Natural wine signals the death of boring, Starmerite politics.
Three weeks on from the local council elections in England and elections in Scotland and Wales, in which Labour took an absolute beating, and one week on from drinking a delightful natural wine, I am thinking about how to start writing about something. I haven't written creatively or critically since my failed attempt at tackling A-level studies, aged seventeen, and frankly, I have never enjoyed writing. After racking my brain for how to make people read about wine in a way that isn't being done, I welcome you to my first post in which I will explain how the rising interest in natural wine in the UK aligns with the collapse of the labour party. Seriously.
Let's break down natural wine then. Everyone can guess in a simple way what it is. Clean, free of chemicals, minimal sulphur, sustainable etc. etc. What it actually is, or what it can be, is fun and interesting. The wine I was drinking last week for example, Domaine Durrmann - Riesling Sur Grès 2024 (https://waywardwines.co.uk/products/domaine-durrmann-riesling-sur-gres), an incredibly expressive wine, full of citrus zest, peaches, funk and a smooth acidic twist, hazy and beautifully fresh, it was surprising, fun and thoroughly wild. Often when you buy a bottle of natural wine there is a whole world of mystery sealed away by the cork. The wine can be a complete surprise. They are exciting to explore and if you go with an open mind you can become exposed to a new world full of interesting wine and interesting people. This is why it has become more popular. I think there are a few reasons to drink natural wine instead of conventional wine, for example sustainability/environmental reasons, health reasons (no chemicals/additives), and the reason I think most people in the UK are drinking them is because they are cool, fun and interesting.
If you walk through a city today you see so many different styles, people are being themselves and expressing themselves as they want. People want to live, they want to be happy and they want to enjoy things. Trends are not as universal anymore, personal expression is the forefront of Gen-Z. Natural wine represents the want to express and to explore and people are drinking it because the labels are captivating, and the wine reflects that. They are funky, weird and sometimes they are quite shocking. That sentence could be written about natural wine or about Gen-Zers and it would work for either. I think that is the beauty of the current world.
If the wine is getting more interesting and the people are getting more interesting. Then what do people want the politics to be? Interesting. Interesting and Starmer are incompatible, like two positive magnets trying to connect. Starmer has been chasing interest on a treadmill, he hasn't moved an inch. Polanski and Farage are the natural wines of politics, although I'm pretty sure Reform voters won't be frequenting Wayward or Bottle Chop. The point is that they are interesting and that is a big reason why they've built such a huge support recently. On the opposite side is Keir Starmer, he is the Yellow Tail wine. He hasn't done one thing that has been unexpected or raised people's eyebrows, and even if he had introduced some respected policies, he would still be disliked because he is too dull.
Nobody wants a dull life. There are grey buildings and grey pavements everywhere, the people don't need a grey prime minister. They need a natural wine aligned prime minister. Politics that represent living and enjoying life as we are born to and entitled to. As the demand for natural wine increases, the demand for interesting and humane political representation will also increase. So drink natural wine, explore and express yourself, get Labour out (vote Green) and live.
Drink Natural. Drink Clean. Drink Healthy. Live Happy.