goes through spontaneous fermentation with native yeasts. If you want to know more about what natural wine is, we have an entire guide under our reference section!
The short answer is that natural wine can taste like any other kind of conventional wine (we like to call these stealth natural wines) or it can taste quite a bit different, as production methods can vary and potentially be lighter, or in a style you've never had before (like orange, pet-nat or amphora).
The natural wine community is also more accepting of some qualities in wines that conventional would consider a flaw, like Brett, some oxidation, or volatile acidity. We would consider these in high amounts to also be a flaw, but in many cases a touch of these qualities can ultimately improve their flavor and texture and be happily accepted in a natural wine.
To find out more about what natural wine tastes like, check out our full blog and podcast on the topic here.
The short answer is, no! But many are. Glou-glou describes winesthat are easily chuggable, impossible to put the glass down, and seductively delicious! They tend to be young and fresh, designed to be drunk early with an average ABV of around 10%. Check out different styles or glou glou natural wine here on our site.