Calamity Cellars - I agree with you that labelling some winemaking techniques/practices as 'unnatural' is a problem.. in reality I don't think you can draw a clear division between natural and man-made, because all wine is the product of the interrelation of natural & cultural processes.
For what it's worth, I think the issue a lot of people have with the idea of so-called 'natural' wines is that they see it as unscientific or irrational. Again, all I can do is refer to my own experience which is that I have met and interviewed a number of professional winemakers who hold high-level scientific qualifications (in oenology, chemistry, molecular biology etc), who make excellent wines that are highly regarded critically, and who consciously strive to reduce their inputs into the wine because they feel that the wine is better and more interesting as a result.
There may be a little bit more risk involved but I wouldn't say that their approach is reckless or a crap-shoot, and it is definitely not unscientific, because it requires sterling standards of hygiene and a thorough understanding of what is going on at a chemical level at every stage of the process.
It's just a different orientation to the same problem, which is that of how to make good wine. If you see the manipulation of wine by the addition of acid, tannins, or whatever as something to be avoided where possible (rather than an integral, standard part of the winemaking processes) then you're more likely to focus on getting the grapes as good as possible to begin with.
