Where to find natural wine around Boston

Discover a few of the shops and wine bars selling low-intervention wines, often from small, sustainable wineries.

“For me, natural wine means that it’s made with the least amount of interruption as possible,” said Haley Fortier, owner of wine bars nathálie and haley.henry.

By Natalie Gale

September 25, 2021

3 minutes to read

As natural wines have increased in popularity over the last few years, so has their demand. Natural wine describes wine that’s as minimally processed as possible — although some vintners prefer terms like “low intervention” or “raw” wine.

“For me, natural wine means that it’s made with the least amount of interruption as possible,” said Haley Fortier, owner of wine bars nathálie and haley.henry. “That it’s coming from the winemaker in its purest form.”

Catering to both the experienced natural wine connoisseur or the newbie looking to dip their toes in, the following wine bars and shops specialize in low-intervention wines. And the experts who work there are more than happy to help answer questions. The following three wine bars sell full bottles to take home, too.

Wine Bars

haley.henry, 45 Province St., Boston

haley.henry was one of the first wine bars on the Boston scene when Fortier opened it in downtown crossing in 2016. The tiny dining room specializes in natural, small production wines paired with tinned seafood. Fortier noted that while not every wine she sources has to be “full natural,” they all “fall into the guidelines of organic, sustainable, or natural in some way.”

nathálie, 186 Brookline Ave., Boston

Fortier’s second venture, nathálie in Fenway, is just as lovely as haley.henry, with a small menu of snacks and plates designed to complement their thoughtful wine list stacked with small production, natural, and female-produced wines. “I don’t want to be serving the same thing that you can find all over the city,” said Fortier. “That’s what sitting at a wine bar is all about: adventure.”

Rebel Rebel, 1 Bow Market Way, Somerville

Located in Somerville’s Bow Market, Rebel Rebel wine bar has been serving up natural wines since 2018. They don’t take reservations, and they don’t have a full food menu. But they do believe in the power of community, and in the “power of natural wine to bring us back to the foundations of our connection to farmers, to women, and to the planet,” says their website. In 2019 the bar raised $27,000 in a grassroots effort for abortion access.

Wine Shops

Wine Bottega, 341 Hanover St., Boston

In the heart of the North End, Wine Bottega has sold exclusively natural wine since 2016. The funky no-frills shop, which doesn’t take itself too seriously, stocks its shelves with wine “made with clean farming in the vineyard and no chemical intervention in the cellar,” says their site. Their subscription service, the “Natty Wine Club,” keeps customers’ wine rotations interesting with options for either three or six bottles of natural wine a month.

American Provisions, 613 East Broadway, South Boston; 1971 Dorchester Ave., Dorchester

These shops in South Boston and Dorchester focus not just on natural wine, but also on other thoughtfully sourced artisan foods like cheese, meats, and craft beer. American Provisions also does a subscription service for three bottles of sustainably made wine per month — plus, wine club members get 10% off in-store purchases at the time of pickup.

Urban Grape, 303 Columbus Ave., Boston

One of the most successful independently owned wine shops in the country, Urban Grape categorizes its wine using its unique “Progressive Scale,” or by weight. At this Black-owned and woman-owned South End shop, you can browse wines that are organic, wines that are minimal intervention, and wines made by female, BIPOC, or LGBTQ+ producers.

Social Wines, 52 West Broadway, Boston

Social Wines, located on Broadway in South Boston, makes it easy to identify organic or natural wines. Organic wines have a green price tag — natural ones also have a leaf symbol on the tag. Organic wines contain little or no sulfites and are made with grapes grown using organic farming practices, while natural wines take it a step further, aiming for a drink that’s as close as possible to simply grapes and time.