Natural Wine

Are Frey wines “Natural Wines?” 

You may wonder why we don’t advertise Frey wines as “natural wines,” and that’s understandable. For those of you who are new to this topic, let’s go over the basics. There is currently no legally binding “natural wine” certification in the United States. That means that folks can call their wine “natural” without necessarily having a third party that will ensure the verity of their claim. 

But aren’t all wines “Natural?” 

Strictly speaking, wines are a value-added grape juice fermentation. By that rubric, colloquially, wines are generally considered by the public to be a product of nature. However, because there is no specific certification, there are no specific criteria established in this country to decide what is and isn’t “natural” in wine. In fact, at the time of writing this blog post, U.S. wine producers can legally add a list of some 60+ FDA-approved chemicals to their wines! You can access the list here.

Why We Choose Organic and Biodynamic

Some of you may be concerned to learn about the additives allowed in wine-making. Most of you, if you’ve gotten this far, are here because you know about the benefits of Organic and Biodynamic goods. We do too! That’s why we are America’s first Organic Winery AND America’s first Biodynamic Winery. You can see a USDA-certified Organic symbol on all of the wines we produce at Frey Vineyards. For our Biodynamic lines, you can also see a Demeter-certified Biodynamic label; all of our Biodynamic wines are also Organic, although the industry standards for Organic and Biodynamic are distinct. We chose to help create and push for an Organic certification for our wines in 1980, and we became the first winery to be certified Organic! Several of the Frey family members who helped found Frey Vineyards were already Organic farmers before they started growing grapes, and they wanted to ensure that they were producing something healthful, pure, and ecologically nourishing. For, the Frey Ranch wasn’t just a vineyard where they went to work, the original ranch and vineyards were built on the land they called home, where they raised their kids, and where they wanted to preserve the natural habitat without the use of damaging chemicals. 

But Surely “Natural Wines” are Healthy?!

As we mentioned, there’s no way to ensure that anything labeled “natural” is in fact qualified by a third-party agency in the US. However, as an aside, we just collaborated with eco-crusader Mamavation to have third-party lab tests done to show that Frey wines don’t have any chemicals added (or any residues either). We passed the tests with flying colors: the lab found no detectable amounts of glyphosates, glufosinate, and AMPA. 

There are “Natural Wine” certifications in Europe (particularly in France) that have specified standards about how grapes are produced, how wine is made, and what additives (if any) are allowed. If you are purchasing something from France, you can be assured that their “natural wines” have gone through a certification process that is rigorous in the way that our Organic and Biodynamic certifications are domestically in the US. Ultimately the question remains: what is “natural wine,” really?

Organic Wines

Perhaps the best way to look at this categorization is to explore what “Natural Wine” is not. “Natural Wines,” despite the expectation that such a title would presume, are not necessarily organic. In fact, the “natural” case refers more to the lack of extra interventions that are taken. For example: hand harvested versus machine harvested, only native yeasts versus yeasts added, and fewer additives as opposed to many. “Natural” in the context of wine connotes more of a kinship with minimalism than with the strict, legal, and certifiable structures of organic farming and production methods. To be certified as an “Organic” wine, the grapes must be grown organically at the very least. To feature the USDA-certified symbol on the label, the wine production methods must also be organic treatments (i.e. No-Sulfites-Added as a very popular point of process). “Organic” with regard to wine, always means that the grapes were grown using Organic agricultural methods. 

Does Frey Make A Natural Wine? 

Interestingly enough, we are fascinated by this small but growing sector of the wine industry. By many of the requirements of the French standard (but not all of them), the Frey Biodynamic wines could qualify. In the interest of experimenting, Frey is currently creating a “natural” style wine that would check all the boxes. We had a soft launch pouring these varietals at WINeFare (Women in Natural Wine) this Spring. We’re working on a label for these minimalist, low-intervention wines at the time of the writing of this blog post. Stay tuned as we prepare to release this new line!