You're on the beach and remembered everything from towels to sandwiches, to sunscreen, but you forgot your wine key! GASP! Never fear - pét-nat is here! Pétillant naturel, or informally ‘pét-nat,’ is a popular style of sparkling wine bottled under crown cap, so you can pop bottles wherever you go! With low-alcohol levels that usually hover around 10-11%, pét-nats are perfect easy-drinking warm weather wines - you can sip that extra glass and still be fit to throw a frisbee with friends. 

Pét-nats are made in Méthode Ancestrale, a traditional winemaking method that has been used since the 15th century. After harvest and pressing, grape juice is bottled and sealed with a crown cap before fermentation is complete. Yeasts eventually convert the leftover sugar into carbon dioxide, aka bubbles! Since the Methode Ancestrale doesn’t involve costly cellar equipment and isn’t highly labor intensive, it is favored by many small producers; today, pét-nats are something of a calling card for natural and biodynamic winemakers.

Organic winemaker Michael Cruse is passionate about growing grape varieties uncommon in California, like the Austrian red grape St. Laurent. Hailing from Los Carneros AVA, which straddles Sonoma and Napa, his 2019 Cruse Wine Co. St. Laurent pét-nat was allowed to ferment spontaneously then bottled while still slightly sweet). This blanc de noir has a pale, golden hue and luscious flavors of peach candies and white flowers.

On the opposite coast in Warren, Maine, Brian and Allie Smith create fresh natural wines at Oyster River Winegrowers. Their 2019 Oyster River Morphos pét-nat is an unfiltered white blend made from Cayuga and Seval grapes. Enjoy yeasty notes of toasted brioche and honeycrisp apples.  

Their 2020 Oyster River Morphos Rosé pét-nat is 100% Merlot, has a darker pink hue and dry, tart notes of cranberries, cherries, and balsamic. If you’d like to take a drive up to Maine to visit the farm, there’s a helpful map on every bottle of Morphos. Plus Brian and Allie are the kindest people around!

Enjoy one of these glorious pét-nats on your next outdoor picnic or beach hang. Happy Spring everyone!

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