Real Wine on a Sunday Afternoon

How better to start the week than with wine?

River City Cellars' latest offering was a Sunday class in Natural Wine, which translates to biodynamic and organic wines, with an emphasis on sustainability.

Most of the wine producers we tasted are small producers: 1000 to 4000 bottles a year.

We were told that using these viticulture methods produced wines with either Flaws (if you listen to the wine critics) or Personalty (if you listen to wine lovers).

Naturally, most of these wines are produced in Europe, so everything we tasted was from France or Spain.

Their long tradition of wine making gives them the edge on new ideas and methods apparently.

Everything we tasted, from the Tissot Cremant du Jura NV to the Texier Cotes du Rhone Brezeme Rouge 2006 displayed interesting qualities.

The wine reps (wine geeks, actually, who claimed they spent 95% of their time thinking/talking about wine) were enthusiastic guides as they convinced us that additives and treatments put into wine are there to suit the desires of critics, consumers and Beelzebub.

So, yes, they were a bit biased, but in a good way and their real wine promotion was contagious.

After all, if we care about what we eat and where it came from, shouldn't the same apply to what we drink?

Hold your answers until after you finish your wine.