by Patrick Ogle

Raventos' Can Sumoi Ancestral Sumoll 2017  is an approachable pet nat (Pétillant-naturel) made with an rare grape. I tasted peaches, apricots and a bit of red berry in this fine bubbled wine. There is also a  tiny hint of bitterness on the finish and something reminiscent of bruised orchard fruit . This is, despite the exotic description and grape, an accessible wine This  will please fans of pet nats and natural wines but also people with more staid tastes.  

There is a bit of creaminess in this golden-hued vino. For a a pet nat you don't get the funk that some find off putting but you do get a unique and interesting confluence of flavors and sensations. This clearly isn't a Champagne nor is it like other Champagne method wines from Raventos but that is a good thing. The wine is 100 percent Sumoll, uses indigenous yeast and adds no sulfur. It has about the same pressure in the bottle as a Champagne.

Summoll is a rare grape. Depending on the source there are between 200-250 hectares (500ish acres) grown in Penedes, Spain. The grape can produce quality red wines (including this one). It is not surprising that it has been used in Cavas as well. It has a reputation as a difficult grape to work with but the examples I've found have been worth the effort.

Can Sumoi is the new natural wine label from Pepe Raventos and  Francesc Escala. Nearly a thousand acres of land at 600 meters of altitude. They grow
Montonega (a relative of Parellada), Xarel-lo and Sumoll. Find out more HERE.

 It is to be hoped we see more from Can Sumoi.

by Patrick Ogle

Poderi Morini "Morose" Spumante Brut Rose  from Emilia-Romagna, is a find. When you spend around $12 on a sparkler you do not expect something with this textured and creamy. You also might not expect all the fruit and herbal elements. I get red berries--from raspberry to cherry and even something perfumey here. There is something like a fennel or tarragon herbalness here. The sugar is in the middle to high range for a brut sparkler. Twelve grams per liter is the upper limit and this has about 9. It is still dry but it isn't as low as brut goes (I refer to sugar ranges in Champagne here). Drink it on its own or make cocktails with it. It works well for both.

This is a lovely little wine that also has a neat story. The grape is Centesimino a grape that just as easily could have vanished into history. A gentleman named Pietro Pianori found the grape growing and championed it. When it was included in the Italian national catalog of vines it was named Centesimino in Pianori's honor (Centesimino was his nickname). Read more at the Fringe Wine blog.
 
The grape is also used to make still red wines. This is a non-vintage wine but apparently all the grapes come from 2015. This wine is made using the Charmat (Tank) Method. This means the wine gets its sparkle outside the bottle in a pressurized tank.

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.

by Patrick Ogle

Celine & Laurent Tripoz Fleur Aligoté NV has a nose with a  bit of a mustiness. But not the unpleasant mustiness of somewhere dank or fetid. No, this is just a hint of that mustiness of a long closed box made of fine wood. Some might even think of it as earthy but, to me, it is a more homey sort of sent. There is also something tropical--a whiff of pineapple.

Fleur Aligoté has a tart taste with a slightly bitter finish and a wee but of funk. LIke that musty scent this isn't a defect but a strength in this wine--it stands out from many mundane cremants. This is a sparkler worth remembering. There is something almost dusty, chalky. The "pineapple" is more noticeable when you taste especially as the wine warms a bit. I probably sipped it a bit too cold out of the gate. There is also citrus here especially tart lemon.

This is not like a Champagne or even a Cremant de Burgogne. It is closer to some  Loire pet nats or even American wines made in that style (this is not a pet nat despite this comparison).

Aligoté is the "second" white grape of Burgundy, generally overshadowed by chardonnay. There are reasons for this to be so but aligoté varietal wines--still or sparkling--have their own place and their own taste. They are not so much "inferior" to a chardonnay as they are different. Perhaps not as versatile or age-worthy in most cases but there are many worthy wines (usually moderately priced) using the grape.

Tripoz has been making wine for the past 27 years (before that selling grapes to local Burgundy cooperatives). Their grapes all grow in the area of Loche in Maconnais and their wines are grown and created using the most natural practices possible. The land, the weather and the clay/limestone soils shine through in all of their wines--or those that I have tasted at least.

by Patrick Ogle

Domaine Glinavos Paleokerisio Ioannina Semi Sparkling Orange Wine (2014) is a unique sparkling wine from Northwestern Greece (Epirus). The wine is made of the debina grape with a little vlahiko in the mix (the former is white and the latter red). It comes in a 500 ml bottle.

The smell made me think of vinegar but more than that there was something a little cider-like to the nose. There is no acetic acid taste to the wine (vinegariness). Paleokerisio has a little bit of sweetness to it and its effervescence isn't as pronounced as you would find in a Champagne. When you pour the fizz is pronounced but the fine bubbles are more subtle once in the glass.

There is an almost tropical flavor to the fruit--but this may have something to do with the sweetness. Sweet makes me think of RIPE guava and papaya and the like. There is a hint of tannin in this wine too and a wee bit of a bitterness in the finish, which is hidden by sweetness and effervescence, as the effervescence calms the bitter is a tad more apparent. Bitter isn't a bad thing in this (and many other) contexts with wine. Ive had people say they don't like "bitter" wines and what they are talking about, upon questioning, is tannins.

One of the reasons you (and I) haven't heard of debina is that it is a white that apparently oxidizes quickly and wasn't widely exported. Chatting with friends we came up with an image from antiquity of rowers on a ship yelling to each other;
"FASTER, FASTER, the wine is going bad!" These days packaging and shipping have improved. Vlahiko is a grape we will talk about more in depth soon. In the meantime you can find out more about Greek wines at www.newwinesofgreece.com.

An "orange wine" by the way is a white wine that is aged with the skin. Usually with whites the juice is separated from the skins quickly. With orange wines the skin is left in contact. You find these wines in Georgia (the country), Croatia
and Northeastern Italy with frequency. Other areas also produce them. They get their name from their coppery/orange color.

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.

Richter's Mülheimer Sonnenlay Riesling Brut 2008,  is a sekt made from riesling. This is a sparkling riesling. The first thing that often comes to mind with riesling is "sweet." While there are many sweet still rieslings (and I assume sparkling as well) this one is brut. Riesling is commonly used to make sparkling wine in Germany but it is less familiar to Americans as a sparkler.

As noted this wine is dry. Brut generally means less than 12 grams of sugar per liter. Extra brut is driest followed by: brut, extra dry, sec, demi-sec and doux.  This sekt has fine bubbles and a bit of that oily, petrol-y feel you get from rieslings. There is a hint of bitterness in the finish. It is made from ice wine, grapes left on the vine until they freeze.

This is a unique dry white sparkler. I couldn't name its fruit as I drank. In fact, I finished the whole bottle before I came to any determination. This seems like a pretty solid endorsement regardless. There is perhaps something of the apple in this wine, almost a reminder of some fine ciders.  Maybe a hint of some sort of mild stone fruit but  fruit  isn't this wine's most important feature.

The name "sekt" denotes a sparkling wine from Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and occasionally the term is may be applied in sparkling wines from other areas (although perhaps not officially). This wine is labeled "Deutscher Sekt" so all the grapes are grown in Germany.

In many cases grapes are imported to make sekt. Another thing to note about sekt is that much of it is made using the "charmat" method rather than the traditional method (as is done in Champagne). This wine uses the traditional method. There is, by the way, nothing wrong with the charmat/tank method; some fine wines are made using it.

A number of sources say nearly 90 percent of sekts use imported grapes and the charmat method meaning this wine is something of a rare creature in that. It is also a sparkler that stands out in it's price range.

$15-16