If you drink natural wine or know someone who drinks natural wine, then you’ve likely heard the term “funky.” Often used to describe low-intervention, biodynamic, or sulfur-free wines, the phrase is, in essence, a blanket term for any wine made in an unconventional style.
But what exactly does the word “funky” mean when characterizing wine? And does it help a somm recommend a bottle they’re confident you’ll love? In short, it depends. VinePair tapped Devon Fleming, beverage manager at Nudibranch in the East Village, to get more intel on funky wines and when it makes sense to use the term.
In her opinion, the most common misconception regarding funky is that it can be conflated with natural wine as a whole. “People will most often ask me if a wine is natural, or if all of the wines we pour are natural, but they’re asking me in a very cautious way,” she explains. “So I’ve come to assume that most folks are replacing the word funky with natural, and I know what they’re really asking me is ‘Is this a funky wine? Are all of your wines funky?’”
At Nudibranch specifically, the answer to “Are all the wines you pour natural?” is yes. But they’re not all funky. It’s a squares and rectangles situation: All funky wines will be natural, but not all natural wines will be funky. As she points out, natural wine has garnered a reputation for tasting unusual or “flawed” (a.k.a. funky), when in actuality, the category simply refers to wines made with little or no intervention in the vineyard and cellar. That doesn’t necessarily mean the wine will taste radically different from those made conventionally.
“Most often, I think that people asking for funky wines are looking for something without sulfur because those wines tend to feel more alive in the glass, and it can be tasted,” Fleming says. “But there are other natural wines out there even without sulfur that aren’t funky. So my issue isn’t necessarily with the term funky, it’s with the term natural wine — it’s too narrow.”
When a request for funky wine is made, Fleming says there are a few important questions to ask afterward. Do they want something with a little bit of reduction? Something without sulfur? Something with volatile acidity or something that’s chuggable? Do they want the bottle to be unfiltered and appear cloudy? Or are they simply looking for a wine that’s out of their comfort zone? Each of these qualities can result in a wine tasting “funky,” but they aren’t always sure to be what people are looking for.
“Funky means so many different things to so many different people,” she explains. “Some people use the term just to let me know they’re willing to be adventurous, but others are really looking for that vinegary, yeasty situation. Some people just use it as a way of saying they want something fun, not necessarily something natural! So having a few follow-up questions is important.”
Knowing that funk can be interpreted in many ways, Fleming has attempted to remove the word from her vocabulary entirely when describing wines, only using it if a guest does first. But when the request is made, more often than not, she knows what kind of customer she’s working with, and she’s ready to have some fun.
“If someone were to ask me for something funky, it lets me know that they’re open to viewing wine as something alive, and they’re feeling adventurous,” she says. “It opens the door for me to pour wines for them that I wouldn’t necessarily have chosen for the table as a whole. It lets me know what kind of drinker you are.”
The article Stop Asking Your Sommelier For ‘Funky’ Wine appeared first on VinePair.