Hi I’m Consulting bowel master of wine And today I’m going to answer one of the Most debated questions in the wine world What is better natural wine or Conventional wine I asked Leon to Prepare pairs of similar ones for me one Is made in a natural way and the other One is made in a more conventional way And I’m going to try to find out which One is which in a blind tasting Ready Set go [Music] Before I start with this tasting if You’re new to this Channel and want to Learn more about wine then please do Subscribe and now let’s taste the first Two wines are both made from the grape Variety sylvana from the Gambar Kaimenstein Vineyard Savannah once was The most planted grape Variety in Germany and it’s now only in fifth place But in Franconia the region where those Two wines come from it’s still a very Important grape variety Savannah is a Fascinating grape variety and you can Make many different wine starts from it Almost like with Riesling it is less Aromatic than resting though and it Smells grassy and sometimes a little bit Nutty I’m going to do things slightly Different because the bottle shape alone Would give these ones away on top of That white natural wines are often Darker in color so a normal blind
Tasting won’t do the job instead I’m Going to pour the wines into glasses That are labeled conventional and Natural and I’m going to put on a Bandana so that I don’t see the wines at All and I’ll have to rely on my nose and On my palate alone so let’s go So this is the conventional wine from The Vincent Franken Cooperative that is Pretty big and that produces quite good Accessible wines the natural ones the 2020 Stefan feta the Vana GK the GK Stands for guy Baja kaibenstein but as He is just producing a landline a vanded Pay he’s not allowed to use the vignette Name on the label so you just puts GK on There he founded his Winery in 2010 and He harvests very early check this out The color actually looked very similar It’s not a big difference but I’m still Going to use my bandana and I’m going to Use my randomizer I can’t see anything Now so I hope that the camera still Focuses on me and now let’s spin it Okay right off the bat the wine to my Left smells quite open fruity it smells Of Apple a little bit of grass as well a Little bit nutty too it’s quite clean And quite pristine on the palette it’s Fresh grippy and structured it feels a Bit fatter a bit richer and then a Normal Savannah would be maybe but it’s Quite nice quite well balanced the wine To my right just screams natural at me
It smells of Apple but more like bruised Apples slightly oxidative not as Pristine and clean but it’s quite Appealing there’s quite a lot going on There on the palette it’s much much Leaner very fresh very slightly harsh or Even I think I can take my bandana off Because I’m a bit worried that my Autofocus will fail me and I’m pretty Sure that this is the natural wine and This is the conventional wine let’s have A look so I think this was the natural One and it is right this is the natural Wine so this must be the conventional Wine and this was actually pretty easy Because this was so much lighter and Fresher very high in acidity whereas This was a bit richer and on the nose it Was just a little bit slightly dirty Slightly funky the natural wine that Really gave it away the grapes for Natural wines are often harvested a bit Earlier in order to maintain a high Level of acidity and that level of Acidity protects the wine and that is Very important if you don’t add or add Only small amounts of sulfur and this One is actually at 9.5 percent of Alcohol so that’s extremely low for dry White wine this one is at 12.5 so that’s Quite a big gap the question now is Which one do I prefer this one is a Pretty classic pretty clean Savannah but It’s not out of the ordinary I rate this
84 points it’s good really good but not That exciting this one is quite a bit More exciting I think it’s very Interesting but it’s not very complex it Is better than this one I would rate This 88 points but I also got to say That this one is forty dollars whereas This one is just ten dollars so there’s A big gap in terms of price oftentimes Natural wines are quite a bit more Expensive than conventional wines that Is because it’s quite difficult to make A good cheap natural wine if you make Natural wine you have quite a lot of Risk that you have to factor in on top Of that those wine makers often invest More into aging of the wine or the way That they treat the wine this one was Fermented and aged in barrels for one Year in contact with the least to give It a little bit more roundness a little Bit more texture I think this was just Fermented in stainless steel and bottled Fairly early the next two wines are Macabios from pinedes in Spain maccabeo Is also known as of yora in Rioja and It’s a popular grape variety used also For the production of Cava I’m tasting The 2019 ibed inoya three macabillos and The 2019 patida Creos MC both of them Are macabios but one this one is made in A natural way whereas this one is made In a conventional way and you can Already tell from the bottle design this
Looks so natural so let’s see whether I Can actually taste the difference Between the two check this out I can Even lift off the whole wax capsule on This one That’s a first for me Wow I think this time I actually need the Bandana because this looks very dark It’s made in a orange wine way so Uh would be able to tell which one is Which Just from looking at it okay let’s spin It and autofocus focus on me Foreign Let’s see Start with this one the wine to my left Smells of apples a little bit of pears As well it’s quite Smoky on the palette It’s very rich and concentrated a little Bit alcoholic a little bit too rich the Wine to my right smells a little bit of Orange zest bruised Apple again it’s a Bit more spicy a bit herbaceous even and On the palette there’s quite a lot of Grip there tannins coming through is Fresh acidity there’s also good body There’s also a little bit of tannic bite I would say that the wine on my right Hand side is definitely the natural wine It feels like an orange wine to me and This is the conventional one let’s see Ah 242 so the conventional one here was
Pressed and then fermented at cool Temperatures while this the natural wine Was maturated on the skin partially and This is how you get this color much more Intensity and color and also more tannic Grip this style of wine is very popular In the natural wine scene and it’s also Called orange wine because of the color Obviously these wines can be very Interesting and they can be great with Food because they just have more Structure more intensity on the palate In particular they can be matched with All different kinds of dishes when it Comes to my rating I would actually say That this is a bit better than the Conventional Savannah that we had even Though it’s at the same price point I Would rate this 86 points while this is Really delicious very well made orange Wine and very complex and complete wine And I rate this 90 points it’s pretty Good but there’s also so a big Difference in terms of price this is at Ten dollars well this is at 28 so quite A big gap the whites were pretty easy Let’s see whether the reds are a little Bit more challenging I’m starting with a Very interesting example these two ones Are from the same Winery from the same Location were made in more or less the Same way but this one was not suffered While this one was sulfur is obviously a Very important point when it comes to
Natural wine hardcore natural wine Geeks Don’t want to remove anything from the Wine and don’t want to add anything to The wine so they don’t add any sulfur at All which can be an issue because wines Without sulfur are generally less stable And they can oxidize much more readily Natural wine fans would say that Sulfides mute the aroma of the wine and They are obviously not a natural part of The wine but this is a very long Discussion I don’t want to get into that Let’s see which one is better the color Of the two ones is pretty much exactly The same so so I’m not going to use this Bandana I’m just worried that I will be Out of focus for the rest of the video And I’ll just close my eyes while the Glasses are spinning Okay or even better I’m going to turn Around Let’s do this All right let’s start tasting these two So both wines are from Baden The Grapes Were sourced from volcanic and chalky Soils they were spontaneously fermented And aged in larger wooden barrels and They taste very similar but there’s a Difference in terms of flavor this one Is more intense more open while this is Slightly more close I would therefore Think that this might be the one without Any added sulfites while this is the one That was made in a conventional way
Shall we check so this one is the The natural one three four three men so This must be the conventional one And this is really interesting Especially because these wines aren’t The same one basically just made with or Without sulfites and I prefer this one Gotta be honest this is just more herbal A little bit licorice coming through as Well in addition to the Cherry flavors But this is lots of cherry raspberry Flavors and is quite a bit more complex And complete I would therefore rate this 90 points while this would be 89 points And the last two ones are both 2017 Blaufrankish from the lighter bag in the Booklet in Austria so they should be Fairly similar but one is made in a more Natural way while the other is more Conventional this one here is from Leo Zoma and this one from lichtenberger Gonzalez and you can guess which one is The natural wine yes This one I already said in my natural Wine tasting video the natural wine Producers spent quite a lot of time on Their labels and the design of the Bottle but it’s a bit Funny if it’s just all about the wine Inside the bottle but yeah oftentimes They have the cooler and the more Interesting the more creative labels and Capsules but now let’s see who has the Cooler and more interesting wine the
Color is again very similar in the two Ones so I think I can do without the Bandana okay let’s Spin it Foreign [Music] This is again very interesting natural Wine makers are very hands off and They’re very careful with Oak in general Very few of them use a lot of new Oak And I think in this case the yolk really Points me into a direction while the two Wines were made in the same location and Are pretty much the same price one feels A little bit leaner a little bit fresher Even though the alcohol is not that much Different this one is 13 and this one is 13 and a half percent but the oak is Just much more pronounced in this one While this is lean fresh and very much Fruit driven I therefore say that this Is the natural wine let’s see let’s see Yes four or four I did it and this is the conventional One it’s just yeah just a little bit More fresh I would say actually they are Pretty much the same quality I think They’re both really good I would rate Them both 91 points but this is just More fruit driven while this is a bit More complex a little bit of chocolate Flavors coming through on top of the Blackberry currants and orange zest Flavors the listing Vega Gonzalez is
Also a bit more grippy and has more Acidity while this the Leo zoma is a bit Rounder and a bit more plump this was a Fascinating tasting and it clearly Showed that you can smell and taste the Difference between conventional and Natural wines natural wines are more Open more complex can also contain more Falls but on the palette they are more Fresh more grippy and more structured While the conventional wines were a Little bit easier to approach a little Riper a little rounder and a little Richer I got gotta say that my favorites In the tasting were mostly the natural Wines they were just a little bit more Interesting even though I don’t Generally favor natural wines over Conventional ones there’s obviously also An issue that we couldn’t really taste In this case storage is very important When transporting and keeping natural Wines they can go bad more quickly and We have obviously a selection here of Really great natural wines while they Are also some out there that aren’t so Great so thank you for watching if you Like this video then please like it down There subscribe to my channel if you Haven’t done so already my question of The day is what do you prefer natural or Conventional wine let me know down below I hope I see you guys again soon until Then stay thirsty
[Music] Thank you