I regularly preach that wine is a cultural product, not a natural product. Nevertheless, the term “natural wine” has been used in recent years by a small group of winegrowers to distinguish their products from soulless mass-produced wines. This works because nature is good per se, but if you want to drink real natural wine, you have to feast on the juice of grapes rotting on the ground under wild vines.

Nevertheless, I particularly liked the wine from this mailing. Although it could be described as a natural wine, it is a cultivated wine straight out of a picture book. The Carignature comes from a vineyard that has always been cultivated organically. Not because it is in keeping with the spirit of the times, but because they cannot afford the expensive chemicals.

The soil is cultivated on horseback here, not because the Domaine de la Romanée Conti does it that way, but because they always had a horse that needed to be kept busy. The Carignan vines were allowed to become gnarled and old in this vineyard, not because old vines produce more valuable grapes, but because it would be frivolous to tear out vines that still have life in them. Last but not least, winemaker Nicolas does not add sulphur to the wine, not because he dogmatically wants to produce “natural wine”, but because it is not necessary and the wine still tastes excellent. And so much culture is still available at a low price.

The wine smells of cherries, olive tapenade and strawberries. On the palate, it is juicy and full-bodied with fine tannins and a long finish.

89/100 points Konstantin Baum