What is a natural winemaker? A profession, a philosophy, a commitment.
Behind every natural BIB (bag-in-box) you open, there is a farmer who has made radical choices: not using pesticides, not correcting their wine in the cellar, and accepting uncertain harvests and less stable income. The natural winemaker is not simply someone who makes wine differently—they are someone who has decided that the sincerity of the wine is worth the risk. Here is what this profession involves in concrete terms.
A farmer above all else
The first thing to understand about a natural winemaker is that they are first and foremost a farmer. Not an oenologist, not a taste technician—a peasant in the noble sense of the term, whose primary work takes place in the vineyard rows, not in the cellar.
This priority given to the vineyard over the cellar is fundamental. In the conventional approach, the cellar can "make up for" a bad season: you can acidify, chaptalize, add tannins, or filter. In natural wine, there is no safety net. If the vineyard is doing poorly, the wine will do poorly. It is for this reason that natural winemakers devote considerable energy to the health of their soil and their vines—much more than a conventional winemaker who knows they can intervene later.
Soil health is what allows indigenous yeasts to proliferate naturally on grape skins—and it is these yeasts that will trigger spontaneous fermentation in the cellar. Without healthy vines, there is no controlled natural fermentation. Everything is connected.
What the natural winemaker does not do
To understand what a natural winemaker is, it is often simpler to start with what they refuse:
- No synthetic pesticides or herbicides: the vines grow in living soil, maintained by organisms that no chemical product disrupts. Grass cover between the rows is often intentionally maintained—it promotes biodiversity and prevents erosion.
- No mechanical harvesting: the grapes are picked by hand, cluster by cluster, often with multiple passes through the vineyard to select only the ripe bunches. It is slow and costly, but irreplaceable for quality. We discuss this in detail in our article manual vs. mechanical harvesting.
- No selected industrial yeasts: fermentation triggers naturally with the yeasts present on the grapes and in the cellar. It is riskier, slower, and results in wines with a unique aromatic profile from one year to the next.
- No oenological inputs: no powdered tannins, no acidity correctors, no clarifying enzymes, no gelatin, no industrial egg whites, no filtration glue. The wine is what the grapes and the fermentation have made it.
- Little or no added sulfur: sulfur is reduced to the strict minimum, or even absent. To fully understand this choice, our article what are sulfites? details the issues at stake.
What the natural winemaker actually does
These refusals do not mean inaction. The work of a natural winemaker is actually much more intense than in conventional viticulture—it simply focuses on different things.
In the vineyard: manual or horse-drawn tilling (to avoid compacting the soil), reasoned pruning to limit yields, treatments based on copper and sulfur in organic farming (authorized and natural), and manual interventions against diseases and pests. Biodynamics goes even further by integrating lunar rhythms and plant-based preparations into vine care.
In the cellar: constant monitoring of fermentation temperatures, rigorous hygiene maintenance (to avoid bacterial contamination), manual racking, and delicate decisions regarding when to fill the BIB or bottles. Vinifying without sulfur or with very little sulfur requires constant vigilance. We detail this entire process in our article how natural winemaking works.
A special relationship with terroir
Terroir—the set of geological, climatic, and human characteristics of a place—is at the heart of the natural wine philosophy. Where a conventional winemaker can smooth out the differences between terroirs using cellar inputs, the natural winemaker embraces and amplifies them. Two natural wines produced a few kilometers apart, with the same grape variety, can be radically different—because the soil, altitude, exposure, and microclimate express themselves fully. This is the subject of our article on terroir in natural wine.
Many natural winemakers work on plots of old vines—40, 60, sometimes 100 years old. These naturally low-yield vines produce grapes of a concentration and complexity impossible to obtain from young plants. Our article why old vines matter so much explores this topic in depth.
An economic question as well
Choosing to make natural wine is also a difficult economic choice. Yields are lower (sometimes 15-25 hl/ha compared to 50-80 hl/ha in conventional farming). Crop losses due to disease or frost are more significant, without the safety nets provided by certain chemical treatments. Manual harvesting is much more expensive than using machines. And the wines, without the inputs that stabilize and standardize, are more fragile to transport and store.
Nevertheless, a growing number of winemakers are making this choice—not out of romanticism, but because they are convinced it is the right way to make wine. And because the demand exists: consumers like you, who are looking for sincere, living wines produced with respect for the land. Discover our selection of natural wines in BIB to form your own opinion.
The question of certification
There is no official "natural wine" certification. This is one of the great frustrations—and paradoxically, one of the great strengths—of the movement. No logo to stick on a label, no official control. What counts is the reputation of the estate, the consistency of practices over time, and the trust that enthusiasts and professionals place in the winemaker.
Most natural winemakers are certified organic or practice organic methods without certification. Some have Demeter or Biodyvin (biodynamic) certification. But neither guarantees that the wine is natural in the strict sense—they concern the vineyard, not the cellar. To decipher what the labels on a bottle really mean, our guide how to read a natural wine label is there to help.
Frequently asked questions about natural winemakers
Can a natural winemaker also make conventional wine?
In theory, yes, but it is rare. The philosophy of natural wine implies a total commitment to the way of farming and vinifying—it is difficult to reconcile with conventional practices on other plots. Some winemakers are in transition and produce both while gradually converting their estate, but the goal is generally total consistency.
How do you recognize a true natural winemaker from an opportunist?
That is the key question. The signs: real organic certification (or transparency about non-certified practices), attendance at recognized natural wine fairs, years of positive references in specialized press and with serious wine merchants, and above all, the consistency of their discourse with what you find in the glass. At LET IT BiB, we select our winemakers after tasting and direct exchanges—not based on a label.
Do natural winemakers make a good living?
It varies. Some natural estates—those that have acquired a strong reputation—achieve very high prices per bottle, sometimes higher than equivalent conventional wines. But many small natural winemakers work with tight margins, low yields, and limited visibility. The BIB format can be an opportunity for them: it allows them to access a daily consumption market without going through highly competitive traditional distribution channels.