Champagne’s hip sibling is getting the party started

The festive season is finally over, and with it goes the crates upon crates of empty bottles of special occasion bubbly. It’s the same ritual every year, and while we will never deny the magnificence of good champagne, we can all admit that it can get old.

Which is why you should gravitate to a tipple that, by its very nature, shrugs off the dusty mantle of storied legacies and rigid regulations, instead celebrating the lighthearted, playful side of winemaking. Yes, that side exists, and you can see it in wines made in the petillant-naturel style, a historically inspired method of winemaking that’s making a comeback.

Known simply as “pet-nat” in the wine community, it is made using the methode ancestrale, which means the wine is bottled before the primary fermentation is finished. No additional yeasts or sugars are used, and the liquid is left to continue fermenting in the bottle. This is vastly different from the champenoise and charmat methods that include a secondary fermentation to give us champagne and prosecco respectively, and in fact predates both of these methods by centuries.

The result is a wine with a gentle fizz, (usually) dry character and comparatively low alcohol percentage of about 10 per cent, making it an easy libation. These mild bubbles are the reason many pet-nat wines have crown caps instead of corks, thereby making them fairly easy to recognise in a store. It’s the perfect beverage for the tropical South-East Asian climate, and the fact that it can be made from a variety of grapes – leading to white, red and rose varieties – makes it an exceptionally versatile accompaniment to food.

But the main draw of pet-nat is its unpredictability. Unlike most wines, where every step is carried out under controlled temperatures with precisely measured additives, pet-nat wines are mostly left up to chance. Sure, the winemaker will be responsible for making the base wine, but once it’s in the bottle, it’s up to nature to decide how it will ultimately turn out. It’s untempered, authentic and raw – just the way society likes, well, everything these days.

Interestingly, while the method that pet-nat wines employ is ancient, its name is not. Radical winemakers like Thierry Puzelat and the late Christian Chaussard were experimenting with winemaking styles that involved as little intervention as possible during the peak of the natural wine movement back in the 1990s. Chaussard once accidentally bottled a Vouvray (a wine region in the Loire Valley) that had some residual sugar in it and it ended up re-fermenting. Surprised at how much he liked the taste despite originally thinking it ruined, he soon realised that winemakers in the past have made wine this way intentionally, and he was going to follow suit.

Together with his friend and colleague Puzelat, they coined the term “petillant-naturel”, where “petillant” simply means “mildly, slowly effervescing”, and essentially revived a largely forgotten tradition in winemaking. And ironically, they did so from the Loire Valley, a region that was never known for ancestral method winemaking. Today the term has spread far enough outside of the valley’s oenophiles to become a phenomenon on its own.

But make no mistake, while pet-nat wines are enjoying a revival, it won’t be replacing traditional sparkling – or even still – wines. The legendary chateaus are going to keep their ardent fans, and they deserve to. “Serious wine drinkers probably won’t be drinking this regularly,” opines Don Tay, owner of wine retailer Bacchus. “But I’ll be happy to bring a good bottle to a party because it’s something different and fun.” Pet-nat wines may not cause a significant shift in drinking patterns among fans of the vine, but Tay is sure those new to the wine scene will be more open to it, citing the time when moscato was all the rage in newer markets like Korea before eventually moving onto more serious styles. “It’s not something that needs to be judged so seriously,” he adds.

Indeed, petillant-naturel wines may be closer in grouping to beer and cider, and should be similarly enjoyed without reservation or ceremony. As the trend has yet to really take off in South-East Asia, your best bet to get a hold of one of these vibrant wines is through an online retailer or on your next vineyard tour. Though there may be a handful of bottles that have vintages, this type of wine is meant to be drunk soon, while its youthful vibrance and impish flavours are in full swing, ready for a little party by the beach before you finally amble back to the serious stuff.

Four petillant-naturel to sample:
Agnès & René Mosse Moussamousettes Pétillant Rosé
Loire Valley’s Agnes & Rene Mosse is a winery that practises organic farming and biodynamic preparations. The wine is typically unfiltered with minimal sulphur used during bottling. This rose uses Grolleau Gris, Grolleau Noir and Gamay grapes and offers a nose of red fruit and bright acidity with a clean finish.

Domaine Sebastian Brunet Vouvray “Le Naturel” Methode Ancestrale NV
Sebastian Brunet inherited the Domaine Roche Fleurie vineyard in 2006 following the passing of his father, and has grown the three hectares of vines he inherited in 1974 to some 15 hectares when he took control. Clay and silex soil give this wine balanced acidity and minerality with fine and persistent bubbles.

2012 Eric Texier Rouletabulle
Eric Texier was a nuclear physicist before he decided to dive into the world of the vine, and has since directed his genius into organic and biodynamic wines. His 2012 vintage uses mostly Chasselas (a white grape variety from Switzerland) and brings a tangy, if a little bittersweet, character to the wine.

Onward Wines 2014 Pét-Nat Suisun Valley
Onward Wines was founded by Faith Armstrong Foster, a Canadian winemaker who grew up in a family that believed in a self-sustainable lifestyle. Growing vegetables eventually turned into a passion for growing grapes, and it shows in her 2014 pet-nat, which boasts intense citrus notes with a hint of pear and vanilla.