Natural Wine in Asia: A Growing Curiosity

In Tokyo, tucked away from Shibuya’s neon streets, a small bar serves bottles that once circulated only among European insiders: Overnoy, Radikon, De Moor, Gravner, and Frank Cornelissen. The flavours are raw, unpredictable, and defiantly different from conventional fine wine. This is natural wine in Asia, no longer a fringe curiosity, but a marker of taste and increasingly, collection potential.

As the top wines from Bordeaux and Burgundy have long dominated fine wine cellars in Asia, a small shift is underway, one led by chefs, sommeliers, importers and younger collectors. From Tokyo to Hong Kong, Singapore to Seoul, natural wines have found ardent audiences. Smaller producers, low-intervention methods and wines with a story are reshaping what it means to build a wine list and wine collection.

What Is Natural Wine? And Why Now?

Tokyo: Patient Pioneering

Hong Kong & Singapore: Acceleration & Commercial Push

A Shift in Collector Taste: From Bordeaux to Jura, Etna, Sicily

What This Means for the Global Market

A Polarising Topic with Growing Appeal

What Is Natural Wine? And Why Now?

Natural wine generally refers to wine made with minimal intervention, including organic or biodynamic viticulture, spontaneous fermentations with indigenous yeasts, little to no added sulphur, minimal filtration, and often produced by small, artisanal growers. The result is unpredictable: character can vary (sometimes by the bottle of the same wine), aromas can be funky, clarity nonstandard, and ageing capacity less assured than the polished precision of conventional fine wine. But authenticity, individuality and terroir expression are part of the appeal.

For years, such wines were relegated to avant-garde bistros in Paris or tucked away in experimental cellars in Italy and France. But the last decade has seen them proliferate to new parts of the world. Global restaurateurs and wine importers began bringing them east, and Asia’s fine-dining boom provided fertile ground for experimentation. Fine wine enthusiasts seeking new experiences, sommeliers looking to differentiate themselves, and younger consumers seeking authenticity set the stage.

Tokyo: Patient Pioneering

If there is one city in Asia where natural wine has found early, faithful believers, it is Tokyo. Places like Ahiru Store are emblematic. Located in Shibuya, Owner/sommelier Teruhiko Saito (with his sister Wakako in the kitchen) sources hard-to-find French natural wines and some domestic growers, listing several by the glass. The food is rustic: homemade sausages, pâté, charcuterie, and excellent bread. 

Other Tokyo venues follow similar paths: Bunon in Nishi-Azabu is a restored Japanese house offering natural wine alongside sake; Kinasse in Hatagaya curates Japanese and indie international producers. Collectors in Tokyo can find back vintages of Jura wines, such as Overnoy and Domaine des Miroirs, sometimes at prices far below what comparable wines go for in Europe. 

The result is a refined, discerning market - wine drinkers willing to wait, explore, and pay for nuance. This has established real credibility for natural wine and fuelled demand for rarer producers. As in many fields, Japan has taken the lead. If it earns the approval of Tokyo’s buyers, it soon gains traction across the rest of Asia.

Hong Kong & Singapore: Acceleration & Commercial Push

Hong Kong arrived somewhat later to the natural-wine table, and whilst the representation of natural wines does not quite reflect the overall scale of HK’s wine market, interest is developing quickly. At La Cabane, perhaps the city’s most well-known natural wine cellar and bistro, the shelves are filled with biodynamic, organic and natural wines from France, Italy, South Africa, New Zealand and more. It is a destination for those who want both carefully curated cellar names and more accessible bottles.

Hong Kong’s collectors, traditionally focused on Bordeaux, Burgundy and classic auction lots, are showing signs of interest in appellations and regions less travelled: though concrete data is less public, natural wine imports have grown, menus in high-end restaurants now often dedicate a “natural/minimal intervention” section, and wine bars specialising in organic/natural labels are more numerous than five years ago.

In Singapore, the scene has moved from curiosity to habit. Natural wine bars and bistros are multiplying: Le Bon Funk was arguably the pioneer of the natural wine movement in Singapore, known for its French unfiltered bottles, field blends, funky reds, skin-contact wines and a menu that pivots on freshness and seasonality. 

A Shift in Collector Taste: From Bordeaux to Jura, Etna, Sicily

So, what does all this mean for the collector?

Traditional fine wine collecting in Asia has leaned heavily on Old World names, including Bordeaux, Burgundies, Champagne, and Italian wines. These carry prestige, proven ageing, secondary market data and auction benchmarks. Natural wine’s unpredictability, vintage variation, potential stability issues and lower production have kept many collectors at arm’s length.

But several forces are pushing change:

• Scarcity & uniqueness.
  
  As natural wine gains popularity, producers in regions such as Jura (Jean-François Ganevat, Maison Pierre Overnoy, Domaine Bornard, etc.), Etna, and Sicily (Cornelissen, Benanti, etc.) are being discovered. Their small output, distinctive terroirs (volcanic soil, old vines, wild yeasts), and outsider reputations give them an appeal similar to cult Burgundy or top Crus.
  
  
• Market signals.
  
  Natural wine bottles are now regularly listed in wine shops in Hong Kong and Singapore alongside classic names. In La Cabane, for example, vintage Beaujolais, Bornard, and field blends from lesser-known estates feature in displays, often with prices that, while premium for the region, are lower than more traditional wines from Bordeaux and Burgundy.
  
  
• Investors diversifying.
  
  Some younger collectors are no longer satisfied with a traditional cellar dominated by Bordeaux and Burgundy. They want wines that taste like something they have not tried before, that pair well with modern food, and that show personality. Natural wine offers a different kind of value: cultural, aesthetic, experiential; less about traditional metrics (leading critic scores, château reputation) and more about authenticity, provenance and story.

However, there are risks: many natural wines are fragile in storage, not all vintages will age well, and daily fluctuations in temperature or cellar handling can disproportionately affect bottles made without sulphur or heavy filtration. For the collector’s eye, varietal, producer, vintage, storage, and provenance become even more critical.

What This Means for the Global Market

The rise of natural wine in Asia is not merely a regional fad. It has the potential to influence global demand, pricing and production.

• Producers in small regions benefit. When cities like Singapore or Seoul embrace a wine from, say, a tiny vineyard in Etna, or a Jura grower, those bottles move, and the name spreads. This drives demand in other markets (Europe, North America). For estate owners, it becomes possible to charge premiums, or at least to maintain pricing that reflects scarcity and craftsmanship.
  
  
• Importer and auction house strategies adapt. Wine fairs, tasting events, and boutique importers increasingly include natural wine in their offerings. Importers are paying attention to what younger Asian buyers want: labels with stories, bottles with provenance, wines that are drink-now or age-gracefully rather than purely speculative.
  
  
• The meaning of “fine wine” broadens. In the past, “fine wine” in Asia often meant two things: famous names and ageing potential. However, the definition is increasingly expanding to include narrative, terroir expressiveness, grape varieties grown in alternative soils, and even winemaking philosophy. Natural wines challenge conventional criteria: clarity versus texture, polish versus rough edges, old labels versus artisanal signatures.
  
  
• Pricing pressure & market segmentation. On the one hand, rising demand may push the prices of desirable natural wine producers upward, especially once collector attention increases. On the other hand, because many natural wines are made in small volumes, overly speculative price inflation might reduce the appeal of the “natural wine story.” Some labels may become oversaturated or lose authenticity in their pursuit of scale.

A Polarising Topic with Growing Appeal

Natural wine remains one of the most divisive categories in the fine wine world. Admirers praise its authenticity, vitality, and sense of place, while detractors dismiss it as unstable or inconsistent. Yet across Asia, there are clear signs that tastes are changing. Younger drinkers, in particular, are showing a growing interest in wines that emphasise originality, sustainability, and the stories of small producers.

For collectors, this does not yet represent a wholesale shift away from the traditional regions, but it does suggest a broadening of horizons. Regions such as Jura, Sicily, and Etna are finding their way into conversations that once centred exclusively on the First Growths or Grand Crus. Scarcity and narrative are becoming as valuable as heritage and critic scores.

What began in Tokyo’s intimate bars has spread to Hong Kong, Singapore, and Seoul, where natural wine is increasingly visible. Still polarising, but gaining momentum, natural wine reflects how the region’s younger generations are reshaping tastes, not by abandoning the classics, but by expanding what fine wine can mean.