自然酒 Natural Wine
近年非常流行自然酒(natural wine)。自然酒的酒款繁多，今日來為大家介紹一下，自然酒的起源，理念，釀酒方式及其風格。
自然酒可以說是起源於薄來酒區 (Beaulojais)。在1970-1980年代左右，一群自然酒的先驅者: Jules Chauvet (自然酒之父)、Marcel Lapierre、Guy Breton 及 Jean Foillard在薄來酒區推動一種’祟尚自然’的種植及釀酒做法。概括來說，這個做法為，一，種植時不放除草劑，殺蟲劑、二，用天然酵母來發酵、三，裝瓶時不用硫磺。所以，自然酒宗旨就是祟尚自然，不用化學物質去干預酒的種植和釀過造程。
然而，這些理念如何影響酒的風格呢？以下來為大家說說。
首要的概念是，基於自然酒是'祟尚自然'的造法，故是比較容易受天然環境影響的，亦即是說，會受到土壤的結構和天氣的好壞影響到該酒的質素，舉例說，如果種植的土壤礦物質比較多，酒的礦物感亦會提高、如果該年的陽光比較充足，酒的果味亦會較濃郁。換言之，自然酒是很能夠反映當地的風土 (terroir)和該年的天氣特性。
可是，除了能反映風土之外，自然酒和一般的酒最大分別是在那裏呢？
自然酒的秘密其實是他們在酒的發酵過程中於用了天然酵母來發酵。這種天然酵母是生長並依付在葡萄樹和葡萄皮上，天然酵母會在不同的氣候變化和土釀環境產生不同的化學反應，特別是在一些微氣候(Microclimate)的環境影響下，把不同葡葡田的葡萄一起發酵，當中不同天然酵母也會產生更多的化學反應。這樣大大增加了酒的層次感，複雜度和香氣。這個是非自然酒無法做到的，因為除草劑等等的化學物料是會殺死天然酵母，所以這種酒只能夠用一般的人工酵母。
順道一提，很多自然酒的釀酒師都喜愛在釀制白酒時，把葡萄皮和葡萄汁在發酵前先浸一下。這個做法可以加強酒的層次感和複雜度，最後釀出來的顏色也比較深，大多為橙色，又稱橙酒。但別混淆，不是所有自然酒都是橙酒，亦不代表橙酒全是自然酒。
接下來幾篇，將會為大家繼續介紹自然酒。
Natural wine has become more prevalent recently. Let us go through with you the origin, concept, winemaking and the wine style.
Natural wine was originated in Beaujolais – numerous of pioneers like Jules Chauvet (Father of Natural Wine), Marcel Lapierre, Guy Breton and Jean Foillard started the Natural Wine movement back in the 1970s and 1980s. Minimal intervention and minimal use of chemical during the process of grape growing and winemaking process like pesticide free, fermenting with indigenous yeast and bottling without sulfites.
The concept is to produce the wine in a natural way with minimal intervention. It’s more reflective of the soil component, weather and terroir. For instance, the wine will have more minerality notes if soil has rich mineral.
The main difference between natural and conventional wine is that indigenous yeast is used for fermenting natural wine while cultured yeast is used for fermenting conventional wine.
Indigenous yeast is found on grape skin and vine, it is very sensitive to climate and soil composition. The biggest benefit for using indigenous yeast is complexity, it gives unique aromas, flavours and textures; of which cultured yeast is incompatible.
Speaking of natural whites, a lot of winemakers would soak the grape skin in the juice prior to fermentation. This is to add complexity and layers to the wine, the final product has a deeper colour mostly very orangy and being called Orange Wine. But not to mix up, not all natural whites are orange wines and not all orange wines are natural wines.
More articles on natural wine will be available soon – stay tuned!