I see natural as good term that can be used to describe the idea of vinifying fruit with the minimal intervention. My issue is that wine that anyone would ever

I see natural as good term that can be used to describe the idea of vinifying fruit with the minimal intervention. My issue is that wine that anyone would ever want to drink has to involve an artificial process to some degree. Even in most serious "natural wine" there is care taken to tend the vines before during and after the growing season. There is a picking decision made by the winemaker. I am not too well versed in specific producers but I am pretty sure at least one is fermenting the wines in barrels or some other vessel in the vineyard in which they grew. Every year or so a small segment of natural wine producers seem to create another breakthrough that makes their wines more natural than the last. All of this is to say that the natural wine moving taken to its extreme conclusion would end with an untended vineyard where fruit falls on the ground after raisining and the juice ferments into the dirt. While this is the most natural process, it is not something anyone would ever consider drinking. I can show you a few places in my town where they have been unwittingly on the cutting edge of the natural wine movement without ever giving a single thought to the fact there is a vine on their property in years. What I personally feel is the the spirit of natural winemaking style is to produce a wine of distinction with minimal intervention. This is an interesting style but I still believe it to be a fad no greater (or worse) than the international style mentioned by cmrdporcupine. What I see as the ideal winemaking style is to produce a wine from a specific vineyard that most accurately conveys its sense of place and the vintage in which it was produced. It takes a winemaker with a wide range of experience, one familiar with all of the possible tools they may use to intervene, but extremely hesitant about using them. They can be byodynamic, they can be organic, and they can even use conventional pesticides and fertilizers provided the winemaker has selected them specifically to express what he or she feels is the essence of the vineyard.