Why We Care About Natural Wine
Not all wines tell a story. Some are crafted to be predictable—designed for consistency, smoothed over with additives, and stripped of the nuances that make wine compelling in the first place. But the wines we love—the wines we pour at Otherside Wine Bar in Glen Cove—are different. They aren’t engineered to taste the same year after year. They are alive, shaped by the land, the climate, and the people who make them.
Our approach to wine has been influenced by voices like Alice Feiring, whose book To Fall in Love, Drink This is a love letter to wines with character. Feiring champions wines that reflect where they come from—wines made without shortcuts, without manipulation, and without losing sight of their origins. That’s what natural wine is all about: letting the vineyard and the winemaking process speak for themselves.
Why Industrial Winemaking Falls Flat
Modern winemaking often prioritizes efficiency over authenticity. Many large-scale vineyards function as monocultures, growing a single grape variety across vast stretches of land. This approach makes production easier, but it also strips wine of its complexity.
Less Biodiversity, Less Character – A vineyard with only one type of grapevine is more susceptible to disease, pests, and fungi, which spread easily without natural checks and balances. The solution in conventional winemaking? Chemical sprays. But in a vineyard where biodiversity thrives, those problems are often solved naturally.
Manipulated in the Cellar – Industrial wines are often adjusted with additives—commercial yeasts for controlled fermentation, tannin powder for structure, acid corrections for balance. These techniques make wines taste uniform, but they erase the personality that comes from the land itself.
The Soil Matters More Than You Think – The best wines come from healthy soil, where vines have to work for their nutrients. But when synthetic fertilizers take over, the soil loses its depth, and the wine loses its sense of place. A vineyard that’s alive with diverse plant life and microbial activity creates wines with more depth and complexity—it’s that simple.
Better Farming, Better Wine
At Otherside, we seek out wines that reflect the care put into the vineyard. Not because we’re following a trend, but because it’s just better wine.
Biodiversity Leads to More Expressive Wines – When a vineyard is treated as a living ecosystem—with wild plants, insects, and natural cover crops—it creates a more resilient environment that requires fewer interventions. And that translates into wines with more energy and personality in the glass.
Minimal Intervention Means More Honest Expression – Natural wines aren’t about doing nothing. They’re about knowing when to step back and let the grapes do the work. By using native yeasts and avoiding unnecessary additives, winemakers let the unique qualities of each vintage shine through.
Farming Isn’t Just Practical—It’s an Art – The best winemakers understand that how they treat their vineyard directly shapes the wine. The careful balance of sun, soil, and vines determines whether a wine is one-dimensional or deeply layered.
Why This Matters at Otherside Wine Bar
We love wines with a sense of place—bottles that reflect where they came from, who made them, and the land they grew on. The wines we pour are made by people who trust their vineyards and don’t rely on artificial fixes to get the job done. The result? Wines that are alive, dynamic, and interesting.
Alice Feiring once wrote, “Wine is the canary in the coal mine of agriculture.” It tells us more than we think—not just about flavor, but about the choices behind it. When a wine is made naturally, it tastes more like itself—more vibrant, more expressive, and more connected to its origin.
That’s why we care about natural wine. Not because it’s a movement or a philosophy, but because it simply makes for better wine.