GrapeCrafter

Clark,
Interesting muse. Thanks for including me in the 'tip of the hat' section. Now I know the BG's had it right all along (ok, b,g and a kiss of e).
Staying alive, staying alive.
cheers,
Tony

I was quite interested in your listing of various "natural wine" stances. I do however, think there are more than you have listed. Globalism and wine, wine as business or wine as "art form," a belief in the inherent virtue of small producers vs. suspicions about large commercial ones, etc., etc., all play into and are part of the underlying attitudes that people are taking towards "natural" wine. Not to mention the bias against and fear of science and technology, generally.

It's interesting to reflect that of the people who write about wine, few have a scientific background. Yes, there are a few doctors, but the only one that truly seems to think about science with regard to wine is Jamie Goode.

Most simply have a liberal arts/writing background.

In the next week I'm sure I'll have fun figuring out the constellation of my own stances. And will be thinking about them on May 5 as I'm judging at the first "Green" wine competition.

Help me out here. I’m very open to expanding my list, but I’m not sure your stances constitute constituencies different from what I’ve got so far. For example, fear of science and technology (mostly well-placed) motivates several groups (environmentalists, health-conscious) and is very strong in traditionalists, (though non-existent in conventionalists, since they are comfortable in the status quo world which is utterly technological). However, I don’t see this as a separate group.

Wine as art form is the motivation behind the terroir-centric, which is also anti-globalistic and inherently favors small producers. Do you think it’s a separate constituency?

I think all these consumer groups constitute platforms for wine as business – that’s sort of the point of the article, to help consumers get together with winemakers who are doing it their way.

-Clark