So What's So Good About Pét Nat?

Super Plonk Pét Nat

I recently ‘converted’ a good bunch of ripe-old-shiraz-loving-scratchy-throat citizens to Pét Nat. A Sauvignon Blanc Pet Nat to boot. 

Maybe you think that’s simple enough, but I’m not sure it is. Their ears, noses, throats and heads have been programmed to shake at all alternatives. Pét Nat it seems, defies logic. 

Maybe it’s the bubbles, ever-so-light and enough to make you feel special, but not enough to lift you into high-snobriety. Paired with a cloudy non-chalant appearance and low alcohol benevolence – Pét Nat is the high of good vibes.  

And that’s what motivated us, the three halos of drinkability, honesty and low-alcohol friendliness. 

Sauvignon Blanc (Or ‘Plonk’ as it has been known) was an obvious launching point. It thrives in our vineyard and has decidedly good natural acidity, critical when you’re not using sulphur to control bacteria. 

Yet the twist in our plot is the fussy seductive mistress, Gewürztraminer. She serenades the olfactory into what is effectively a varietal fizz (intrinsically Savvy B), with an aromatic, sour edge. 

We bottled 2400 bottles on the 27th May 2020. It took about 2 months for fermentation in bottle to complete.

Sounds dreamy? So where has it been all this time? They say that about 500 years ago the Ancestral Method of wine making was discovered by accident, it’s the earliest form of sparkling winemaking, predating Champagne.

Apparently French monks bottled their wine with a little too much unfermented sugar, and come spring, the wines came back to life and refermented. With those sugars converting to alcohol, and the carbon dioxide by-product dissolving into the wine, there were a few parties at the monastery soon after.

Part of the secret to Pét Nat is it’s light fizz, it’s about 2-3 Bar of pressure. Champagne is up to about 6 Bar due to the sugar/lees addition at bottling. With several ways to get bubbles into your wine, Champagne is probably the most intensive, while Pet Nat is one of the simplest and rustic. This doesn’t make it easy to produce though – there have been plenty of unhappy customers with explosive bottles.

And maybe that’s why it took another few hundred years to become popular, but this time under the (Pét Nat) Pétillant Naturel moniker –  with France again to the rescue, rediscovering it by accident a second time in the 90’s.

The growing thirst for small producers with something different has meant it’s here to stay. I mean we’re even seeing it in Dan’s.

Before long we won’t have to think too hard about Pet Nat, because that’s what it’s all about. It’ll be in all the pubs and on all the lists so old dogs can cheers to new tricks.

At the end of the day we’re just pumped to see the lighter side of wine bringing a new appreciation to musty occasions and less intoxication to social outings. We’re sure you are too.

Have you tried many Pét Nats? Are there any that you’ve seriously fallen in love with?