The Take Over Has Begun! Natty Wine at Whole Foods!

Slowly but surely, big box stores properly tap in with your favorite wine brands.

The dream (for me) has always been that natural wine would become the norm; not a movement within a subculture for cool kids with disposable income or for people who traveled to France once and now only drink “vin nature”…. No, I want all wine on every shelf across the nation to be made using low-intervention methods, organic farming and take the earth and people into consideration. No more mega purple, no more chemicals, just simple wine using grapes that come from nutrient dense soil. I want brands like Stella Rosa and Yellowtail and Belle Glos to fade away into the mist, or at least, overhaul their practices so insanely they are no longer recognizable.

Please note: I do not want “natural wine” to be co-opted by brands in order to squeeze themselves into the movement. No, no. I want this to be an intentional and serious shift in mindset between farmers, producers, customers and stores. Is that a big ask? Yes. It probably won’t happen completely in our lifetime, but we can start taking steps now.

I only buy my wine from local, independent wine shops. This is a form of personal ethics for me—however I know that accessibility is key to shifting wine consumption and many folks simply don’t have access to independent, curated wine shops. So, what if big box stores could carry low intervention or natural wines?

In 2021, I noticed Los Angeles Whole Foods stocking wines like Love You Bunches, Field Recordings, and the occasional STC in their “Local” section, which prompted me to start my “Natural Wines I found at Whole Foods” series on TikTok. Recently though, they have LEVELED UP. This year has brought: Wonderwerk, Pali Wine Co, Land of Saints and just last week spotted Ercole (!!!), J Brix, Scar of the Sea and dare I say it…. FRANK CORNELISSAN (x Patagonia Provisions—which apparently was purchased by Zev Rovine after their wine club flopped).

In my mind, this is an immediate YES and I shared these discoveries widely on Instagram and TikTok—only to be met with mixed reviews. A surprising number of folks felt that Whole Foods entering the wine game was actually harmful to the movement. Some curators said they won’t carry wines that Whole Foods carries because they’re “mainstream”; others can’t wrap their heads around Amazon selling natural wine. I found it interesting because to me, good wine should be accessible, even if it means being a little mainstream. Anything else feels gatekeep-y.

»»I would like to note: NOBODY mentioned concerns about farming practices being strained due to growing demand…. which frankly, is my only concern when it comes to scaling wine. Farmers must be committed to maintaining healthy soil and vineyard practices…

While I’m not surprised that some folks feel uncomfy about natural wine becoming mainstream, I hope that people will consider the movement as a whole and why there can be a lot of longterm positive notes to natural wine entering these spaces. Here’s why I think it’s important:

Supply & Demand

A follower from Austin wrote me and shared that Whole Foods in Austin has carried producers like Tschida, Radikon and Susucaru since 2018. Smaller allocations of course, but an interesting way to test natural wines in a mainstream market.

As the movement expands and people explore wine, we need good examples of what it can be. Making good wine widely available pushes the movement forward. It shows folks what real, low-intervention/natural wine should taste like and provides an entry point for many new natural wine drinkers to begin exploring and eventually seek the smaller, niche producers and shop at the more curated, independent shops who carry them.

As people become more privy to what’s in their wine and care about farming practices, pressure is applied to stores to meet those demands—which includes supporting producers who are eco-conscious. If more consumers demand legitimate low-intervention wines, it will open a market for winemakers to grow their business and support farmers. It might also help push out the highly manipulated, chemical juice being labeled as wine so we can get back to drinking the good stuff. Stores will also feel the pressure to bring in better wines and wineries will feel the pressure to maintain the integrity of wine making and farming—a balance which is crucial for this to work.

Volume Game

Big box stores require volume, which is why we don’t see many natural wines sold there. Most natural producers cannot maintain the volume (and consistency) required by stores like Trader Joes or Whole Foods. It would require A LOT of fruit (aka money) and they would need stores to guarantee purchase before investing in production. While some producers have been able to scale, most run small operations and only produce a couple hundred cases a year, which limits the number of producers in BB stores in the first place.

Initiatives like the Whole Food’s “Local” section are great because they curate a small, rotating selection of locally produced wines, placing them in front of a new audience and allowing them to test into a new market while they learn to scale properly.

Local Wines and Frank Cornelissan

Smaller Shops at Risk?

Not really. There will always be a market for independent shops, especially in the wine world. There are concerns about stores (like Erewhon) buying up large allocations of wines, making it difficult for smaller buyers (restaurants and shops) to carry some wines—which I think is a legitimate concern; but most producers that independent shops carry won’t be carried in BB stores simply due to the volume logistics mentioned above. I always encourage my followers to support their local wine shop (not Erewhon though lol, maybe I’ll leave that for part 2)—but this is a luxury that’s only really found in larger cities. Off the top of my head, I can only think of 5 independent wine shops in the state of Colorado (where I used to live), but I can think of 10+ shops within a 10 mile radius of my home in Los Angeles… Most wine consumers outside of California have to travel relatively far to support locally; so having a few decent wine options at WF isn’t a bad thing while the market grows and expands to less metropolitan areas.

I understand that people can feel protective toward small business, and I hear that! I am too. I don’t think we should stop shopping at our local shops and replace them with supermarket wine. I just think that supermarkets also carrying natural wine is overall better for the consumer AND the winemaker AND the industry in the long run.

At the end of the day, natural wine is a philosophy that falls at the intersection of many important topics—sustainability, capitalism, agriculture holistic practices, food & culture, and even, pop culture…to name a few. As long as it remains in a place where it helps not harms the earth, consumers and the overall joie de vivre of life, we should continue to support and champion it—not gate keep it.

The goal should really be to put as much good wine in the hands of the people and support wine makers and farmers so that they can continue to thrive and not have to survive off a model that only buys a case of their wine each season.