DROPLETS: The Week in Natural Wine Vital natural wine counter-propaganda. This week: Chiara Pepe becomes a flying winemaker. Domaine Andrea Calek up for sale. Karakterre erratum. "Orange wine" versus "skin contact." And more.

This is why it is hard to fathom Chiara Pepe’s embrace of the “flying winemaker” role, which is predicated upon a division between ownership and operation of an estate.

DROPLETS: The Week in Natural Wine Vital natural wine counter-propaganda. This week: L'Affaire Natur-All. Should sommeliers push de-alcoholized "wine"? Claire Naudin's bird concerns. Haut Les Vins is not a natural wine salon. And more.

This week: L'Affaire Natur-All. Should sommeliers push de-alcoholized "wine"? Claire Naudin's bird concerns. Haut Les Vins is not a natural wine salon. And more.

Domaine des Lucioles: A Place of Liberty A chat with Alsace-born Jura vigneron Jordan Rudloff, who, together with his partner Elodie Heckenmayer, produces wine - and honey! - as Domaine des Lucioles.

Rarely does one encounter, so early in a vigneron’s career, such a brilliantly-realized and uncompromising vision of patient, small-scale natural winemaking.

Ten Natural Wine Fascinations of 2025 Ten bottles that counted. Plus: Interviews with Alsace vigneron Pierre Groger, and Jura vigneron Jordan Rudloff of Domaine des Lucioles.

Behind every great bottle of natural wine is a value system, waiting to be discerned.

Below with no paywall is a list of my Ten Natural Wine Fascinations of 2025 - the bottles that sparked the most reflection.

Winter 2025-2026 Natural Wine Salons A calendar of upcoming natural wine salons for December 2025 and January - February 2026. Plus: my 2024 vintage of wines from abandoned vineyards in the Languedoc.

the BIG LIST is up 🍷💀🍇

Fabio Gea's Dinosaur Wines An interview with the restlessly experimental Barbaresco vigneron Fabio Gea.

Fabio Gea is practically alone in the region in regularly producing truly majestic unsulfited nebbiolo.

If only Gea himself were content with this achievement!

Instead he continues refining numerous innovative, tortuous-sounding vinification methods, on which more in the new interview …

Jean-Yves Péron Reinvents Piemonte The Savoie maestro's transalpine négociant work is the most important cross-cultural exchange happening in wine today.

“I’m a beginner when it comes to nebbiolo… I got interested because I harvested it, but I don’t have a culture of nebbiolo. The more I taste, the more I’m disappointed.”

But Seriously, Who's the Best Caviste? Dishing my own favorites, in the wake of an award from Le Fooding. Plus: Jean-Yves Péron on Piemontese grape varieties. And Fabio Gea's dinosaur wines.

the award seems like a nice occasion to share my own highly subjective list of Meilleur Cavistes - the ones whose examples taught me everything I know about selling natural wine

Lost Traditions: Nadia Verrua An archive interview with singular Scurzolengo (Piemonte) vigneronne Nadia Verrua, whose collaboration with her parents has brought simple, paisano winemaking to unprecedented places.

An archive interview with singular Scurzolengo (Piemonte) vigneronne Nadia Verrua, whose collaboration with her parents has brought simple, paisano winemaking to unprecedented places.

Fall 2025 Natural Wine Salons A calendar of upcoming natural wine salons for October and November 2025. Plus: an archive interview with Nadia Verrua of Cascina Tavijn.

the big list 🍇🍷💀

DROPLETS: The Week in Natural Wine Vital natural wine counter-propaganda. This week: Alicia Dorey rewrites natural wine history. Fear of sweet wine. Friedman on AI farming. Provençal grape ketchup. Politicizing natural wine. And more.

i appreciate alicia dorey’s work but it won’t do to have a cavalcade of conventional winemakers parading into the natural wine market through an alicia dorey-sized hole in the discourse

Bring On the Major Leagues: Levente Major Primary school headmaster, heavy metal afficionado, beer geek - Abasar's Levente Major wears many hats. He also produces some of Hungary's greatest white wines.

Primary school headmaster, heavy metal afficionado, beer geek - Abasar's Levente Major wears many hats.

He also produces some of Hungary's greatest white wines.

it’s a massacre in the hérault (on the abandoned vines im picking). waaaaaay more bird appetire this year prob due to wildfires in aude

The Natural Balance: Bálint Losonci An interview with Bálint Losonci, who coaxes ripe, exotic, Beauger-esque elixirs from gentle volcanic slopes surrounding Gyöngyöspata in the Mátra foothills.

“Old school farming, normal peasant farming, centuries ago, by today's standards, we would call it polyculture. But it's just how nature works. It's ten times more resilient to climate change, and it's better for everything.”

The Kitchen on the Mountain: Papa Aron Pince (PAP) At Szent György hegy estate Papa Aron Pince, neo-vignerons Aron Molnar & Karina Vissonova craft some of the most original natural wines of Balaton.

PAP farm 6ha in the volcanic hillscape surrounding Lake Balaton - which is, for context, home to Hungary’s most dynamic, thriving natural wine community 🍇🌋🍷

Going Hungary Exploring volcanic terroirs in a hotbed of illiberalism. Plus: visits to Levente Major, Papa Aron Pince, and Bálint Losonci.

Exploring volcanic terroirs in a hotbed of illiberalism.

Plus: visits to Levente Major, Papa Aron Pince, and Bálint Losonci

Remembering Bernard Bellahsen An archive interview with the inestimably influential Languedoc vigneron behind Fontedicto, who passed away on Aug. 4th.

An archive interview with the inestimably influential Languedoc vigneron behind Fontedicto, who passed away on Aug. 4th.

More Paysan Than Vigneron: Fontedicto An interview with Fontedicto vigneron Bernard Bellahsen, the pioneer, successively, of horse-plowing, organics, biodynamics, and unsulfited vinification in the Languedoc.

godspeed bernard

My 2023 Vintage A belated report on my third vintage of wines from abandoned vineyards in the Languedoc. (And another wine from an abandoned vineyard in the Loiret.)

A belated report on my third vintage of wines from abandoned vineyards in the Languedoc. (And another wine from an abandoned vineyard in the Loiret) 🍇

Dining on the Wine Trail: Hostel Orfenor, Brioude Laura Victor & Zach Watson's adorable restaurant-auberge embodies the pluck and can-do spirit of the Auvergne neo-paysan new wave.

Hostel Orfenor plays the role of Southside Johnny to the Auberge de Chassignolles’ Bruce Springsteen: the local hero, of more limited ambition and fame.

Summer 2025 Natural Wine Salons A calendar of upcoming natural wine salons for June, July, and August 2025. Plus: a visit to Auvergne natural wine destination Hostel Orfenor, and a report on my 2023 vintage.

A calendar of upcoming SUMMER 2025 NATURAL WINE SALONS.

Plus: a visit to Auvergne natural wine destination Hostel Orfenor, and a report on my 2023 vintage.

DROPLETS: The Week in Natural Wine Vital natural wine counter-propaganda. This week: Jefford on autocracy. Why winery start-ups fail. Eco concern-trolling in the Guardian. Still Prosecco. The fine water scam. And more.

New DROPLETS just dropped.

This week: Jefford on autocracy. Why winery start-ups fail. Eco concern-trolling in the Guardian. Still Prosecco. The fine water scam. And more.

Pepsico Cuts Growth Forecast Amid Tariffs and Slowed Consumer Spending PepsiCo’s earnings call pointed to anxious consumers as to why sales had slowed, echoing comments by Chipotle and Procter & Gamble.

hard to call this bad news

“A Sign That Consumers Are Anxious: They’re Cutting Back on Snacks”

Ep. 32: Harry Lester of Le Comptoir Central des Bazars A chat with the British chef whose series of Auvergne bistrots - L'Auberge de Chassignoles, Le Saint Eutrope, and Le Comptoir Central des Bazars - have launched a renaissance in Auvergne natural wine.

Earlier this month, Lester opened a new establishment in Clermont-Ferrand, Le Comptoir Central des Bazars, retaining the name of the toy shop that formerly inhabited the site on rue Lecoq

one great thing about opening my own restaurant is my family stopped telling me i should open my own restaurant

is there any aesthetic / gustatory benefit to using dried chickpeas instead of canned or jarred ?

Ep. 30: Mateo Breña A chat with the peripatetic Mexican chef and horse-plowing adept, whose résumé includes work for Gut Oggau and Domaine Dandelion, alongside innumerable taco pop-ups.

A chat with peripatetic Mexican chef and horse-plowing adept Mateo Breña, whose résumé includes work for Gut Oggau and Domaine Dandelion, alongside innumerable taco pop-ups 🌮 🐴🍷

Chefs Who Give A Shit About Wine Introducing Series V of the NOT DRINKING POISON podcast, featuring interviews with chefs Harry Lester, Jonathan Schweitzer, and Mateo Breña.

Series V of the NOT DRINKING POISON podcast begins 🎙️🍷

New interviews with chefs Harry Lester, Jonathan Schweitzer, and Mateo Breña

Georges Comte of Le Moutherot: There is No Need For Sulfitage A 2019 interview with the natural winemaking legend of the Doubs.

The first thing natural wine lovers ask one another, after confirming a mutual awareness of the singular wines of Doubs natural wine pioneer Georges Comte, is usually, “Do you think it’s really natural?”

Nicolas Bernard of Les Miroudots: Vin de France in the Franche-Comté On the limestone hills east of Vesoul, Nicolas Bernard is expanding the scope of Franche-Comté winemaking with Jura varieties and hybrids alike.

Meet vigneron Nicolas Bernard, an Alexandre Bain alum who had the impressive foresight to plant savagnin and poulsard on the virgin limestone slopes east of Vesoul (Franche-Comté) almost a decade ago

notdrinkingpoison.substack.com/p/nicolas-be...