Landmark decision for natural wine shines spotlight on an industry out of step with the market
German born Hungarian natural wine producer, Horst Hummel, wins landmark court decision against a local district’s justification for the rejection of natural wines based on the existing quality wine test. The prohibition of 2,900 bottles of Hummel’s natural wine which were already on the market were unanimously judged to be falsely withdrawn due to alleged sensory deficits.
Horst was clear in his mind that the wine in question was suitable for his market and would represent a high quality product within the natural wine category.
“I wanted to avoid being forced to destroy the wine. A wine that I am convinced that, despite any problems it may have had, it will develop into full harmony.”
Natural wine has been a growing sector within the wine industry for several years. The »Dokumentation Österreich Wein« published in December 2023, the annual wine market statistics with analyses of the wine market, states that natural wine is “booming“ worldwide and should be understood “as a reaction to the industrialisation of the sector”.
The following definition of natural wine has emerged within the natural wine movement:
“Natural wines are wines from organically or biodynamically certified vineyards that are spontaneously fermented, unfined, unfiltered and unsulphurised or have had a small amount of sulphur added. ”
In France, wines produced in this way may be labelled as Vin Méthode Natur, in Austria and Hungary the term, Natural Wine, may be used.
In Germany there is no legal basis.
Many natural wine producers in this country face the same problem: the classical quality wine test rejects natural wines with great reliability.
As a rule, there are two reasons for this: 1. the wine is cloudy; 2. the wine does not correspond to the classic taste profile. This is why many natural wines are not allowed to be sold as quality wines, but only as country wines. This category is seen as inferior by consumers, which leads to a loss of brand reputation and thus to competitive disadvantages for natural wine producers.
Of course, spontaneously fermented, unfined, unfiltered, unsulphurised wines develop an aesthetic that has nothing in common with the aesthetics of classic wines.
Therefore, these wines can’t be meaningfully evaluated according to classic criteria. If a natural wine producer deliberately produces a cloudy wine, but this is already a sufficient criterion to downgrade the wine to a country wine, clarity is not a suitable evaluation criterion for this type of wine. This also applies to criteria such as color, smell and taste.
The Berlin Administrative Court has now handed down a verdict, largely unnoticed by the public, which could be groundbreaking for the natural wine movement. It is the first ruling of its kind in Germany and sets a precedent.
“For me, the ruling in relation to natural wine means that the standards previously set by the wine control authorities do not meet the legal requirements.”
The ruling deals with the question of whether a natural wine may be withdrawn from the market due to alleged sensory deficits.
The court's answer is now: no.
The grounds for the judgement also address the question of whether natural wines must be assessed differently from classic wines in terms of their appearance and sensory characteristics.
The court’s answer is yes.
Although the ruling of the Berlin Administrative Court deals with the prohibition of the marketing of a natural wine and not the quality wine test, it provides an argumentative basis for the fact that natural wines must be assessed in future according to criteria that takes into account the characteristics of natural wines.
“And that is the crucial point in this judgment with regard to the legal assessment of natural wine: in the sensory assessment of natural wine, the wine control must take into account the taste expectations of the market that deviate from conventional wine in terms of appearance, smell and taste.” Hummel
Three things are needed:
A legal basis that defines what natural wine is;
A regulation for the labelling of natural wine;
A quality wine test that evaluates natural wine according to suitable criteria.
In this way, a fundamental change in the wine market which has been taking place for years, driven by producers who want to make wine with less processes and additives, linked purely to a natural philosophy, can now be taken into account.
Horst summarised what this means for consumers and their desire for more freedom with regards to their wine preferences:
“The ruling definitely expands the legal scope of natural wine producers and breaks a previously prevailing paternalistic practice of the wine control. In this respect, the judgment strengthens consumers' freedom of choice and judgment.”