Order a glass of wine at Rocca Pizzeria in Mid City, and there’s a 90% chance that it’s considered “natural.” Thanks to wine manager Sean Courtney, the popular Mid City restaurant’s wine list is stacked with so-called natural wines, or wines produced from organically grown grapes farmed with non-mechanized methods and finished without any additives. Courtney made the decision to shift the wine list in this direction about a year ago.
“It’s a very different experience for our customers, but one I thought was important to offer,” Courtney says. “We got a few salty looks at first, but people have really responded to it.”
A generalized term that varies among winemaking regions, natural wines came onto the scene about 20 years ago, and they’ve slowly been gaining traction in the wine world. A number of Rocca’s natural wines are Italian, and they’re made by small, boutique vintners with small production runs. Rocca’s wine list, therefore, frequently changes.
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But there’s always plenty to choose from. Of the restaurant’s 22 wines by the glass, 18 are natural, as are 90 of its 100 bottles.
Many of the natural wines are approachable, but a few feature slight funkiness, resulting from natural yeast and no synthetic alteration. If you’re unsure—and many of us fall into this category—ask for help. Rocca’s servers and bartenders have been trained to answer questions and provide samples.
For many wine aficionados, this is wine at its most authentic. roccapizzeria.com
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KEY TERM
Natural wine
Organically grown grapes are farmed with non-mechanized methods and finished without any additives.
90
Percent of Rocco’s bottle list that consists of natural wines.
This article was originally published in the May 2022 issue of 225 magazine.