(Vogue) - Organic, biodynamic, and natural wines were once on the fringe of the wine world. Composting instead of using pesticides? Harvesting grapes according to the moon’s rhythms? Fermenting with native yeasts? Such practices were the domain of eccentrics and hippies. Nowadays, natural wines are all the rage in such culinary capitals as Paris, London, Tokyo, and New York. Tapping into their allure requires an open mind and a curious palate. The philosophy behind this grassroots winemaking movement is to let Mother Nature do most of the work in the vineyard and to intervene as little as possible in the cellar. In other words: no chemicals on the grapes and as few additives as possible in the bottle.

Hang on a tic. Additives? It’s true: To fully appreciate the art of making wine naturally, one must understand how wines are made conventionally. The majority of wines lining your local liquor store shelf were probably made with more than just grapes. Modern winemaking relies on ingredients like commercial yeasts and enzymes to ferment the wine, as well as additives to deepen its color, enrich its texture, boost its acidity, and sweeten its taste. What’s more, pesticides and herbicides have become commonplace in the vineyard. Many vintners spray their grapes not only to kill pests and disease, but as a routine preventative measure even when nothing at all is wrong with them.

“When I started, 25 years ago, making organic wine was out of the question,” says Catherine Papon-Nouvel of Clos Saint-Julien in Bordeaux, France. “Chemicals were considered progress. We applied them without thinking about it or observing what the vineyard needed. Over time, I found that conventional farming wasn’t satisfying me intellectually.”

She made the switch to a more holistic approach and now treats her vineyard like a living being. For example, after a terrible hailstorm a few years ago, she decided to soothe the vines the way she might a friend. She misted them with lavender, which not only revived the damaged vines, but calmed the workers who tended them. Her vineyard recovered faster than her neighbors’, who treated theirs chemically.

“After World War II, when the use of chemicals in agriculture started to spread, my grandfather resisted the trend. So we’ve always been organic,” says Elisabeth Saladin of her family estate in France’s Rhône valley. “We grow the most beautiful grapes we can. Then, in the cellar, it’s a piece of cake. We barely have to do anything. It’s all very Zen, very natural.”

Before chemicals and high-tech machinery were the norm, the equation for making wine was simpler. Grapes were cultivated according to a farmer’s common sense and intuition. They were picked by hand, crushed by foot or using a mechanical press, then fermented in small batches thanks to yeasts found living on the grape skins and hidden in the nooks and crannies of the vats. A growing number of vintners are embracing the old-fashioned way of doing things, from farming organically to fermenting naturally. Others are going further, using methods like biodynamics: a farming philosophy that can be likened to organics on steroids, with a little mysticism thrown in.

“The first thing you notice when you start farming biodynamically is the vineyard transformation,” says Thiébault Huber, a winemaker in the Burgundy region of France. “The soil is much more alive, the vines stronger. Then the wines are more alive, too.”

Much of biodynamics boils down to thoughtful agriculture––biodiversity in the vineyard, crop rotation, composting. Some of the more esoteric practices include pruning and harvesting according to lunar cycles and compost preparations that mix local cow manure with medicinal herbs like yarrow blossoms and stinging nettle. It may raise eyebrows, but winemakers who go to such lengths in the vineyard often end up with happier, healthier grapes, which translates into more vibrant, expressive wines.

For those of us reared on organic, unprocessed foods, this sort of winemaking sounds sensible. Conventional winemakers argue that certain additives are necessary to correct flaws in wine or prevent them from developing in the bottle. Sulfur dioxide, for one, is a common preservative, added to keep wine fresh. Only the most hard-core natural winemakers forgo it altogether.

Unlike organics and biodynamics, which are clearly defined and certifiable methods, the term natural is harder to explain. For some, it means farming strictly organically and adding nothing to the wine at all. For others, it means intervening as little as possible in the cellar, including avoiding commercial yeasts, additives, and filtering agents.

Doctrinal differences aside, natural winemakers share a vision. They’re given to talking about energy: the vigor of the vineyard, the vitality of the wine. But just how does it taste? “Natural wines can be funky,” says Caleb Ganzer, head sommelier at La Compagnie des Vins Surnaturels, the New York outpost of a Paris bar. As in: earthy, floral, redolent of mushrooms. “They can be briny or tart. Sometimes they’re fizzy. Unfiltered wines can be cloudy. Or they can taste just like conventional wines. You’ve probably had one without knowing it.”

James Murphy, the ex-frontman of LCD Soundsystem and a partner in the Brooklyn wine bar The Four Horsemen, doesn’t have much use for labels. The term natural is “similar to the term punk in its vagueness,” he says. Yet his first experiences with these wines were revelatory: “They felt very alive . . . like young first love.” Years ago, he had a wine that looked like homemade cider and tasted like white fruits but had the texture of red wine. He recalls thinking it was “madness,” but it drove him to seek out other “‘wild” wines.