Lo Fi Wine Movement

What's a lo-fi wine?

Wine is an amazing product, and yet it's amazingly simple. You get grapes, squish them, and then let the juice turn into wine. Voila! Lo-fi or minimal intervention/handling wines are meant to be made with as few human actions as possible. This idea sounds great, but it also requires a careful hand because there is nowhere to hide when ditching winemaking tools like filtration and cultured yeasts. However, there is a certain joy in knowing that what you're drinking is as unadulterated as possible and that the best lo-fi wines are bursting with life and purity. More than just a very pure expression of fermented grape juice, lo-fi wines are a way of life. Plenty of us love the unadulterated expression of lo-fi and 'natural' wines, which typically ditch any additions (bar a little preservatives at bottling, though that's also controversial). For this pack, we've pulled together a few lo-fi wines that are delicious without being divisive. They're charismatic and unique wines made with as little intervention as possible.

Three tasty minimal intervention wines

1. Punch Wines 'Pet Blanc' Sparkling Chardonnay 2021 James Lance loves making Pet Nat-style natural sparkling wines, but for 2021, he wanted to make 'absolutely the best Pet Nat that we could', including disgorging the wine like a more traditional sparkling to get the bubbles exactly right. Still unfiltered and made with minimal intervention, the result is a tangy but polished sparkling that is lemony, creamy and nutty all at once. Fascinating wine! 2. Lo Havoc Syrah 2023 After a five-year-long apprenticeship working in Australia and France at the likes of Toolangi Vineyards, Mount Mary Vineyard, Little Reddie, Place of Changing Winds, Alice & Olivier De Moor, winemaker Tim has given birth to his wine label baby, Lo Havoc. Sourced from the famous Malakoff Vineyard in western Victoria's Pyrenees, this light, bright and adventurous minimal intervention red throws a whole different shade to what Aussie Syrah/Shiraz should taste like. Inspired by the bright reds of the Loire in France, this is a juicy and purple-fruited wine with such energy and life, carried along with a whole spice cabinet of Pyrenees flavour and finishing with life-affirming tannins. 3. Alegre y Valgañón 'Clarito' Rosado 2022 Here is the story behind 'Claríto'. Spanish importer Scott Wasley and his artistic partner Leah, along their many sojourns to Spain, discovered a 'pink' mystery. They came across a curious wine style, and realised it was sadly on the verge of extinction. Known as 'clarete', they simply couldn't find this wine anywhere. Pale salmon in colour, yet slightly orange-hued, this looks very much like a classic rosé, but with much more to it. There's a little watermelon and orange and it smells pretty, but that's a ruse - this dry, savoury, complex rose/rosado/whatever you want to call it is more than just another plain pink. Fascinating wine!

Interesting to note

There's a subset of natural wines known as 'zero zero' which describe wines made with no additives of any kind that aren't naturally found in the grape. No added yeast, sugar, acid, or preservatives and no fining or filtration. Zero zero wines are fascinating, sometimes wild, wines that are so hot right now. We love 'em, but also know that they can be wildly variable. Wine's pretty amazing, hey?