Natural wines – I don’t think so

In these days of endless chit chat about natural winemaking and natural wine, some will see the three-day course to be conducted by Professor Roger Boulton at Melbourne University from the 2nd to 4th December a healthy antidote.  He has been a senior figure at the University of California Davis for many years, and has been a long term friend of the Australian wine industry, not surprising given his Australian education. The course will cover the application of chemical engineering principles for the effective production of high value wines, and the design and operation of sustainable wineries in an era of reduced water availability. He was the key figure in the design and development of the first platinum-scored winery at UC Davis, with its advanced wireless network monitoring and controlling its 150 fermenters, allowing research wines to be made reproducibly and precisely. As I say, it’s the furthest end of the spectrum from natural wines.