Natural wines are minimal or low intervention meaning the producers let the vines do what they do with very little human interference. Nothing added and nothing taken away is the motto, so they avoid the heavy use of pesticides, fungicides, or herbicides in the vineyards. Instead, they use safe non-chemical methods to curb pests and diseases that are harmonious with the ecosystem of the vineyards. No industrial yeast is added for fermentation and minimal to no sulfur is added (usually used as a preservative) so most wines are not made to age more than a couple of years. They also tend to be unfined and unfiltered, sometimes leaving a harmless layer of sediment at the bottom of the bottle. Biodynamic wines (treating winemaking like an interconnected, living organism commonly done according to the moon's cycles) are natural but not all natural wines are biodynamic.

In an aim to take winemaking back to its roots, the natural approach means organically farmed grapes are hand-picked and ancient aging methods (in clay vessels, for example) have become increasingly popular. More winemakers are also revisiting practices that were historically common in vineyards like bottling pet-nats (the ancestral method for sparkling wine production), piquettes, and field blends. Natural isn't a term reserved for funky wines with funky labels; it's all about what happens before the wine gets into the bottle.