Biodynamic vs Organic vs Natural: What's the Difference?

These terms get thrown around interchangeably, but they mean very different things.

Organic wine means the grapes are farmed without synthetic pesticides or fertilizers. In the EU, it also limits sulfite additions. But organic wine can still use commercial yeasts, enzymes, and other additives in the cellar. It's about the farming, not the winemaking.

Biodynamic wine follows Rudolf Steiner's agricultural philosophy from the 1920s. Think organic farming plus lunar planting calendars, herbal preparations, and treating the vineyard as a self-sustaining ecosystem. Demeter is the best-known certification. Many drinkers find biodynamic wines have a purity and energy that's hard to describe but easy to taste.

Natural wine is the most radical: organic or biodynamic farming, native yeast fermentation, no additives, minimal or zero sulfites. There's no official certification in most places (France's voluntary Vin Méthode Nature label, created in 2020, is the closest thing), so it mostly relies on trust between producer and drinker. It's a philosophy more than a label.

The overlap is significant. Most natural wines are farmed organically or biodynamically, certified or not. But not all organic wines are natural — a big organic brand can still use a long list of permitted additives in the cellar.

Our take: start with what tastes good to you, then work backwards to understand why.