“Down to Earth”
+ a Natty Wine

Words by

Cory Ohlendorf

Photography by

Courtesy

Published

July 10, 2020

I miss traveling. Don't you? But I'm not planning on breaking out the passport anytime soon. (And most countries aren't letting in Americans anyway). So Zac Efron's new Netflix docuseries, Down to Earth, seems well-timed to soothe our collective wanderlust.

Anthony Bourdain didn't invent the global travel-while-eating TV genre, but a mark of his genius can be seen in shows like this, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Efron travels from Iceland to England, from Puerto Rico to Peru to Costa Rica in order to learn about sustainable living, and he eats some interesting food along the way, including a “dung-smoked” dish—which I'm hoping is not his secret to attaining those abs. Efron's definitely more of an everyman and he's nowhere near as philosophical as the late, great Bourdain (you could make a drinking game out of the number of “dudes” Efron drops) but it's still nice to see far-flung parts of the world—if only from behind a screen.

Your Pairing:

What does one drink when enjoying a globetrotting, eco-conscious show focused on sustainability? I'm not exactly sure, honestly, but natural wine seems appropriate. Natty wine, as the kids call it, is really more of a concept than an officially defined distinction with agreed-upon characteristics. According to our favorite wine shop, it's generally crafted from organically farmed fruit and native yeast fermentations, then bottled unfiltered. This cloudy Italian orange wine from Calcarius has crisp notes of fresh citrus peel with a funky, mineral finish.

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