The Independent in a fresh article about natural wines recommends trying Armenian Karasi Areni Noir 2014 for an authentic experience.

According to the feature, ‘natural’ wines must tick a number of boxes: organically or biodynamically produced grapes, hand-harvested, fermented using natural wild yeast and additive-free, other than no or very low sulphites. They should, mostly, not be fined – the process where chemicals are put in wine to reduce astringency and residues – and be only lightly filtered. In summary: minimal human intervention – or as one natural winemaker put it: our work is in the vineyard, not in the winery.

The article says a key natural wines trend is amphorea wines – where the wine is fermented in traditional egg shaped terracotta clay vessels, a process which originated many thousands of years ago when wine was first made in central Europe and parts of the Middle East.

“For the authentic experience, try the Armenian Karasi Areni Noir 2014 made from the Areni grape, which is indigenous to Armenia – a country whose robust red wines are well worth discovering – and named after a village where a 4,000 year old winery was discovered,” the article says.

“An extraordinary, iron-fist-in-velvet-glove wine: a perfumed nose, fresh and medium bodied, yet fabulously rich and powerful on the palate, with grippy tannins and layers of ripe red fruits.”