Kopie van SELECTORS 1
My first experience with a natural wine was kind of bizarre. It was a glass on a terrace of a small natural wine cafe in the city of Leuven. It tasted so different and so I had the immediate reflex to think that it must be really bad... But unknown is unloved. When, not much later, I accidentally drank another natural wine, I suddenly became very enthusiastic. I bought a few bottles, started looking up and reading about it and suddenly I was hooked.
Of course, as it is the case with all wines, there are also some poorly made among them. And taste is still something subjective. But I can promise you that if you are open to it you will not be disappointed.
After having tasted and analyzed more than hundreds of bottles, we thought it would be a nice idea to offer ,from time to time, a package of 3 (or in the future more) exceptional natural wines with a nice story but above all with a special and delicious taste.
And so SELECTORS was born.
Our first natural wine package consists of the following three wines:
Wabi Sabi - Orange Moon
In today’s Japan, the meaning of wabi-sabi is often condensed to “wisdom in natural simplicity.” The aesthetic concept of wabi-sabi describes a world where beauty can be defined by imperfection. Something can be beautiful even though it is incomplete or impermanent. Asymmetry, roughness or simplicity are further attributes of this idea. The initial concept derives from the Buddhist teaching of the three marks of existence (impermanence, suffering and emptiness). The goal of the people at Wabi Sabi is to create wines with personality and depth. Furthermore, they work with nature, not against it. Organically treated vineyards offer the ideal conditions for plants, animals and human beings, the resulting wines show their inner harmony and give joy of life.The wines are unfiltered, unfined and need only low or zero additions of sulphur. The name gives a hint: this white (mostly Grüner Veltliner with a dash of Riesling, grapes from biodynamic farming) has been macerated and fermented on the skins for a couple of days in order to add color and extract even more aromas and structure. The light sensation of tannins further enhances the wine’s character. Take me to the moon!
Julie & Toby Bainbridge - Girl on Fire
The base wine was fully fermented using indigenous yeast and then stabilized over winter. Before the start of fermentation some juice was held back and frozen. A week before bottling the frozen juice was thawed and slowly added back to the base wine to relaunch resulting in a juicy “pet nat”. This is Julie’s first cuvee released just to coincide with International Women’s day. In collaboration with Lisanne Van Son, 1€ of each bottle sold will be donated to Solidarite Femmes (www.solidaritefemmes.org) an association that helps women who are victims of violence. Julie and Toby Bainbridge live in the village of Chavagnes les Eaux which is a short drive south from the city of Angers and have been making wines from around 4.5 hectares of vines that he owns around that village. Their wines have certainly made people sit up and take notice. They were included in the sailing of the brigantine "Tres Hombres" when it carried 10 tons of French wine from Brest to Copenhagen under sail for delivery to the world’s most famous restaurant, NOMA. All their wines are bottled in clear Champagne bottles and are capped with crown seals. The clear bottles are used so that you can see the colour of the wine and the crown seals are to eliminate the possibility of cork taint.
2Naturkinder - Vater & Sohn
Nope, this is not a story about Cat Steven’s famous song. It is a story about wine. Vater & Sohn is the joint project between Michael Voelker of 2Naturkinder and his father Bernhard. It’s where Michael’s natural wine philosophy meets his father’s traditional approach. The wines are equally natural as those of 2Naturkinder except for a rough filtering and small addition of sulfur before bottling. The Vater & Sohn wines close the gap between the past and the future of their winery. It reflect what is important to them: family, love and tradition. And they are a clear sign that this little project will keep growing. The whole family estate now is under the 2Naturkinder name though this Vater & Sohn line of bottles still reflects a collaborative farming and viticultural effort between Bernhard and Michael. Floral and citrusy on the nose. Slightly savory and spicy on the palate but with ample fruit: Lychee, peach, and lemon zest. A fresh white to serve as an aperitif or with a simple pasta dish.