In some ways, the natural wine movement and I grew up together (from afar). It was 2011 and I was just starting out as a sommelier when Tom Shobbrook and the late Sam Hughes (in neon pink hot pants, no less) came bursting through my door with their newest vintage of Natural Selection Theory wines (crafted alongside Anton Von Klopper and James Erskine). Twelve years on, that first meeting still lives in my mind and I hold it dear as I reflect on the impact a group of winemakers in South Australia’s Basket Range had on the entire Australian wine industry, for better and worse.
It’s a complicated story to tell but it’s one Tom Keelan, winemaker and ex-president of the Adelaide Hills Wine Region and I have discussed many times over the years: how the natural wine movement was bouyed by charismatic storytellers. “The winemakers would go meet sommeliers and buyers and share stories. For so long, wine selling has been about talking about awards and how the wine was made – but the natural wine movement got people to buy into a story.” These winemakers had the advantage of being funny and personable; treating sommeliers like friends when establishment winemakers made sommeliers the brunt of their “wine wankers” jokes.
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