(NewWorldWinemaker) - It is a question worth asking, given today’s debate about “natural” winemaking practices. The message is confusing leaving consumers baffled. The answer requires a review of 7,000 years of wine-making history. The first fermentation, for example, was more likely the result of serendipity rather than design. Spontaneously, damaged grapes fermented in harvesting pots and mystified farmers tasted wine for the first time. Those same farmers enjoyed the taste of their creativity, and its effects. They became fascinated by the difference between fermented grape juice and unfermented fruit. They went on to investigate, making empirical observations. They sought to harness natural events and biochemical reactions in repeat “experiments” which could describe early “vintages”, today.