Play time: 3 minutes
Between organic wine, biodynamic, natural… it’s easy to get lost in the appellations. Fortunately a festival was there to spell it out.
Before the tasting, the explanation
Let’s start with organic wine, which is the best known. It is often mistakenly associated with the absence of sulphite. The name actually corresponds to the absence of synthetic treatment and insecticide in the vines. Biodynamic wine applies a method that seeks a stronger link between the land and the plant. Winemakers use plant-based preparations that they apply to the vine to strengthen it. More amazingly, when making wine, they take into account the lunar calendar! Natural wine, on the other hand, combines these two methods but goes further. The appellation does not allow any products brought to land and crops (inputs), nor any technique to modify the original juice. Even in this method, sulphites are found, but in very small quantities.
What do we think of natural wine?
The result of this method is a wine with a non-standardized taste. If you’ve ever had a traumatic experience, such as a strange feeling of drinking vinegar, you may think twice before soaking your lips in a natural wine. Fortunately, there’s something for everyone…
Le festival La GoulAyance
For a small price of 10 euros, the association “Les Irreducibles” proposed for the fourth year a festival where we could taste nearly 200 wines from these different methods. And there, we found our favorites: Champagne Bourgeois-Diaz, the sweet and biodynamic wine of Domaine Rousset-Peyraguey and a special mention for the creative label of Jérôme Balmet. To avoid a hangover, even though the reduced percentage of sulphites can potentially help, it was essential to alternate with Normandy oysters from time to time.
And by the way, what is ground control?
The beautiful discovery of this festival is of course the place. Since 2017, Ground Control has been squatting the Halle Charolais (a secret space of SNCF Real Estate), in the 12th arrondissement of Paris. This space is a small catch-all of various activities. It hosts food trucks on its large terrace, food stalls and various bars inside. But also an old cockpit, a bookstore, a decoration and plant store… Ground control even has its own radio! In fact, we recommend the podcast La Brasse episode 4 which talks about this festival.
And if you prefer beer, read the article Pouring a beer in Paris.
Music: Portico Quartet – Pompidou