While there's no strict definition of natural wine, read Decanter's natural wine charter below...

What is natural wine? – ask Decanter

As there is no strict definition of ‘natural wine’, deciding the entry criteria for samples for our natural wine tasting was not easy.

To help, we sought advice from members of the industry noted for their expertise in natural wines: Doug Wregg from UK importer/retailer Les Caves de Pyrene, which is behind The Real Wine Fair; Isabelle Legeron MW, the creator of the RAW wine fairs in London, New York and Berlin; David Harvey of UK shipper and retailer Raeburn; Monty Waldin, author and consultant on organic, biodynamic and sustainable viticulture; and Simon Woolf, a writer who specialises in organic, biodynamic and natural wines.

After collating the responses, we came up with our own Decanter charter of quality for natural wines which we used as a basis for entry:

• Vineyards farmed organically or biodynamically – certification was strongly preferred, but uncertified wines were accepted

• Hand-harvested only

• Fermentation with indigenous (wild) yeasts

• No enzymes

• No additives added (such as acid, tannin, colouring) other than SO2

• SO2 levels no higher than 70mg/l total

• Unfined, and no (or light) filtration

• No other heavy manipulation (such as spinning cone, reverse osmosis, cryoextraction, rapid-finishing, Ultraviolet C irradiation)

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Simon Woolf
Simon Woolf
Decanter Premium, Decanter Magazine and DWWA 2019 Judge

Simon Woolf is a British journalist and writer currently clinging to mainland Europe in Amsterdam. A regular contributor to Decanter magazine, Meininger Wine Business International and World of Fine Wine, Woolf is a critical advocate for organics, biodynamics and natural winemaking, and specialises in the wines of Italy, Austria and Eastern Europe.

He is the founder and editor of The Morning Claret, one of the world’s most respected resources for natural wines.

His first book ‘Amber Revolution’ was published in 2018 to critical acclaim in the New York Times and on JancisRobinson.com.

He was the Roederer International Wine Writer Awards Feature Writer of the Year 2018 and he was a judge at the 2019 Decanter World Wine Awards (DWWA).