educated decision about how it might evolve in the near term. There’s been a mixed response to the wines. People who are bored of drinking the same thing all the time or disillusioned by the commercial styles, absolutely adore them. However, customers after commodity drinks or who prefer consistency are less enamoured, with a small number - mainly older customers or people working in the wine industry - being strongly opposed to them. My support for natural wine lies in wanting to create a welcoming environment for people to discover their own preferences, and if they happen to like wines in the same part of the spectrum as I do, to create a fun and welcoming environment for them to enjoy it amongst like-minded people.
ANDREW HEDLEY Winemaker: Framingham/wine importer: Oh So Pretty
I added some slightly more off-beat wines that fit under the “natural” heading to our Oh So Pretty offering and began to get
I initially wanted to liven up the wine scene by bringing in wines from little known regions and varieties that are out of the NewZealand mainstream.
requests for inspirational wines people had tried on their travels which aren’t available here. These were mostly “natural”. However, I don’t buy or drink
any wine based purely on the philosophy of the winery. As far as I am concerned, there are just good or bad wines. I’m definitely not an evangelist for natural wines, but maybe I’m more evangelical for choice and diversity of experiences. Balance and individual preference are key to deciding if a wine’s good or not. A wine’s components - acid, alcohol, sugar, phenolics, VA, aldehyde, extract, flavours and “spoilage” effects etc - come together to give either a harmonious or out of whack wine, where one or more components may dominate more than the individual assesssing the wine considers acceptable. Natural winemaking can be viewed as an incredibly risky thing to do, if one views it from the point of view that you want the everyday supermarket wine
NZ WINEGROWER JUNE/JULY 2013 // 21