Welcome to Regnfang’s new podcast series on natural wine. For those listeners who are already familiar with the Regnfang podcast, this theme might be a bit puzzling. After all, our podcasts normally tap into the topic of the human mind by interviewing scientists, authors, and artists. What does natural wine have to do with this topic?

For us, natural wine has everything to do with the human mind—ranging from the work in the fields, the vinification, and the drinking of it. We are personally deep admirers; fascinated by the people who make it and the profound experiences these wines offer.

Throughout the years, one question has returned to us again and again: is natural wine an art form, or is it merely an agricultural product? This is an intriguing question. The best answer might be that it is both. Natural wine is clearly an agricultural product. It is produced through the cultivation of the natural environment, through methods such as pruning, plowing, and harvesting. Yet, it also seems to be an artistic product, an art form. Natural wine represents a place, it expresses the spirit of the winemaker, and it offers a deep and multi-modal experience of both perceptual and reflective aspects. That is, natural wine seems to be a unique artistic medium—among other things, because it draws so much on taste and smell, compared to other genres such as music and literature.

In this episode, you will meet winemaker François Blanchard. François makes truly wonderful wine. He works in Le Perron in the village of Lémeré, in Loire. We met Francois at the wine fair La GoulAyance in Paris—a fair he actually arranged together with some of his fellow wine makers. This explains the background noise, and why there is a man yelling in a megaphone towards the end of the interview (the fair was closing and everyone had to stop serving and drinking wine).

As already mentioned, François’ wines are extraordinary. Check out his website and find out how you get a hand on some of his bottles. You find the link in the description for this episode.

Website: http://www.francois-blanchard.com/

We hope you enjoy the interview as much as we did!