In May, 230 artisan vendors brought their vision of ‘raw’ to an upper floor warehouse in London’s Spitalfields. Now in its fifth vintage, the two-day RAW WINE event welcomed a record 4,500 visitors, 1,500 more than in 2015. More than 1,000 wines from 22 countries were poured, along with products from tea to sake to charcuterie, offered by two dozen or so vendors. Wineries included well-known names like Douro’s Niepoort Vinhos, iconoclasts like Sicily’s Frank Cornelissen, and neophytes like Canada’s Okanagan Crush Pad. The international crowd who attended the fair, founded by Isabelle Legeron MW, was united by a shared passion for the most stripped down and low-interventionist of wine styles, collectively and colloquially referred to as ‘natural’. For Legeron, author of Natural Wine and France’s first female MW, the low-intervention treatment is paramount to the event’s success.
Natural wine defined
“Transparency is the basis of the entire fair,” says Legeron. “That’s why we provide complete details on all of the wines poured.” Sharing this information with trade and consumers is important to Legeron, a well-known and vocal advocate for natural wine. “My aim is to promote transparency to support the art of authentic wine production. We want to help people think about what they are drinking,” she adds.
“Everyone has a choice, but without the information, people can’t make an informed decision. We provide the information and put the power in their hands.”
Before vintners can submit wines, they have to agree to the Charter of Quality, a detailed list of criteria defining the nebulous concept of natural wine. Amongst other rules, the entirety of the farm where the grapes are hand-harvested must be farmed organically and/or biodynamically, the wine must be fermented with wild yeast, and additives such as enzymes, lysosyme or vitamins are not allowed. Sulfites are accepted in minimal amounts (less than 70 mg/L total). Producers must supply analysis paperwork for each wine, including information about fining agents (wines were marked as ‘suitable for vegans’ when applicable).
Rapid growth
Since it was founded in 2011, RAW WINE has expanded beyond London, driven in part by its growing network and commercial ability to connect importers to wineries. In 2014, a RAW event was included in Austria’s VieVinum, and a freestanding RAW WINE took place in Berlin in 2015. It was “a massive success”, according to Legeron, proof that there is a hungry international market for this style of wine.
This November, RAW will launch in New York City, bringing 120 producers to a warehouse in Brooklyn. “We will have a much greater American producer presence. We have many requests for RAW to be held around the world, and it’s something we’re looking into,” says Legeron, citing Japan and the Nordic countries as potential markets. “However, I prefer to grow this slowly and sustainably.”
Legeron’s definition of slow growth is as loose as the fair’s hipster casual dress code. RAW has been on a meteoric rise since the first seed was planted back in 2011. Legeron co-founded The Natural Wine Fair along with several London wine industry members, including Doug Wregg of Les Caves de Pyrene, a leading UK importer, agent, distributor and retailer specialising in organic, biodynamic and natural wines. According to Wregg, “For years we had been putting on mini wine fairs of 40 to 50 artisan growers and their wines and we wanted to go to the next level, hosting an event which showed the strength and depth of the natural wine scene.”
Legeron was the face of the event, which occurred in stark contrast to the established London Wine Fair, and in London’s Borough Market. However, her vision for an entirely independent festival aimed at her increasingly global audience diverged from Wregg and his team’s goals. “Our fair has been about the wines you can buy in this country,” notes Wregg, who has gone on to grow his importer-driven event into an entire Real Wine Month, involving more than 300 bars, bistros and restaurants throughout the UK and Ireland as well as dozens of ancillary tastings, master classes and wine dinners. This year’s Real Wine Fair, which takes place every April, showcased 163 vignerons from 17 countries to 2,500 attendees over the two days (up 65% from 2015). Between RAW WINE and the Real Wine Fair, there obviously is a fervent appetite for “less is more”.
Wregg focuses on their shared successes. “There is certainly a crossover in growers and philosophies. RAW tends to specialise in hosting growers who are not represented in the UK, whereas the growers at Real Wine almost invariably have existing representation,” he says. “Both attract members of the public and the trade. Both have seminars and incorporate a food element. I like to think that both fair have respectively set new benchmarks for wine tastings.”
Legeron says that “RAW is committed to empowering all wine drinkers. We are proud to be leading the charge for transparency in the wine world. RAW WINE is unprocessed. It is about truth, authenticity and frank wine talking, but most of all it’s about showcasing really good wine.”
