by Patrick Ogle

Martin Texier Petite Nature 2015 Pet Nat is a little funky but not too funky. This sparkler has pithiness mixed with pear and a tad of grapefruit. There are hints  of minerality and a little dirtiness lurking around. There is something like white flower/nectar in the nose and taste too. Add to this  herbal, green notes and a nice acidic backbone and you have an interesting wine.

This vino is all over the place and I mean that in the best possible way. Nothing here really overwhelms the other parts to me--no specific fruit or earth. There are a lot of subtle facets.

When I say dirty it isn't super manure funky or even that forest floor loamy-ness. It is just enough of a hint of earth to accent the wine's overall rustic nature. It is fun, which is what I am looking for in  pet nat. While I have had some elegant pet nats and that is wonderful but you can get that from champagnes. For me? bring on the fun with these wines. The bubbles don't hang around forever. Don't keep this open for  hours upon hours.

Pet nats are surprising in how they are made (which we've discussed) but they also point out that the Champagne method is not the only way to make quality sparkling wines. This wine uses unusual grapes and that is often the case as well.

Martin Texier is the son of Eric Texier, a French natural winemaker. The wine is from a vineyard that was a gift from dad to son. This was apparently an old, abandoned vineyard planted with a variety of grapes including chasselas, muscat and various table grapes. The vineyard is in Ardèche near Saint Julien-en-Saint Alban. Part of the fun of this wine is also the grapes. Who knows what is in it? It is a brave winemaker who says "OK, let's see what happens when we do (fill in the blank)."

Often this attitude leads to the undrinkable but here it is a great summer sparkler.

Find out more about Texier HERE.

by Patrick Ogle

Les Tetes Les Parcelles Tete Nat Petillant Naturel (2015) pours a bit cloudy--which isn't shocking with a pet nat. I am sometimes a bit apprehensive about these sparklers; not because they are bad but because you don't always know EXACTLY what you are getting. There is bottle variation with some petillant naturals. Sometimes, if you are in the mood for something fun and easy to drink a pet nat is just the thing; other times they are oddball and funky. Know your pet nat!

This one wasn't too odd or funky. But it also isn't a Champagne (they are never that).

There is some mild grapefruit on the nose but not really showing in the taste. There is also a hint of some sort of citrus pith here, not citrus but the fleshy, pith of the fruit. The wine is floral with a hint of of pear. Again, this isn't really your face but it is there. The wine has tiny, delicate bubbles. It is an  elegant, easy to drink, pet nat rather than a funky one. I am not knocking funky ones mind you;I love those too but what you want on a given day may change based on your mood or menu.

This wine is from Loire and is all chenin blanc pet nats from the area tend to be chenin. Tete Nat is the result of certified organic viticulture and is created using native yeasts, no dosage as well as small vats with controlled temperature. A pet nat (as we have discussed before) is a different method from that used in Champagne (and used by many other sparklers).

Find more info HERE.

y Patrick Ogle

Les Capriades is a sparkling chenin blanc from the Loire Valley in France. Chenin, sparkling or not, coming from the Loire is not particularly surprising but this wine is an opportunity to talk a little about "pet nats" (aka petillant naturels).

This wine has a very yeasty smell (the "nose) but this isn't as apparent in the taste. There is a
tart, almost lemony taste to Les Capriades. It also had pretty intense, tiny bubbles and a slightly bitter finish. This "bitterness" doesn't linger; it is there and then it is gone.

This wine is notable for some things it didn’t have too--there was none of the cidery taste some pet nats have. This isn't as funky as some petillant naturels either. It is clear where many are cloudy and while it does not drink like a Champagne (or another Traditional Method sparkler) it has more in common with something from Rheims than some of the more "out there" pet nats.

Now the name pet nat comes from, as noted petillant naturel, and the Loire Valley has a good number of these but they have also become pretty hip here in the USA. When you see "traditional method" on a bottle of sparkling wine it means that wine was made using the same method used for Champagne. Basically they ferment a wine to dryness then bottle it with added yeast and sugar, then it ferments INSIDE the bottle again. They then "disgorge" the bottle taking out the sediment (dead yeast etc) and cork it.

In a petillant naturel (you may also see other terms like methode ancestrale/ancestral method) the wine is NOT fermented to dryness before it is put into the bottle. It resumes fermentation and the sediment is usually left in the bottle (I cannot swear it is in all cases!). Fermentation givesb off alcohol of course as yeast breaks down sugar BUT it also gives off carbon dioxide which give sparklers their fizziness.

Les Capriades is a nice introduction to the world of the pet nat. Be careful when opening it; it has a sort of weird cork. Take it slow or you may wind up with a glass worth of wine on the floor!

Find out more at the Selection Massale website.