What is PétNat?

Dec 4

If you were lucky enough to sample the limited release of our Rosé Pét-Nat last year, then you’ll be very excited to hear that we aren’t only making more this year, we are making two different Pét-Nat’s!

So you ask, remind me what a Pét-Nat is? The long form is called Pétillant Naturel, meaning naturally sparkling, by far the oldest type of Sparkling Wine made.

The method used is called the ‘Ancestral Method’ and dates back to1500’s. Back to 2020 in the Buckel Family Wine cellar, we used Cinsault and Syrah grapes to create the 2020 Rosé Pét-Nat, similar to last year’s Sparkling Rosé, as well as a naturally sparkling Riesling. We have those grapes bubbling away in vats in the winery as we speak, fermenting themselves into wine.

We love our Pét-Nat because it is quite literally alive. In order to make a wine that is naturally sparkling and also beautiful in color, we carefully allow the fruit to ferment in large vats while monitoring the sugar content.

The natural sugars in the fruit combined with yeast in just the right conditions allows the fermentation to progress slowly and turn these sugars into alcohol. We leave a little residual sugar in the wine so that that sugar can continue to ferment in the bottle, creating the natural bubbles (CO2) that we so enjoy in our sparkling wines, only these bubbles occur naturally and develop in the bottle! With Zero Sulfur ever being added!