Pét-Nat Wine, Demystified
Have you heard about Pét-Nat? This cute little word seems straight from the mouths of millenials, doesn’t it? Pét-nat, or pétillant naturel, is the French term for “naturally sparkling” wine. And here’s the thing: pét-nat is NOT a frothy trend. In fact, it’s an ancient type of wine, and its recent rise in popularity is more than well-deserved.
Pétillant naturel is a genre of sparkling wine that predates Champagne, if you can believe it. Its méthode ancestrale involves bottling an unfinished (or still-fermenting) wine and allowing it to finish fermenting inside of the bottle. Contrary to the Champagne method—which requires one fermentation in tanks and then a second fermentation in the bottle, with added sugars and yeast—the pét-nat way is wild and volatile. When making a pét-nat, the winemaker must trust the grapes’ naturally-occurring yeasts and sugars to do their dance without interference or alteration. The result is fizzy, frenetic wine that is refreshing and surprising in its...