Firstly, what is Pet Nat? Pet Nat stands for Pétillant-Naturel (natural sparkling) which is a term for practically any sparkling wine made from the ancestral method. This method is believed to be the oldest method of making sparkling wines, where the wine is bottled before primary fermentation is finished, without the addition of secondary yeasts or sugars. So, Pet Nat wines are naturally lower in sugar! Dubbed by some as “Hipster bubbles”, these wines should be natural and made with minimal intervention from the winemaker who instead leaves the quality of the fruit and nature to do its job and develop the finished product in bottle.

How Is Pet Nat Wine Made?

Pet Nat aka ancestral method wines are made by interrupting the primary fermentation as mentioned above. How is this done? Usually by rapidly lowering the temperature which shocks the yeast and pauses the fermentation process immediately. The wine is then transferred into bottle and the fermentation hopefully continues! The by-product of fermentation is CO2, and the aim of bottling and allowing the fermentation to continue is that CO2 is trapped in the bottle and creates the gentle bubbles in the finished wine. Pet Nat wines generally have pressure of between 2 and 3 atmospheres of pressure compared to most Champagne which is in the region of 5 – 7.

The producer can then either seal or filter and fine the sediment out then seal the bottles. Many Pet Nat’s therefore have sediment in the wine which is not a bad thing but can be a little bit of a surprise if you are used to Prosecco or traditional method sparkling wines!

This method with only one fermentation (not two as in traditional method Champagnes and sparkling wines) usually means that the finished wine is lower in alcohol, often between 9 and 12% and can have some natural residual sugar left that has not fermented completely.

The Pet Nat method generally produces wines “naturally”, but the finished product is brilliantly unpredictable! Opening each bottle is a surprise, a real sense of time, place and adventure which is why we love Pet Nat’s so much at EWWines.

Accessible pricing and lots of fun!

Looking at the bright side, one of the main benefits of this method of wine making is that many Pet Nat’s are affordable, especially when compared to the eye watering prices of some of the luxury super premium sparkling wines of the world. Our range are all under £30 except the Lost in the Field Magnums which are our preferred vessel of fun!! Our full list of Pet Nat’s can be found here, and in case you have lost your bottle opener, many Pet Nat bottles can be opened without one - perfect for outdoor parties, camping holidays or beach picnics!

These wines are generally great fun, versatile and brilliant with food. Stylistically all slightly different, most with gentle pressure and light bubbles and a whole spectrum of delicious flavours possibly really challenging the WSET set lexicon and other tasting systems.

Many Pet Nat wines hit that sweet spot of being totally gluggable without thinking, great to take to a summer gathering. Alternatively Pet Nat wines can be sipped, savoured and enjoyed. Wines that can slowly reveal layers of complexity and depth of flavours if you have the patience!

Want to try Pet Nat’s for yourself without buying a bottle? We are hosting Tim Wildman MW who is a self-confessed Pet Nat obsessive for a Pet Nat and Pizza Tasting Evening on Friday 23^rd June. Tickets are £45 per person but includes 6 wines, fresh Da Bara Pizza and lots of fun!

The Real Wine in The Vines 2023

EWWines recently went to sunny Buckinghamshire for the fantastic producer lead Real Wine at the Vines 2023 event to meet producers, taste their wines and experience the latest developments in this fast moving exciting category of Pet Nat’s in the Natural English Wine movement.

First we spoke to Tim Wildman. He was launching Frolic Lost in a Field 2022 at the event and we were privileged to be the first to taste the first magnum of the 2022 vintage. Buy Frolic Lost in a Field wines here.

We compared the taste of 2022 magnum and 2021 bottle and discovered all about the differences from Tim. Most obvious was the colour which has gone from orange to a pretty pale pink. Tim explained this difference was due to bottling the first vintage by hand so therefore there was more exposure to oxygen. Frolic 2022 was bottled by machine which is much faster with less exposure of oxygen.

The alcohol of the 2022 vintage is according to Tim “right on the lower edge of what is possible”. This was due to the lower ripeness of the fruit of the trickier 2021 vintage than the previous year and a slightly different vineyard selections available for Tim to utilise for Frolic.

The wine has more fresh red fruits, less oranges and is more grown up and still totally delicious. We think this will be one of our wines of the summer again for sure and are excited for its launch next month.

We next spoke to Richard Morris owner of Ancre Hill. Ancre Hill Estates comprises of two vineyard sites on the edge of Monmouth, south-east Wales with some 30,000 vines planted on approximately 12-hectares (29.5 acres) and a state-of-the-art, modern winery. They have been biodynamically certified since 2014 and produce a range of award-winning wines.

We tasted their Pet Nat options, both of which are certified organic but follow Biodynamic principals. We particularly loved the Ancre Hill Pet Nat Red NV which is made from 100% Triomphe which is a teinturier grape variety (flesh and juice red in colour along with skins rather than clear as most black varieties). In this wine we found delicious sour cherries, and blackberry jam on the nose and slightly herbal/medicinal back-note on the palate but beautifully in balance and very well made indeed. This is a fresh and exciting wine and will be a perfect for a sunny summer BBQ, particularly if you are serving sticky ribs or charred red peppers. Buy your Ancre Hill Pet Nat RED NV here.

We then spent the next few hours speaking to producers and tasting the rest of the wines available with a focus on Pet Nats looking for wines to list. Other wines that stood out as exceptional for us were Tillingham’s PN2022 which we hope to list this summer on release. It was candied red in colour with notes of rhubarb compote, rose petals and sour cherry fizzy sweets. It tasted like grown up Rio soft drink in a good way having the nice fruity edge. This is dangerously quaffable! We hope to have a large allocation but be quick when it arrives.

Finally, we have our friends and close neighbours Trevibban Mill. Tucked away between our HQ and Padstow, Engin & Liz Mumcuoglu, established the Vineyard in 2008 on a working arable farm with the vision to produce high quality sparkling & still wine on the coast of Cornwall. Everything from wine and cider making to bottling, disgorging and labelling are done on site which gives greater control over quality. Browse our range of Trevibban Mill products here.

Our blog is on Pet Nat’s and Trevibban Mill's 100% Dornfelder 2022 release is a brilliant way to finish this blog episode. It is delicious, versatile and food friendly. We love it with pizzas, sunny beach days or a great pairing with Crispy Cantonese roast duck. Find sour red berries cherry, raspberry and strawberries with bright acidity and depth of flavour. It really is delicious; our only complaint is we wish they would bottle this in Magnums too!!