Everything You Need To Know About RAW WINE: New York
A complete guide to the long-standing natural wine fair landing in Brooklyn this weekend.
Written by Eliza Dumais
It’s our fashion week (wine fair season)...and up next on the docket is none other than RAW: a natural wine fete that’s been roaming the globe for centuries (since 2012) as home to one of the world’s largest communities of low-intervention organic, biodynamic and natural wine growers & makers.
Founded by Isabelle Legeron — France’s first female Master of Wine (humbly) — RAW offers a proper year-round programme of wine fairs stationed in New York, Los Angeles, Montréal, Toronto, Berlin, Paris, Copenhagen and Tokyo (all the greatest hits, globally). Mind you, the fair came to be at a time when “natural wine” earned far less air time amongst drinkers and industry veterans than it does today. Yes, salons like France’s La Dive Bouteille have been operating since pre-2000 — but stateside, the OG RAW iteration was certainly ahead of its time.
Of course, the world of low-intervention wines — as well as wine fair culture writ large — has shifted substantially since the dawn of Legeron’s fair, but nonetheless, her principles remain fairly standard: Championing standards of farming and low-intervention production in a way that benefits the land as much as it does wine-consumers. And to that end, the stipulations for participating vignerons are fairly stringent: Organic or biodynamic farming, hand-harvested grapes, no added yeasts, enzymes, or sulfur over the quantity of 50 mg/l, the list goes on. Which is to say, you can trust that the wines on display at any given RAW event are up to Legeron’s lofty standards. Moreover, even for long-time veterans of the fair, this year’s iteration will include over 50 new-to-RAW producers, so there’s still plenty of new juice to sample.
With that in mind, as the New York event looms closer, here’s everything you need to know about RAW WINE: New York, 2024.
When is the fair?
Sunday, November 10 from 12 to 6 pm, and Monday, November 11 from 12 to 5 pm.
Where is the fair?
This year’s event is located at the 99 Scott space in Bushwick, Brooklyn.
99 Scott Avenue, Brooklyn, New York 11237
How do I get tickets?
Tickets are available online — at the price of $70 for members of the public, and $30 for trade members.
Is this event only open to industry personnel?
Absolutely not. While there will certainly be plenty of trade patrons present, the fair is just as excited to welcome members of the public.
Will SWURL be there?
Yes, we’ll be by the merch table! Come say hi (or don’t, whatever, we don’t care)((we do)).
Will there be food?
Yes! There will be bites from Decades Pizza and Insa, as well as coffee from Sey.
Who are this year’s participating producers?
Find a list of participating producers here.