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Pét-Nat: Pétillant Naturel
If you love wine, you will have heard these two tinkling, tickling words before — Pét-Nat.
The sound is fun, catchy and easy to remember. Just like the wine itself.
But what exactly does Pét-Nat mean?
Pét-Nat is the abbreviation for Pétillant Naturelle, which roughly translates as “naturally sparkling”.
Different from Sekt or Champagne
Essentially, a Pét-Nat is a wine that is bottled before the first fermentation has finished. In this way, fermentation continues in the bottle thanks to the natural sugars in the grapes, whilst the carbon dioxide produced by this process remains trapped in the wine, making it… sparkling!
This is the opposite of the Champagne method, whereby the already fermented wine is bottled with the addition of yeast and sugar in order to initiate a second fermentation.
Other terms found on some labels include “méthode ancestral“, “méthode rurale” or the Italian “col fondo“.
Many different names for a method that was originally employed in the early 16th century in Limoux by knowledgeable monks.
Another major difference from Sekt and Champagne is that Pét-Nat wines are not disgorged and are often bottled unfiltered and unsulphured. They are therefore more or less cloudy and are usually sealed with a crown cap. What else sets Pét-Nat apart from Champagne, Crémant and Sekt, from time on the lees to price, is covered in our comparison of the four sparkling wines.
Although the method is quite ancient (we will come to that shortly), the name that contributed to the style’s renewed success was coined by winemakers Thierry Puzelat and Christian Chaussard in the 1990s.
The two of them wandered up and down the Loire Valley, referring to their sparkling wines made by this old method as “Pét-Nat“. From that point on, the term gained worldwide recognition.
Why are Pét-Nats so popular?
How did this ancient style manage to become so popular, from hipster wine bars to Michelin-starred restaurants?
Certainly, the fact that it became one of the standard-bearers of the natural wine movement has contributed greatly to this.
Looking more closely, one possible answer lies in the pleasant, carefree feeling the wine conveys. The delicate bubbles, the low alcohol content, and the raw, lively character of this wine are perfectly suited to the tastes of a new generation of wine lovers. Our range includes 13 available Pét-Nats, among them the white Foam Vulkan Petnat 2025 from Meinklang and the rosé arktika Pétillant Naturel 2025 from Nittnaus Anita & Hans.
If you simply want to enjoy an evening with friends without spending hours poring over tasting notes, if you want something fresh to drink without feeling tipsy after the second glass, yet still want that tingling sensation… then a Pét-Nat is just the thing for you.
On the other hand, we must not forget the enormous variety of wines that can fall under this style. White wines, orange wines, rosé wines, red wines… if you want to explore in depth, there are endless possibilities for a fine food pairing. Little wonder, then, that this age-old method appears on the wine lists of so many restaurants.
