The highly credentialed Master of Wine is all about transparency.

Written by Eliza Dumais

Isabelle Legeron was not the first to found a *natural wine fair* — but she wasn’t far off… as is evidenced by the near-overwhelming slew of similar or adjacent events that have cropped up all over the globe since she launched RAW WINE in 2012. No, it doesn’t predate salons like the Loire Valley’s La Dive Bouteille — but, with installments everywhere from New York to LA, and Paris to Tokyo, the fair’s community’s reach is notable, to say the least. 

Legeron’s background, however, owes its roots to more conventional origins. As France’s first female Master of Wine—and one of just over 400 globally—her accolades are many (think: countless awards for “excellence in wine”). Nevertheless, at the end of her studies, she still experienced what seemed to her a lack of transparency in the wine world as to what, exactly, people were drinking, and how it was being farmed. Hence: RAW WINE — a community of winemakers committed to visibility, sustainability, low-intervention production, and responsible farming. 

“I’d been to tastings that felt dark, and damp, and not really reflective of the wines,” she says. “So, I wanted RAW WINE to be an experience representative of the producers who were pouring, and the wines they were making. A real homage to them and their exceptional work”. 

We sat down with Legeron to chat about drinking, salon culture, and the quotations around “natural wine.”

What makes RAW WINE different from other wine fairs? 

Well, for starters, we’re very stringent about vetting. We have very strict policies about sulfite usage, filtering regimes, soil standards, and so on. As much as we care about SO2, we’re also very adamant about organic farming—ideally even regenerative farming. Then, we publish all of that information online because transparency is very important to us. Also, we do our best to bring in winemakers who don’t have representation or distribution — we want to operate as this network that helps support low intervention organic and biodynamic winemakers to the best of our ability.

What were the most essential parts of your *vision* for RAW WINE? 

I wanted to create a global community of natural wine lovers—growers, makers, buyers, importers, distributors, sommeliers, writers, drinkers—that could act in unison. Something that could grow and carry people with it, becoming more and more visible and drawing more and more people into the fold. My vision was always to do my bit to help change the wine industry for the better through promoting better farming (less pesticides, less herbicides and a greater understanding and respect for the living) and better wine (cleaner, healthier and, to my mind, tastier).

To do this, we not only had to have strict, transparent entry requirements, but also an event structured so as to allow the wines to be fairly evaluated even by the most reticent, conventional wine professional. 

We’ve also had to reach out beyond the wine industry, making huge efforts to incorporate people in other fields—which helps shift the dial because, in the end, it isn’t the industry itself that will make the change, but the consumers demanding something different. 

In the end, however, RAW WINE is actually all about the growers and makers, themselves. We’re there for them: To support them whenever and however we can, by creating great tasting environments, helping them find new markets and stockists, and helping drinkers understand their philosophies and wines.

Do you think the culture around “natural wine” has changed substantially since you started RAW WINE?

Of course! Living wine is back on the up; it’s wonderful to witness. And it’s not just that the natural wine world itself is burgeoning, but also, that the conventional trade is listening. More and more conventional producers are looking to do things differently—and even some classic wine education programs now feature natural wine in some capacity. It’s a joy to see. 15 years ago, people didn't talk about natural wine, and now it's all over the place.

Our fairs are full of young growers who are in their second, or third vintage. There's a whole new generation of people taking over from their families and changing the winemaking and farming practices. There’s such amazing dynamism, energy, and can-do spirit in the natural wine world right now—and it feels very enlivening.

At the same time, there are also growers who have been with us since the beginning — and who, in my experience, are making better and better wine, and becoming better and better farmers every year. Increased public acknowledgment and appreciation for their work has helped them build the confidence to push things further in their vineyards and in their cellars, with great results. Their vines become more and more connected to their soils and their hard work carries through into their wines each year. So in that sense, even the parts of the scene that haven’t technically changed are still evolving.

Where do you think “natural wine” has gone wrong?

 I think we really need to focus more heavily on delivering wines that are drinkable, well crafted, and balanced. In the world of natural wine, it should no longer be acceptable to pour wines that are mousy, unbalanced, or fragile, and expect that the market is going to buy them.

I think we’re seeing this in all markets: people are leaning away from some of the crazier bottles and returning to more controlled styles. Winemakers need to be very conscious of when they’re harvesting, and pay great attention to alcohol levels, or stability. When juice doesn’t turn out exactly as they want,  they can’t just take a wine that’s been harvested too soon and make skin contact out of it to solve the problem. I know everyone wants these very Instagrammable punchy colors and fun labels. Glou glou low alcohol wine. But sometimes that’s not the right choice for your wine. Some of my favorite producers at RAW WINE have no social media, and their labels are not cool, but they’re making amazing things.

And how has the event that is RAW WINE shifted since its inception? 

I’d like to think that we actually haven’t really changed. For me, from the beginning, I had a vision for the fair, and it’s the same vision I have now. I’ve always felt a big responsibility towards the growers—I really want the growers to have an amazing experience and for it to be worthwhile for them to travel. Plus, our standards of quality certainly haven’t changed. 

The biggest shift is probably that, over time, we’ve gotten more organized. At the start, it was just me and my wife working around the clock. It felt like a 24/7 job for the first three or four years.  But now, I have a team, and we’re so much better at doing everything that we do. We have a great system, and a great team who are really excellent at handling the production side of things so I can focus on my network of growers and trade professionals.

How is RAW WINE adapting to so much growth? 

It’s all about being smart and intentional about where that growth is taking you. We didn’t decide to go to LA because it sounded like fun — the natural wine scene was just beginning and local importers asked us to come. Growers were happy to go, and in the end, it made sense. Then last year, we decided to go to Shanghai because the growers felt strongly about us heading out there and we figured we’d love to help build the nascent scene.  

Of course, the logistics of organizing an event in China are tough. We've already spent time there. It took us three years to prepare for Japan because the details are hard to manage from afar: getting samples there, insurance, the language... You want to be incredibly respectful in every possible way to the culture so it takes a lot of work to make sure you’re really doing things right. Things like that are a great challenge, but they’re also what keep us moving.

Everything you need to know about RAW WINE Paris: 

When: February 9th from 12-6pm & February 10th from 12-5pm

Where: Espace Clacquesin (18 avenue du Maréchal Leclerc, 92240 Malakoff)

How: Tickets are available for 15 euros on the RAW WINE website.  

Will SWURL be there? Oui oui!