Living wine: what is it and what is the difference with natural/organic wine?

We love bon vivants. These people who crunch life to the fullest and show us that it doesn't take much to have a smile on their face. A glass of wine usually makes everyone agree to have a good time, so imagine with a living wine !

Living wine, what is it?

We reassure you right away, living wine will not come out of the bottle and start walking on its own, when we talk about the living, we are talking about life and nature!

Definition of living wine

A living wine is a wine which moves , which evolves , which is, like nature, spontaneous and unpredictable . A living wine is a natural wine that is called living , or free , because the winemaker lets it express itself without adding inputs and chemicals .

Even if they are few in France, winegrowers with the philosophy of natural wine are passionate about the vine and they are very committed to the fight against the excessive use of chemical phytosanitary products and non-natural inputs . For them, wine is more than a drink and the vine more than a shrub, and they are right. Yes, these are products of the earth that must be cherished and nurtured with love. Pierre Jancou , a famous Swiss cook and fervent defender of raw and natural cuisine, notably wrote a book called “ Vin Vivant ” to talk about his unconditional love for these wines full of charisma and highlight passionate winegrowers .

The production of living wine

The winegrowers who produce natural wine have come together in an association, which is called the AVN (Association des Vins Nature) , with which they have established rules of good conduct for producing their wine. The winegrowers share their know-how , their techniques and work in complete transparency . Like biodynamic wines, organic wines or even conventional wines , natural wines have precise specifications but they are not framed by labels such as Demeter for biodynamic wines or AB for organic wines .

When you love, you don't count, and for natural wines it's even simpler, you don't need to count because the winegrowers simply don't add any inputs . Many winemakers do not fin and filter the wine , which gives it a cloudier appearance. It is a choice assumed by these winegrowers who offer a wine that appears less “sexy” but much more natural in the bottle , and very good in the mouth ! And as they say, don't judge a book by its cover.

Conventional wines tend to be vinified with many inputs including sulfur . Sulfite levels are very high for conventional wines , so for natural wine, the solution was radical, the doses are at least divided by five and some wines do not even contain any at all . For winegrowers to be able to afford such feats, their grapes must be perfect.

As Christian Chaussard , a very committed winegrower, said, “if we have balanced grapes, there is no reason to unbalance them by any addition” . They are therefore clean wines , far from any chemical intervention and harmful addition to health. And that we love at Oé!

Why drink live wine?

At Oé, all the reasons are good to help yourself to a glass of organic wine because you can't refuse pleasure. We reassure you, we always taste our wines in moderation. A living wine is a wine full of history and mystery... An additional reason to revel in its nectar.

The harmony between wine and land

We greatly respect the workers and the lovers of their land. We have the image in mind of the old peasants who take care of their fields as they take care of a child. Many wine estates are passed down from generation to generation. They represent more than a vineyard , it is a real sentimental heritage, historical baggage, a land of love and harmony between man and nature.

The philosophy of biodynamics takes on its full meaning when you are a nature lover. Follow the lunar cycles , ban chemical pesticides, create a natural ecosystem to make the vines and their environment work together . As in organic viticulture , we refuse the short-term ease offered by chemical phytosanitary products in conventional viticulture to maintain a sustainable and healthy soil.

If you want to know more about biodiversity, we recommend these few articles:

To make a living wine , the winegrowers give priority entirely to the work of man and his hands. The machine has no place on the plots of vines and the harvest is done by hand . It's a long-term job but as they say, after the effort, the comfort and your glass of organic wine . It is with pride and love that natural wines are made , living wines that fully express the terroir and the grapes .

France is full of magnificent wine regions which each have their own specificity and which offer a particular typicity to the wine produced on their land. Let's take advantage!

Discover our article on Champagne, an essential wine region in France.

The good natural taste of organic wine

Have you ever compared the taste of a good freshly squeezed orange juice with that of a juice you can buy in the supermarket? Well there is no photo, nothing can match the good taste of real things .

For living wine , the winegrowers ' approach is the same. They want to transcribe as closely as possible the natural taste of the grape when it is vinified and when it is not crushed by dozens of inputs . Some producers artificially add tannins to give more consistency in the mouth or put wood chips in the vats to give the wine more character. For natural wines, there is no question of distorting the wine or cheating on its taste. They are also called free wines because they can express themselves naturally without being fooled by external elements.

Natural wine evolves rapidly over time and is very sensitive to its environment which makes it less stable, more difficult to store and transport . These wines are made to translate the pleasure of the local, the present and the natural.

Committed winegrowers proudly display the colors of niche wines with small cuvées as opposed to mass-produced wines.

Treat yourself to our selection of red wines, white wines and rosé wines . Our good organic wines are committed and produced hand in hand with our winegrowers .

Discover our wines Côtes-du-Rhône , Languedoc , Bordeaux , Vaucluse Principality of Orange and Mediterranean of Provence .