Skip to main content

What Is Slow Wine? Here’s What You Need to Know

As life gets faster, the slower aspects of culture and society gain cool points again. The culinary arts are a perfect example: Once subjected to convenience and pace in the name of industrial efficiency, they are at least to some extent moving back to their snail-paced roots. With no disrespect to any number of perfectly adequate fast-food chains, slow food tastes better. It’s thoughtful, deliberate, and time-tested. It’s better.

wine making in a barrel
Morsa Images/Getty Images

The same goes for wine and just about any commodity that requires some thought and expertise to assemble. The Slow Wine movement echoes that. Formally born in Italy, it has spread outward anywhere wine is deemed important. The movement has adopted many of the criteria that define a good, home-cooked dish. Better still, the trend is longsighted, giving the serious treatment to things like sustainability and healthy growing philosophies.

Related Videos

You’ve probably heard the related catchy slow jam from 1993, but Slow Wine is much more than a Tony Toni Tone track. It’s a state of mind, a framework for farming, a holistic perspective. It’s calling post-industrialization agricultural techniques into question and demanding that we think more about getting something drinkable into a bottle. Greta is reminding us of global warming. Slow Wine is reminding us of a more conscious way to make one of the world’s oldest beverages.

The first edition of Slow Wine’s guide will turn ten next year. Every version since has re-evaluated wineries, weighed their merits, and added new labels accordingly from all over the planet. The 2019 guide included Oregon for the first time, a tip of the Old World hat to the state’s incredible, still-evolving scene.

Giancarlo Gariglio
Giancarlo Gariglio/Slow Wine

When Giancarlo Gariglio and Fabio Giavedoni were working on the first edition, the wine scene — and the food scene at large — constituted a very different animal. Enthusiasts focused primarily on critical acclaim and the 100-point scoring system to inform their taste. While these facets are still around, people are paying much more attention to the details emphasized by Slow Wine.

This was music to the ears of smaller producers near and far, including labels that were so often overlooked, poorly rated based on a single subjective tasting, or ignored entirely. A couple of Italians were on a mission to celebrate not just genuine craft and eco-consciousness within the industry, but the narratives of countless wineries. And as anybody who’s ever sold wine knows, every wine has a story and that story — coupled with a decent product — almost always sells the stuff.

The Slow Wine approach is not just a philosophy, it rubs off on the reporting within the guide itself. Wineries are treated to so much more than numeric values. Slow Wine looks to tell their genesis stories, explain how their growing stance positively coincides with the environment, and offers thoughtful tasting notes beyond the ubiquitous “cherry notes” and “nicely structured” phrasing.

The guide describes the people behind the labels and includes a useful key for each on how they grow (with brief notes on fertilizers, plant protection, weed control, certifications, and where grapes are sourced from).  It also covers some of the more poetic stuff, like Oregon’s Antica Terra and its vintner’s commitment to pleasure wine as being a thing of beauty. Or, Umbrian winemaker Luca Baccarelli and the wines he make that reflect his personality, described as fresh, cordial, and with flair (full disclosure: This writer contributed some of the Oregon entries to the 2019 Slow Wine Guide). 

Next time you’re looking for a new winery to support, refer to Slow Wine. Even if you don’t have the book, you can follow the movement via social media. You may find a diamond producer in the rough. At the very least, you’ll enjoy some romantic wine writing about real characters, not just points earned.

Editors' Recommendations

Is erythritol harmful? What a dietitian says new data means for your Keto diet
Erythritol is common in many keto foods - what does that mean for your health?
erythritol in keto diet advice

While sugar substitutes have been around for more than a century, they didn't really become mainstream here in the United States until around the mid-70s. According to Carolyn De La Pena, professor of American Studies at UC Davis and author of Empty Pleasures: The Story of Artificial Sweeteners from Saccharin to Splenda, between 1975 and 1984, Americans increased their consumption of artificial sweeteners by 150 percent. This timeline makes sense when you take into account that the late seventies coincided with the start of our crazed diet culture and the revolving door of fad diets.
One such diet that doesn't seem to be going anywhere, however, is the Keto diet. Still hugely popular among Americans trying to shed a few pounds, Keto focuses heavily on limited or no carbohydrates. Because sugar contains carbohydrates, followers of Keto have turned to artificial sweeteners to satisfy those late-night cravings - sweeteners that, more often than not, contain erythritol. Erythritol in particular has become hugely popular because it's much better for baking than other sugar substitutes, has less of an artificial flavor, and will keep the eater in Ketosis, which is key for losing weight on the Keto diet.
A new study has made waves recently because its findings indicate there's a link between erythritol and higher rates of heart attack and stroke (though the study did note that only an association was found — not causation. So should you be worried?
We asked Dan LeMoine, RD, the award-winning author of Fear No Food and the Clinical Director at Phoenix-based Re:vitalize Nutrition, what he had to say about erythritol, including its benefits and potential health risks. "Artificial sweeteners are still sweeteners. While many are non-nutritive or zero-calorie, we tend to view them similarly as we do regular sweeteners or sugars — moderation is key. While many have amazing implications on weight loss – being low to no-calorie options and having little impact on blood sugar, some have their downside," he says.

While some of that sugar substitution has been good for waistlines and health issues that come from obesity, it seems to be causing more and more concern when it comes to other potential health issues. "For example," says LeMoine, "some research indicates the popular sweeteners stevia may have negative effects on the gut microbiome. And the recent study showing correlation between the sugar alcohol, erythritol, and heart attack and stroke."

Read more
Feeling adventurous? 5 of the weirdest cocktails from around the globe
Would you order a cocktail with a pickled human toe? You can in Canada, apparently
unusual and unique cocktails sourtoe cocktail

We all love a good cocktail, but it's easy to tire of the classics. There's nothing wrong with a perfectly frosty, salted-rimmed margarita, or a warm-to-your-bones, cherry-topped old-fashioned, but sometimes, you just want something new. Something that makes you think. Something that, perhaps, gives you a chuckle. These are those cocktails.
Pig's Blood Piña Colada (USA)

Back in 2014, bartender Jason Brown of Chicago's Kinmont restaurant and bar, concocted this cocktail after listening to a Werewolves of London lyric about a werewolf drinking a pina colada. His creativity sparked, and the "Werewolves of London" cocktail was born.

Read more
The 8 best protein shakes that are ready-to-go
These shakes come with all the good stuff, and none of the crap
Svelte

With as busy as we have become as a society, we always seem to be on the go. This can make life challenging, especially when it comes to wellness goals. In a perfect world, you could hit the gym hard, crush a workout, then immediately refuel with a balanced, home-cooked meal. But, since life happens and we are always on the go, it’s not always feasible to take the time to actually cook up a muscle-building meal right after your workout. Whether you’re on the go and short on time, or just can't stomach a full meal after exercising, having a quick and easy, protein-packed option that doesn’t require kitchen time, is a helpful alternative to refuel your body and maximize your results.

This is where protein shakes come in handy. Numerous ready-to-drink shakes are available that provide muscle-building protein, vitamins, minerals, and calories to fortify your body after a workout. They offer the benefits of protein powders with the convenience of eliminating the need for a shaker bottle, or high-speed blender, let alone making a mess with powders. Simply give the bottle a quick shake, pop the top, and you’re good to go.

Read more