Biodynamic, Organic, and Natural: Three words you find in many headlines these days that are coupled with the word “explained.” If you don’t farm, these concepts are hard to explain. With natural wines, the grapes, not the winemaker should be doing the talking. This, all too often, is not the case.

Much talk about natural wines is justifiably focused on faults, not their virtues. Mousy wines, along with a myriad of other faults, are the bane of the natural wine world. They are giving those of us committed to natural farming and winemaking wine a bad name.

Natural wines are an expression of the winemaker. Biodynamic wines are expressions of the land. Some wines are both natural and biodynamic, and some are not. You can make biodynamic wines that would not be considered natural winemaking — but why would you? Some wines claim to be naturally made with uncertified fruit, and it’s hard to make a case that they can genuinely be considered natural. Not using sulfur in the winemaking process is not a get-out-of-jail-free card if a vineyard is blasted with it — and other non-organic products.

In France, the Syndicat de Defense des Vins Naturels has established the Vin Méthode Nature certification with two tiers — those with no added sulfites and those that add less than 30 mg. per liter of sulfites. This is well outlined in an article by Jamie Goode. While no certification offers consumers protection from buying faulted wines, they do at least provide wine buyers with certified certainty of how the wines were made and what they were made with.

Many natural wines may be made naturally but not from naturally grown grapes. The economics of winegrowing means many of the most creative winemakers cannot buy their own vineyards, so they have to buy grapes. They say they control the farming, but the only way to control farming is to be the farmer. Many self-styled natural winemakers are running a shell game as they can’t totally control how their grapes are farmed. They make a big deal about how they make their wines, but how those grapes are farmed is unnaturally obscure.

There is a general assumption that natural wines are made with biodynamic or, at least, organic grapes. This is not always the case. Many claim to be made from “organically farmed” or “biodynamically farmed” fruit, but can provide no proof of either farming methods or certifications. The same can be said for many importers. Claims without certification are an affront to farmers worldwide who do the work required to be certified.

Natural wine is a winemaking mindset; biodynamics is a farming mindset. Natural wine occurs in a winery, and biodynamics happens in a vineyard. Natural winemaking is defined by the choices you make with the fruit you have to work with. Biodynamic farming gives a winemaker grapes that are ideal for natural winemaking. Which came first, the chicken or the egg? In winemaking, there is no riddle — the grapes come first.

Biodynamics is doing the work in the vineyard, and natural winemaking is doing the right thing to the fruits of your labor. Natural wine has no definition and has now been green-washed away, joining terms like clean wine and sustainable in the meaningless word salad of press releases from wine companies looking to do more good for themselves than the planet.

It is possible to make enjoyable natural wines that do not bring the tune “Three Blind Mice” to mind. The essential requirement to craft pristine natural wine is pristine fruit. In our case at Troon Vineyard, fruit like that is a gift from our Applegate Valley terroir combined with our biodynamic farming. The second requirement is an equally pristine cellar. You cannot clean too much or too often. Natural winemaking is not lackadaisical winemaking — quite the opposite. It requires planning, preparation, precision, and perfect fruit to keep the mice at bay.

A funny name with a frivolous label is no excuse for faulted wine delivering no pleasure. Labels that promise fun, should be fun to drink. Wines that remind of rodents are not fun to drink.

Mice may be cute on a label, but in the bottle, they’re vermin.