Get ready, the liters of wine arrive
If it seemed that the beers, with their craft editions and their refined styles that even include tasting notes, were closer to the wines, the NatCool appear in the winelover universe to counteract this mimesis: Get ready, the liters of wine are coming that you won't want to part with.
Affordable, easy to drink, with a lower alcohol content, very little sulphur, attractive... of those wines that you would drink liters and liters... now it is literally possible to drink liters and liters of wine thanks to NatCool, a wine current born in Portugal which, I hope, is here to stay and, by the way, make drinking wine a more fun and enjoyable activity.
Conceived by one of the “popes” of Portuguese wine, Dirk Niepoort , it is actually a label that wants to become a wine category and that there are bottles from anywhere in the world.
To be NatCool, the wine in question must have link with its origin, it must have a low alcohol content and little intervention in the cellar (what is known as little "cooking", without additives and with low levels of sulfur).
Also, be cheap but not have a price of laughter either (You have to cover costs, dear ones, be wary of the coinage of "this wine is great and it also costs five euros or less"): between twelve and twenty-five euros per liter bottle , that is, a third more wine than normal wine bottles have.
"The idea is not to make the best wine in the world, but the most drinkable wine in the world" , explains Niepoort to the Imbibe publication.
The Portuguese has been summoning and proposing to do NatCool to known producers or friends of yours all over the world, that have produced at least one harvest , though the seal is awarded every year , not because it is done in one vintage the wine will be NatCool in later ones.
People like Alain Graillot in Crozes-Hermitage (Rhone), Black Hands Winery in Argentina or the Spanish Raúl Pérez in Ribeira Sacra, Viña Zorzal in Navarre and Luck of the Marquis in Tenerife they have already produced the first NatCool.
Xabier Sanz Larrea, from Viña Zorzal in Navarra, says that he and his partners wanted to make a NatCool with three peculiarities: a wine without much precedent in Spain, made with a historic variety from the region and inspired by a collaborative spirit that Zorzal regularly practices in Navarra and other places where they have four-handed projects with other producer friends.
Niepoort accepted and the result is a Graciano NatCool , an added challenge because it involves working with a grape that is not easy to turn into cool (it is rustic, with intensity and tannin) , which thanks to concrete and steel has become one of Xabi's favorite wines, and which, despite its low production, hovering around 3,000 bottles , goes like a shot in sales.
“I am fascinated by movement from moment zero, it has everything to be attractive: price, format, the fact that they are wines to drink without worries... ”Comments -Sanz, who assures that this NatCool, which can be found on his website for about 17 euros, is one of his wines “simpler, but that has made us more excited”.
Somewhat more skeptical was Jonatan García when a couple of years ago Niepoort He proposed to make Cool Luck from black listán : "I didn't know how well it was going to be received, but the truth is that it worked quite well," says the Canarian winemaker, who looked for a vineyard where the grapes usually give little proof, dispensed with the wood and got an accessible and easy wine, intended for agent "who drinks fresh wines, with little extraction and little degree" , which can still be found in online stores for about 15 euros.
Are NatCools for sale? Yes , comments Raúl Álvarez, owner of Vinnac, a distributor from Toledo that has carried both wines in his catalog and says that in the case of Zorzal NatCool, he has had to claim more “because the wine is f… mother”. “For me, the most important thing is the message from the NatCool: the first rule is that there are no rules ”, He comments, adding that this rule should apply to the entire world of wine.
In addition, he explains: “making wines like this, with a certain ephemeral character (designed to drink and enjoy, not to keep) avoids speculations in time, and the idea is centered on the enjoyment ”. For him, you can not ask for more: famous producers, cool prices, authentic wines , easy, friendly, understandable for everyone and bottled in sufficient quantity to give yourself a good tribute. Do you join the coolest wine movement?