I had a conversation with my Dad recently – as he was drinking a bottle of the Else Wines Skin Contact Muscat – made by powerhouse winemaker Kelsey Rufiange of Echo Bay, located in Okanagan Falls. I've long been a fan of Kelsey as she embodies qualities I revere, especially when it comes to winemaking – a humble, quiet, confident nature, coupled with a fearlessness of experimentation and a never ending evolution of style.

Kelsey is making wines in such a way that have become wildly popular in recent years: naturally.

Call it whatever you like, but be prepared for some eye rolling, scepticism and haters to question your choices should you delve into this arena.

Natural wine exposes methods of traditional winemaking – certain techniques that not all producers may want you, the general consumer, to be aware of. 

My Dad had reached out to me after he'd opened the muscat – a wine I highly recommended he try – and was a little confused. "This wine is cloudy", he shared, with evident confusion and some disdain.

He's grown accustomed to a certain "look", that wineries have worked hard to condition into the average consumer's psyche – that all wine should be clear and pristine. 

My belief is that filtering wine removes a lot of flavour – and it's generally done purely for aesthetics. 

Brian McClintic, a master sommelier turned winemaker, shared his thoughts on cloudy wine in a recent social media post:

"When I first got into wine, I was taught hazier (often unfiltered) wine was automatically unstable or flawed. It has been very difficult for me to shed this misnomer.

But over time, I have come to prefer the range of flavours, irreplaceable energy and probiotic benefit of wines that have not been stripped of their "juju" through filtration, and to add a little more confusion – it is perfectly possible in most cases to have an unfiltered wine (white or red) go clear if it is aged long enough in vessel.

It is also possible to have a cloudier wine for other reasons, some potentially attractive (ie: skin contact wines) and some, not so attractive "(hygienic issues)."

It's understandable that one might feel uneasy drinking wine that looks similar to a milkshake – but shedding the belief that all wine needs to be clear will expand your horizons to new heights – and flavours. 

What are your thoughts on a cloudy wine? 

Are you willing to give it a try?