For an alternative fizz, open a bottle of Pét nat
You might have heard the name “Pét nat” in bars or restaurants and wondered what this strange new wine phenomenon could be. It is the latest sommelier craze – deliciously fruity summery fizz – often with fun funky labels.
The name for this spritzy sparkler derives from “Pétillant Naturel”. Although it is currently the hippest fizz to drink, it is the oldest fizz around, which even pre-dates champagne. It is the same as Methode Ancestrale or Methode Rurale – words you might see on the label.
Some say this fizz method dates back almost 500 years and it has been continuously used in Limoux, Gaillac and Savoie. Recently it became popular with small artisan winemakers in Loire and Rhône. Now it has taken off in Australia and California and is starting to catch on with English winemakers too.
There are no pét nat rules on grape, region or style – so there are big variations between wines. It can be dry, off-dry or sweet, it can be white, rosé or red and can be made anywhere in the world. What most have in common is that they are about as natural as any fizz can get. They are made with no additives, no dosage and zero sulphur; much more authentic than many commercial proseccos.
“Pét nat is like a bottle of our vineyard as we have done nothing to it,” says Will Davenport, who makes one of the best Pét nats from his Rotherfield vineyard in Sussex.
“We just press organic grapes and bottle it at the right moment. It is the most technically challenging wine we make as grapes must have a perfect acid/sugar balance and the right flavours – and we have to bottle it mid-harvest which is tricky to fit in,” he says.
The Pét nat process basically involves a single vintage wine, bottled before the alcoholic fermentation has finished. So the final alcohol level, residual sugar and fizz pressure will
depend on the activity of the sugar and yeast left in the bottle, which is risky for the winemaker.
As Davenport explains, it is all about timing and temperature control. If you bottle early in fermentation, you get lower alcohol and more sugar, later in fermentation, higher alcohol and drier fizz. Pét nat alcohol levels vary from 7.5-13 per cent.
Appearance-wise the fizz is softer than champagne – hence the name pétillant. It can be quite frothy when first poured from the bottle, but the best Pét nats have a floaty soft fizz which fades quickly. It is often deep yellow and can be cloudy (not a fault).
The taste is different from other sparkling wines. Most have fabulously fresh, pure fruit flavours. Pét nat reminds me of homemade elderflower fizz, the best taste like good authentic cider or ginger beer – and rosés like rhubarb or raspberry juice. Some Pét nats can taste barely alcoholic, dangerously moreish as a summer garden aperitif. Sommeliers serve them alongside salads, foie gras or light desserts.
Quantities are small and prices are high – but the taste experience is as natural and delicious as you can get in the fizz world.
Sussex, England: Pét nat 2017 Davenport Vineyards
Light apple and elderflower fragrance, rich mature cider and melon flavours, fresh, vivid acidity with such soft floaty meltin-your-mouth bubbles – it is a sheer delight. Shows the potential for this style of fizz in England. Made by Will Davenport from a blend of pinot meunier, pinot noir, auxerrois, bacchus and faber grapes. £25, www.buonvino.co.uk; www.davenportvineyards. co.uk
Monterey, California: Pétulant Naturel 2016 Birichino
Light fragrance of peach and honeysuckle, fruity intense palate with sharp bubbles, lacks acidity and initially flabby, but still floral. Made from malvasia bianca with a touch of muscat canelli. £27.95, Berry Bros & Rudd, www.bbr.com
Loire, France: Vouvray Pétillant L’ancestrale Brut 2015 Vincent Careme
Gorgeously rich chenin blanc fizz with rich apple and honey aromas and flavours, dense and long finish. This differs from other Pét nats as it was disgorged to clear the sediment and put under cork. £24.50, Berry Bros & Rudd, www.bbr.com
Adelaide Hills, South Australia: BK Wines Pét nat 2016
No surprise to find one of the best Pét nats from Down Under made by enterprising Brendon and Kirstyn Keys in Piccadilly Valley. This traditional farmhouse bubbly is predominantly chardonnaybased – hence dominant citric notes – with just two per cent savagnin. Appley, citric, offdry, gentle – it reminded me of homemade lemon barley water.
£22, www.swig.co.uk
Bugey, Eastern France: Cerdon De Bugey Rosé 2015 Renardat-fache
Vibrantly fruity, very lightly alcoholic and sweet with a lipstick pink colour. Made from organic gamay and poulsard grown on clay limestone north of Savoie in the foothills of the French Alps. The sediment is disgorged and recorked, unlike other Pét nats. This Cerdon is the toast of the town in Lyons at Christmas time. ■ £15.99, Raeburn Wines, Edinburgh Join Rose’s Eggs & Amphorae wine tasting in Edinburgh on Friday 23 November, £42, www.rose murraybrown. com