Pet Nat Wine | What is a Pet-Nat?

While pet nats might seem like a hip new fashionable “fad”, the method of winemaking used (called the Ancestral method, or “Col Fondo”) is actually one of the oldest techniques for making sparkling wine!

Unlike the “Traditional Method” or “Method Champenoise” wines of Champagne, Cremant or Cava, these wines are produced by a single fermentation (whilst traditional method wines see two fermentations).

The trick lies in the partially fermented juice being bottled, with no SO2 addition. The fermentation then finishes inside that very bottle. As the yeasts convert sugar to alcohol and complete their journey to dryness (leaving a little residual sugar behind) the by-product of carbon dioxide is created and captured in the bottle - voila, bubbles!

No-one really knows who created them first, as technically, they would have been accidentally made when a wine was bottled with a little too much residual sugar and no Sulphites added, meaning the wine had not finished fermenting before being bottled, and this would have caused a natural bubble. The earlier forms of Prosecco, using the Glera grape regionally found in Veneto, would have been Col Fondo Pet Nats. In the same area, the founder of popular winery Costadilà called Ernesto Cattel is largely credited with making the first orange pet nat, which is a slightly more complex process to get the balance right between tannins and drinkability.

Pet Nats are typically low to medium alcohol, fresh, acidic with vibrant fruit and sometimes can have a little sweetness, although most are dry.. The mouthfeel is often quite rounded and some can feel that bready/yeasty quality in the wines.

The beauty is - they are all different! The sheer amount of winemakers around the world making pet nats keep it interesting for even the most seasoned natural wine drinkers. There are no particular regions better than others for Pet Nats, however, our personal experience has shown wine regions with cooler climate, and thus more acidity, tend to make for fresher Pet Nats.

So, Pet Nats from Germany, Austria and cooler parts of France are often more appealing to us personally than Pet Nats from hotter regions, although this is not always the case. A lot of the success of a Pet Nat depends on harvesting grapes early to retain freshness and acidity, rather than maximum ripeness. Some winemakers choose to make pet nats out of grapes which can be tricky to make perfect by themselves as still wines.

For example, red grape Sankt Laurent in Austria is a notorious grape to perfect as a still wine, due to the requirement for poor quality soils like gravel to make the vines dig very deep, and the precise time for harvesting. Some winemakers avoid the stress and use it as a direct press, using just the clear juice, to make a Blanc de Noir or Rosé Pet Nat instead.

Pet Nats can come in two methods - disgorged and undisgorged. When the Pet Nat finishes its fermentation, it has natural yeast sediments that form in the bottle, and the wine is very, very cloudy. The risky thing about making Pet Nats is that they can be too bubbly, even explosive on opening - making a mess once opening as they are out of control. This often happens with undisgorged Pet Nats, which need to be opened extremely slowly, over a period of many minutes.

To most consumers, this is not desired and dangerous for your clothes or guests, so most producers spend a considerable amount of time disgorging their pet nats by hand, one by one. This removes the big sediment and some of the built up explosive energy from the bar pressure that has built up within the bottle. The bottle is then refilled with the same wine and a new cap is placed on top.

Some people wonder why Pet Nats can be expensive, and it is this lengthy process that requires handwork, time and also loss of the original wine that comes out when being disgorged.

Some Pet Nas which are disgorged can still become explosive, so it is sometimes risky to open a Pet Nat. It is recommended to always open a Pet Nat very cold, and carefully as you never know which ones will explode or not if you have not had the wine before!

What is a Pet Nat wine?

Pet Nats are a form of naturally sparkling natural wine, where the wines finish their single fermentation in the bottle, rather than beign made like a Prosecco, Champagne or Cava. Only natural wine producers make Pet Nat Wines

What are other names for Pet Nat wines?

Other common terms for Pet Nat wines include: Ancestral Wines, Col Fondo Wines and Pétillant Naturel, which means ""naturally sparkling""/p>

What is the best Pet Nat wine?

Its always a matter of taste, but many winelovers prefer acidic white grapes for Pet-Nat wines, as they are fresher and crisper. Some favourites include the Le Temps Est Bon by Domaine Bobinet, which is made from Chenin Blanc grapes in the Loire. We also recommend the excellen value Porta Del Vento ""Voria Bianco"" made high on a hill in Sicily as well as Frauenpower by Vin de Lagamba, which is similar to a German Lambrusco style fizzy red wine.

What temperature should I serve Pet Nat wines?

Pet Nat wines, aka Pétillant Naturel, should be served straight from a cold fridge. This is not just to preserve the fresh flavour, but also to avoid the sparkling wine from coming out of the bottle too fast, which can be a problem with Pet-Nats.

Which producers make great Pet Nats

Popular producers who make great Pet Nats include Patrick Bouju, Andreas Ziniel, Porta Del Vento, Glow Glow Wines, Marto Wines, Vin de Lagamba, Grandbois Wines, Strekov 1075 and Les Vins Pirouettes