This is how the master of wine Isabelle Legeron debrief the event:
“VinNatur’s aim as an organisation is an extraordinary one: to develop and further our understanding of natural farming and winemaking for the benefit of future generations. So it was an honour to assist them in the setting up of NEW11, a global press and trade focused initiative designed to share a little of the research and experimentation being developed behind closed doors. It was a two-day affair made up of a series of talks followed by a ‘meet and taste’ with 98+ natural wine producers who had gathered from all over Europe. What was especially brilliant about the format was that it really got the dialogue started before journalists, importers and retailers (who’d come from as far afield as Brazil!) went into the tasting. Everyone was in a more focused mental space, thinking about issues pertaining to natural wine and its production, and generally able to engage in a much more productive way. I even had a journalist from Ireland tell me that following Lydia Bourguignon’s talk on tactile tasting, he had gone into the producer’s tasting thinking about a wine’s structure quite differently. All in all, a great first edition. Well done VinNatur!” (Isabelle Legeron MW)