Real Wine: The Rediscovery of Natural Winemaking

by Patrick Matthews

Real Wine is a comprehensive and engaging account of the evolution of modern wine-unmanipulated, unfiltered, high-quality wines made using traditonal, artisans' methods. It is a story about the innovated outsiders who have preserved the wine world's most prized traditions and the great winemakers who have absorbed their discoveries. It is also an informative story about winemaking and the choices winemakers make in the winery.

Genres: Wine

288 pages, Hardcover

First published December 10, 2000

Reviews

[Megan Morgan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this twenty years ago; and went back to it now. Tons of insightful information on how wine production is influenced and changed by fashion, culture, and the almighty $$$. I would love to see a part two written about the state of affairs currently. Some of the major players in the book have aged or even passed away (Jim Clendenan & Becky Wasserman); there is a whole new generation who has grabbed the natural wine baton.

[Mark Stidham · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is like a series of magazine articles, each article focusing on some aspect of modern wine making with a collective theme of 'natural' winemaking. For me, the term is cliche, almost void of meaning. Each chapter provides a topic "Choosing a Site", "Planting a Vineyard", etc. All wines have the features of each topic. Now we define what is 'natural' vs ...what? Much of the bias leans towards whatever was done in some mythic past, as if the past is some unchanging monolithic entity. Other bias is towards whatever is small, and like 'the past' is undefined. It is particularly tricky to be enthusiastic about some wine maker, when you learn of the thousands of cases that are made by the sainted craftsman.
But the author does a good job of presenting the arguments without overt judgment. It is a good thing that he does it, because there is precious little data in the book. There are sprinkled throughout some fairly sobering citations, however. One had a supposedly famous tasting event where experts were unable to distinguish a red wine from a white wine to which red dye had been added. Another showed drastic changes in quality judgment simply by adjusting the alcohol content by fractions of a percent.
In the end, the author implores the reader to be thoughtful about wine, not so much as an ethos but as something to enhance the drinker's experience. I fully subscribe to this logic.

[Courteny Morehouse · Rating 3 out of 5]

So dry but good info in there. Not really about how natural wines are made or what defines natural wines as much as it is about the politics of wine and differing opinions on what makes a great wine.