Comparing wine and coffee is very general. But if we focus on specific topics, we get further. In this blog, we discuss two products that repeatedly spark discussion: natural wine and specialty coffee. Can the two fields learn from each other?
Coffee and wine are cultural beverages that need to be explained and contextualized. Special expressions of both beverage categories require even more effort to fully understand them, such as specialty coffees and natural wines.
In the September issue of the gourmet magazine Falstaff, the cover reads (see photo above): «Natural Wine – Quality or Torture?» Right next to it, another headline: «Coffee. The Latest Trends» Coffee and wine together on the cover of a glossy magazine. Either coffee has arrived where it belongs, or natural wine has managed to become socially acceptable. Or both.
What is Specialty Coffee?
According to the official definition of the SCA, these are coffees that are free from primary defects and score at least 80 points in tasting. These points are determined by evaluating and quantifying the coffee's sensory attributes. We have elaborated on this definition further.
What is Natural Wine?
An answer I really like comes from Martin Helfer in an interview with vi-tis:
«I don't really like using the term natural wine. Wine is a product cultivated by human hands. Grapes don't ferment on their own and become wine.»
Martin Helfer in vi-tis, November 2018
Helfer prefers the term «unadulterated wines, created with as little intervention as possible, meaning biodynamic work in the vineyard, and in the cellar the wine is merely supervised. (…) No «unnecessary» interventions during fermentation, no desulfurization, no filtering or clarification. And no sulfur either.»
It becomes clear: natural (unadulterated) wines thrive on reduction to the essentials. They define themselves through exclusion criteria that are standard in «conventional wines.»
With specialty coffee, it's less about exclusion and much more about a flavor definition. The production method of the coffees has no impact on whether a coffee qualifies as specialty coffee or not. On one hand, the term is not protected; on the other hand, there are no agronomic guidelines that would legitimize a certain practice as specialty.
Specialty coffee = it's about tasteNatural wines = it's about the production method and the taste
A Mature Specialty Coffee Market and an Adolescent Natural Wine Market?
Specialty coffee is a niche and must remain one, otherwise it wouldn't be special anymore. However, a niche can grow. The colorful, trendy, and contentious contributions and concepts these days come from the specialty coffee world, and the larger coffee world watches and copies what makes sense for them. This avant-garde versus mass market relationship is a normal course of things.
Nevertheless, specialty coffee world representatives have managed to make the product socially acceptable and mature with it. Hardly anyone hasn't heard of the «filter coffee trend» or tasted «single farm lots.»
Somewhat dramatically put: specialty coffee has arrived in the middle of society – it's just that not everyone likes it, and that's OK.
Natural wine, on the other hand, carries this absurd constellation within and with itself: the production method is very old, but the market is still very young. My grandparents made wine back in a time before yeast was added to start fermentation. Actually, they were making something like natural wines – they just didn't call it that.
Helfer is asked whether the consumer knows what natural wine is? – «More and more.» However, there is no declaration requirement for wine; the consumer doesn't know what a conventional wine may contain and how much sulfur, it only says sulfite.» Helfer continues and explains:
«Hardly any winemaker says he produces natural wine. He simply produces wine according to his philosophy, always with the highest possible quality and what nature offers him, depending on the year.» He further suggests that at the moment it's a «hype,» but one that will last.
Martin Helfer, vi-tis, November 2018
We've only seen natural wines sporadically in gastronomy so far – where there's a dedicated concept, or where people are a bit bolder. So far, I haven't seen natural wines in your average pub. For them, it's still too special. Perhaps that doesn't have to be the case, and it's the same for specialty coffee. A bit of niche sometimes helps to stay attractive.
Is Taste a Matter of Age?
If we were to calculate the average age of our participants in the coffee-making courses, we would clearly land on a number under 50. There may be many reasons for this, but let's stick with openness to new flavors.
Rethinking coffee, opening up to new tastes, requires some courage. You also have to allow it, since coffee is an emotional product. For many, coffee is the 5-minute meditation, the moment that belongs to them. You might not want someone to tell you how coffee should or could taste.
Wine is often no different – «I don't like French wines» I recently heard someone say in passing at a restaurant. Rigid notions certainly don't help you get to know wine anew. The natural wine audience is likely to be in the under-50 category as well.
Martin Helfer says on the subject: «If you've been drinking your Bordeaux for 30 years, your palate is conditioned to exactly that taste.» Or, as a friend of mine puts it: you can't teach an old monkey how to peel a banana.
Mutual Learning
Specialty coffee is not exactly the youngest, but rather a young phenomenon that is developing rapidly. The Sturm & Drang phase is over; it's on its way to becoming more mainstream-compatible. Sometimes I think natural wines are at a similar point. They still need to prove themselves; one must explain and compare.
However, natural wine has a decisive advantage that we coffee people are also hoping for soon: access to fine dining. Chefs and sommeliers as advocates help establish natural wine. In connection with food, wines – and the food – sometimes appear completely new. With an espresso after the meal, however, less risk is often taken. You generally get what you expect, and that's actually really a shame. More on that in a future post.
A great concept that brings together natural wines and specialty coffee is, for example, the 169 West in Zurich: https://www.gaultmillau.ch/zuri-isst/169-west-pure-trinkfreude
