Le Pet Nat, what is it actually?
Pet Nat is an abbreviation – the full name is “Pétillant Naturel,” which is French and means “natural sparkling wine.” But nobody says that, because “Pet Nat” just sounds cooler.
Such a natural sparkling wine is unsulphured and therefore somewhat unpredictable. It's the invention of some crazy French winemakers who became world-famous with it years ago as part of the "Natural Wines" movement.
How do you make a Pet Nat?
The natural sugar contained in grape must tries to convert into alcohol with the help of natural yeast. This naturally produces CO2 (carbonic acid).
For the Pet Nat, the crazy winemaker fills the grape must into a bottle during natural fermentation, which is then sealed with a crown cap. He ensures that the must has a residual sugar content of 20 to 30 grams per liter. The grape must then continues to ferment in the bottle, building up a lot of pressure because the carbon dioxide can no longer escape. Instead, it combines with the wine, naturally creating a sparkling wine. The Pet Nat.
Since the crazy winemaker knows that 4 grams of natural sugar in the must creates exactly one bar of excess pressure, he can calculate that after about nine months – the time it takes for the yeast to digest the sugar – he'll have about five to seven bars of pressure in the bottle. This is comparable to the pressure in champagne, which, however, sometimes takes several years to build up that much pressure. On the other hand, the champagne mousse is much finer, because it's had much more time to bind the carbon dioxide in the liquid (the wine).
A Pet Nat can be wild and boisterous and is often cloudy. When the bottle is opened, the pressure often releases suddenly, potentially taking some of the wine with it, much to the chagrin of the person opening it. To prevent this, some crazy winemakers disgorge the Pet Nat. This is already familiar from Champagne. During disgorging, the fermentation yeast is removed and the bottle is refilled, often with the same dry wine – the so-called "shipping dosage." Since this contains no sugar, it is also referred to as "zero dosage." Such a wine can then be declared Brut Nature. In fact, most Pet Nats are Brut Nature, as only a few have added sugar and sometimes a little sulfur. Generally, however, they do not contain any added sulfur, as the resulting carbon dioxide naturally protects the wine, so the addition is unnecessary.
Pet Nats quickly became a fashion phenomenon, but have now become established and are now an integral part of the wine scene.
Which grape varieties are suitable for Pet Nat?
Pet Nats can be made from all grape varieties: Baga, Chardonnay, Loureiro, Alvarinho, Pinot Noir, Riesling, etc.
Another interesting article that examines the topic from an Austrian perspective can be found on Juliane Fischer’s blog .
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