Michel Bettane’s diatribe against Natural wine in the current print-version issue of the Gambero Rosso monthly came to my attention this morning via the popular Italian wine blog Intravino (where I also grabbed the above image of the French wine writer).

The issue also includes an op-ed by editor Eleonora Guerini in which she writes, “every time that I hear someone talk about natural wine, I begin instinctively to laugh.”

I didn’t bother translating her piece (for obvious reasons) but, in the interest of transatlantic dialog, I have rendered excerpts from Bettane’s harangue in English below.

The image of the page comes from the Facebook of Jonathan Nossiter (via @AliceFeiring). Click the image for PDF version.

*****

We sincerely hope that Italian wine lovers will not be subjected to what has been happening in France: an invasion of so-called “natural” wines — in other words, so called “zero sulfur” wines — with the complicity of numerous sommeliers, wine merchants, and irresponsible journalists…

[These winemakers] insist on making wine without sulfur and they peddle their “beverage” as if it were true terroir.

Their products are easily recognizable: the red wines stink and all of their grape varieties and terroirs end up resembling one another because the nasty native yeasts with which they are made — yeasts that greedily cannibalize the good yeasts if the vinifier allows them to do so — are the same yeasts that you find all over the planet. The wines are cloudy and unstable and they show an excessive presence of carbonic gas, giving the impression that the wine is incomplete.

The white wines — when possible — are even worse: more or less oxidized from the moment of birth and therefore stillborn. Their decomposition is then “managed” posthumously! 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!

…

It’s up to their clients to point out that 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.

With some luck and perseverance, it’s possible to make wines without the addition of suflur. These are simple and very pleasant fruity wines that should be consumed where they are produced. But they need to be stored in a cool cellar and — most importantly — they mustn’t travel!

For every cuvée that turns out well, there will be two or three that are completely wrong.

But who has the means to not sell them and accept responsibility for one’s own errors?

—Michel Bettane and Thierry Desseauve
Gambero Rosso
January 2013

From the department of “still catching up on remarkable wines that I tasted in 2012″…

This extraordinary bottle was the gift of an overly generous friend who sent it to me from Italy, where the bottle once resided in his cellar.

After it had rested in my San Diego cellar for a few weeks in November-early December, I picked it up from my locker and took it to the Jaynes Gastropub staff party on my last visit to California for the year.

There were many incredible wines opened that night, including a 2000 Amarone della Valpolicella from my cellar (always a thrill and always a joy to share).

But the wine of the night was this otherwise unassuming 1990 Chianti Classico Riserva by Lilliano, a venerated but quiet and often overlooked estate in Castellina (one of the core townships of historic Chianti).

It was unbelievably fresh and the fruit wonderfully vibrant and bright. And its singing acidity and judiciously balanced alcohol gave it that gentle zing that makes Chianti — when done right — so food friendly and moreish (we paired with a spread of California charcuterie, cheese, and crusty bread).

One of the most delightful surprises and best wines of my year.

I’ve been thinking about this wine because it was around this time last year that Giulio Gambelli — the legendary “taster” of Sangiovese — passed away (see also this collection of remembrances that I culled from the internets). Gambelli made his mark on so many iconic expressions of Sangiovese of our generation — Soldera, Poggio di Sotto, Monte Vertine, and so many others. But he also continued to consult for taste the wines of many of the historic Chianti estates, like Lilliano (Bibbiano is another one that comes to mind).

There are lightyears between a wine like this earthy and earthly Chianti and ethereal wines like Soldera’s or Poggio di Sotto’s. But there is also unmistakable red thread that unites them: it’s that gentle electricity (I don’t know how else to describe it) that makes traditional Sangiovese so unique in the world of fine red wine.

Many who have followed and observed Tuscan winemaking over the last generation would attribute that signature to Gambelli.

Thank you, FB, for this truly splendid bottle of wine, shared with a group of people I care about deeply.

It reminded me that great Sangiovese was, is, and can always be…