Josmeyer MD dismisses natural wines

One of the most vocal advocates for biodynamic winemaking has played down the value of the natural wine movement on account of its commercial limitations.

“I will never make natural wine,” insisted Christophe Ehrhart (left), managing director of Josmeyer, who is the only individual to hold a place on the board of both the Biodyvin and Demeter biodynamic certification bodies.

Marking a distinction between the increasingly high profile natural wines and his own approach at Josmeyer, Ehrhart remarked: “Natural wines can be great, but they’re small, small family wineries. When you have 10 hectares you can take this risk, but I sell to 40 countries. If I want to send my wines to Japan, I have to use sulphites.”

Despite the significant coverage achieved by natural wines, Ehrhart expressed little concern of their threat to his own mission of promoting understanding of biodynamic winemaking. “It’s not a problem; it just makes me speak more to explain about biodynamics,” he said.

“What I try to explain is that our wines are evolving; they have this life because they have a little bit of sulphites.”

Sticking to his theme, Ehrhart concluded: “I don’t know a producer making natural wines that he can sell all over the world, wines you can enjoy every day.”

For more on Ehrhart’s work with both Biodyvin and Demeter, look out for the drinks business‘ December issue.