Now that hipster has come to mean anything vaguely to do with young people, you can add hipster wine to the clothes, music and coffee shops. But whereas in most cases hipster has, through overuse, become all but meaningless, when it comes to wine it’s actually quite useful. The word itself might be annoying, but in wine it sums up a genuine change in approach, a change that has been, for the most part, a force for good.
What do I mean by hipster wine? How would you spot one? Well I don’t just mean wine made by hipsters, although many of the wines in the burgeoning genre I’m trying to define are made by men and women in their 20s and 30s who fit the stereotype: beards, plaid shirts, social media smarts and ease with the words “authentic” and “artisanal”.
Nor do I necessarily mean natural wine, even though many wines made using that loosely defined, no chemicals, back-to-basics approach can certainly be seen as hipster. Generally made by a one- or few-person band, hipster wines are in part defined by what they are not: the high-alcohol, over-ripe and oaky or the blandly industrial fare that were summed up by American critic Jon Bonné as “Big Flavour”. They will probably use some of the following techniques in their production: early harvesting to preserve acidity and nerve; the use of neutral containers, such as small egg-shaped concrete tanks or clay amphorae, rather than toasted oak barriques; the fermentation of whole bunches of grapes (including stems) rather than just berries in red winemaking to bring greater complexity and elegance; extended contact with the skins in white wines to bring more grip and depth. There may be some playing around with expectations of colour: whites may be tannic and, indeed, orange; reds light, pale and high in acid.
While it’s possible to make hipster wine from any grape variety, some are more hipster than others. They may be varieties that have been formerly spurned – such as cinsault in South Africa, Chile and southern France or criolla in Argentina – or simply outside the mainstream of local production (Portuguese and Italian varieties in Australia, Jura grapes in California). Or they may just be varieties that have made it, for various obscure reasons, onto a hipster list headed by pinot noir, syrah, gamay and chenin blanc.
The hipster wine scene has the original terroir-obsessed French small producer zones of Burgundy and the Northern Rhône, the stubbornly traditional eccentricities of the Jura, the orange wine visionaries of north-eastern Italy and the volcanic wines of Sicily among its guiding inspirations. And while it can be found all over the world, it has its equivalents of Williamsburg, Dalston and Berlin’s Kreuzberg in Swartland in South Africa, the Adelaide Hills in Australia and the coasts and highlands of California. Its produce can be found in wine bars such as London’s Noble Rot and Sager + Wilde and merchants like Bottle Apostle and Swig.
But for all the self-consciously trendy trappings and pseudo counter-cultural stylings, this isn’t about fashion so much as pushing wine forwards. You may not like hipsters, but, if you give them a chance, you might just love some hipster wines.
Six of the best
Ca’ di Rajo Lemoss Frizzante Non-Filtrato, Veneto, Italy NV
(from £12.30, Prohibition Wines; Red Squirrel)
Hipster prosecco? Yes, really. Unlike supermarket bottles, this has its second, fizz-giving fermentation in the bottle, and, like bottle-conditioned ale, is unfiltered to leave a hazy but flavour-filled super-refreshing fizz with notes of yeasty bread, white flowers, ripe apple and citrus.
Alheit Flotsam & Jetsam Cinsault, Darling, South Africa 2015
(£16.99, Handford Wines; Harrogate Fine Wine)
From Chile to South Africa and its original home in southern France, cinsault has become a hipster grape variety of choice. Here it’s made in a deliciously light (12% abv), briskly refreshing, pinot noir-esque style by one of South Africa’s most exciting young producers.
Daniel Ramos π Amphora, Madrid Spain 2015
(£17.99, Bottle Apostle)
Made in the hipster’s vessels of choice, the clay amphora, from grapes grown in the Gredos mountains near Salamanca, this light-touch red is beautifully done, offering a soothing wash of succulent herb-tinged strawberry, blackberry, and red plum.
Pedro Parra y Familia Pencopolitano, Itata-Cauquenes 2014
(£19.50, h2vin)
Though the country is still dominated by large, play-it-safe corporations, adventurous small producers are starting to emerge in Chile. The work of soil specialist Pedro Parra, this is a gorgeously pure, floral red blend with a lick of salty freshness.
Delinquente Wine Co Bullet Dodger Montepulciano, Riverland, Australia 2016
(from £11.99, Kwoff; Good Wine Shop)
From the cues on the label – “small batch”, “handmade”, David Shrigley-esque illustrations – to the use, in an unfashionable region of Australia, of an Italian variety (montepulciano) rarely found outside its homeland, this could not be more hipster in approach. But the wave of unforced, black cherry fruit is utterly delicious.
Foradori Fonatanasanta Nosiola 2014
(from £30.99, AG Wines; Solent Cellar; Noble Fine Liquor)
The bright yellow-orange colour is the result of leaving the white nosiola grapes on their skins in amphorae for eight months, a process which makes for an intensely engaging and complex experience that’s by turns orchard fruity, herbal, nutty and umami savoury.
