Natural wine has exploded in popularity across the city over the last five years but the concept still leaves many scratching their heads.

So what is natural wine? Colin Campbell, owner of the restaurant Sylvan, explains why the beverage is popping up on drinks lists and how to explore it for yourself.

He told the Glasgow Times: "It's an attractive concept, especially as people are getting more and more interested in the provenance of their food."

While natural wine has no official definition, it broadly refers to wines made without chemical pesticides and with little to no sulphites added.

Glasgow Times:

Also known as low-intervention wines, they tend to have lower alcohol percentages (ABVs) than conventional ones and have a more unpredictable flavour profile.

Colin said: "Natural wine can be divisive, especially if you've been into wine for a long time."

Words like fresh, lively, cloudy and funky are often used to describe these sips but not all of them are as weird as you might think.

Natural wine is based on the ancient practices of winemaking (or simply fermenting grape juice) and doesn't use additives that are commonly included to make wines taste consistent.

Two categories you may have already come across are orange wine or pet-nat.

Colin said: "Orange wine is probably our most popular category of wine and it’s getting more and more popular."

Glasgow Times:

Orange wine is made using white wine grapes with more skin contact time (than white wine) - not to be confused with rose, which is made using red wine grapes with less skin contact time (than red wine).

He added: “Orange wine is a good middle ground between red and white.

"It’s a bit more complex than white wine and there’s a whole sliding scale as well.

“Some wines have very little skin contact and others have weeks of skin contact.

"You get differences in the grapes as well in terms of what they impart. Why wouldn’t you want to explore a new thing?"

Glasgow Times:

Pet-nats are naturally sparkling wines made using the oldest known method for carbonating wine which involves bottling the beverage while it's still fermenting.

Colin said: "It’s a more approachable style than a lot of sparkling wines, it’s slightly less fizzy and easier to drink.

"People also like a new thing that’s accessible.”

On January 28, experts and novices alike can flock to Sylvan on Woodlands Road to try up to 80 different low-intervention wines from around Europe.

Colin said: "Before I started really trading in wine and selling it properly I found wine tasting to be quite scary.

"But the more you do it you realise that it doesn’t have to be like that.

"It can be approachable and whatever you think when you’re tasting isn’t wrong.

“The approach to it from what we’ve learned at Sylvan is to be relaxed and not be uptight about anything.

“Be willing to try new things and be surprised that the new things you’re trying are quite similar to what you’re used to."

He added: “Natural wine both benefits and suffers from the idea that it’s different.

"It’s a wonderful new world and if it happens to be better for you then why not?

"It’s certainly better for the environment, more considered, a more world-friendly way to do things.

“People are considering the way they consume things more nowadays.

"They don’t want to subscribe to these big industrial processes anymore, they want to know where something is coming from.”

Glasgow Times:

Be warned: it may be better for the planet but natural wine is still alcohol and will affect you as such.

Colin said: “I’m not a doctor but I can certainly guarantee it will give you a hangover if you drink enough of it.”