As we prepare to release our 2024 Pyramid Valley North Canterbury Orange, I always reflect on its origins as New Zealand’s pioneering “natural wine” when first made by Mike Weersing in the mid 2000’s. I am deeply uncomfortable about it being badged as a “natural wine” though. It is time for a new conversation.
Let’s be clear. Nature does not make wine. People make wine. Without people, wine would not exist; wine does not exist in nature. Does then, the natural wine movement deserve a seat at the real wine table when its moniker doesn’t really exist?
I applaud the idea of the natural wine movement. Every culture needs a counterculture, and a counter to today’s manufactured wines is sorely needed. Also “natural wine” has a nice ring to it.
What rails me, in the words of Raymond Blake in World of Fine Wine, February 2023 is “the holier-than-thou whiff of sanctimony attached to it”, especially when claiming the position of being a true reflection of terroir. These wines are certainly not that. So often they have the sense of place smudged out of them by the random biology of fermentation, viewed from time to time, then bottled by a person. They are more wines of a person than wines of a place. And there is nothing wrong with that - just don’t claim them as natural wines.
A great number of delicious wines with status and personality, including all the wines of Pyramid Valley, are made using most of the same standards as these so-called “natural wines”. Organic or biodynamic grapes, no or limited additions, fermented with natural yeasts and bacteria, and bottled without artificial fining or filtration.
There is one big difference though. The natural wine movement eschews the use of sulphur dioxide at any stage of their production. They claim the wines are more transparent and healthy without sulphur. In this they are on very shaky ground. Sulphur prevents spoilage caused by rogue yeasts and bacteria that blot transparency, and even in small amounts, prevents the production of the health-damaging, headache-causing, biogenic amines that these rogue fermentations can produce. As important, sulphites prevent oxidation, ensuring the wine is stable, has the ability to travel, preserves the characters of the grape, place and winemaker, and provides the opportunity for graceful aging in the cellar.
It is time for an honest conversation about sulphur dioxide and sulphites. Every wine has sulphites even if they are not added. The human body generates sulphites of its own through the natural digestion process. Many claim an allergy to sulphites being the reason for their wine induced flushes or headaches. Other than a tiny proportion of the population with severe diagnosed allergy to sulphites, this is more likely to be due to a peculiar physiological process in your body’s ability to process alcohol, or from specific grape skin phenolics especially in red wines.
Several thousand years ago, the Romans accidentally discovered that by burning sulphur sticks in amphorae, the pleasure, quality and longevity of their wine was preserved. Their innovation laid the platform for its widespread use in wine. We are better with sulphur dioxide in our wine lives, but like most great things in life, best used in moderation.

There is a place in the world for ultra-low-sulphur wines, where truly delicious wines with personality and respect can be made. For me, by far and away the best ultra-low-sulphur wines are skin contact white wines, especially from white varieties that have natural tones of grey, pink, copper and orange in their skins. Their fermentation results in wines with hues stretching from pale salmon through brass, copper, amber and corten rust, all loosely referred to as “Orange” wines. This ancient process, with its origins in Georgia, uses the natural antioxidants in the skins of the grapes to provide some protection against oxidation during winemaking and in the bottle, hence they often have no or minimal additions of sulphur dioxide. The fermentation process requires extremely healthy grape skins and stalks, a resilient, natural collection of wine yeasts and bacteria in the winery, and a careful, attentive human soul to curate and care for these highly vulnerable wines in the cellar. When these stars align, truly delicious wines can be made, especially consumed early and close to home.
Our Pyramid Valley North Canterbury Orange, made by the human, Huw Kinch, served chilled pre-dinner with cheese and olives, gives us a similar sensation to a negroni with its attractive, delicately spicy aroma, slightly bitter orange flavour and nutmeg texture. This is an ultra-low-sulphur skin-contact white wine that we are quite happy to label as “Orange”. And like all our other wines at Pyramid Valley, it deserves its status as a wine of nature.
The sulphite debate is part of a wider, confusing ecosystem of categorisation demanding a deconvoluted solution. Organics, biodynamics, regenerative (even organic regenerative wtf!), sustainable, B-Corp, natural, carbon zero, low sulphur, fair trade – they all create a very muddied landscape. When is someone going to be smart, or even brave enough, to propose a way forward that simply means you are drinking wines that are delicious, healthy, good for the planet, good for people and society and make a true statement about where and who they come from?
Steve Smith MW
Founder and Estate Director
Pyramid Valley, Smith & Sheth, Lowburn Ferry
Aotearoa New Zealand Fine Wine Estates.
For more on the current release of our North Canterbury Orange and availability click here.