© AFP/Gambero Rosso/Colombaia

L-R: Michel Bettane and Thierry Desseauve; Gambero Rosso; Colombaia Italian natural wine

Italy's natural wine producers won't take insults lying down.

Italian natural wine producers are hitting back at wine critics Michel Bettane and Thierry Desseauve for their “offensive” comments in Italian wine magazine Gambero Rosso.

In the January issue of the magazine, Bettane and Desseauve slammed natural winemakers, the wines they produce and the people who serve them. While natural wine producers claim they are making wines that are better reflections of their place, the critics took a different view: “What they believe is a wine closer to 'nature' is actually nothing more than a bad wine whose only intention is to give you a headache.”

The pair also claimed that all red wines produced without sulfur dioxide “stink” and show a sameness because of "nasty native yeasts." They added that white wines made this way were oxidized.

Those who sell and promote the wines – including sommeliers, wine merchants and “irresponsible” journalists – are also to blame, according to Bettane and Desseauve.

“We are amazed by the ingenuousness of the many excellent chefs who now only include such wines on their lists. They are so careful about their food: they should be the first to be ashamed of such rotten wines.”

The magazine’s editor also provoked the anger of the country’s natural winemakers by writing that “every time that I hear someone talk about natural wine, I begin instinctively to laugh.”

In response to the criticism, the country’s four natural wine producer associations, representing 205 wineries, sent a letter to Gambero Rosso in early February. They have since been told it will not be published. Undeterred, the producers have posted their response to last month’s “aggressive” articles in an online open letter.

“It is as if natural and artisanal wine is the enemy to be crushed at any cost, not as an alternative to conventionally-made wine that should be respected,” the letter declares.

“Frankly, we have the feeling that you are not up-to-date with what is happening in the world of wine. To accuse producers of natural wine as only being able to produce defective, oxidized and malodorous bottles is a contradiction. Even your magazine regularly judges – and awards – wines produced from natural wine producers,” the letter says.

“We are convinced that a healthy and critical attitude should be based on debate examining the merits and faults (which we acknowledge there are) of the growing natural wine sector, to inform the public in an objective way instead of throwing around words like ‘faulty, ‘volatile’ and ‘oxidized.'”

The producers have also defended the chefs who sell natural wines in their restaurants, whom Bettane and Desseauve directly attacked. "We find it surreal that you accuse good French chefs of ‘ingenuousness’ choosing to serve wines that are not heavy, sweet nor over-oaked," say the producers, adding that the natural wines "complement their food rather than overpowering it.”

“There is space for everybody – small and large, natural, organic, biodynamic and conventional producers – provided that producers work in an ethical and responsible way,” the letter concludes.

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