by Patrick Ogle
Frantz Saumon's La Cave Se Rebiffe is a charming pet nat from France's Loire Valley, a stronghold of the Ancestral Method of making sparkling wine. The nose is like a cherry soda with a wee bit of vinegar. It has a crisp clean, fresh smell and that is also what you get when you taste. It is a dry wine with lots of cherry and a tiny, almost undetectable bit of acetic acid (the same acid that gives vinegar its taste.) NOW, too much of this acid is a bad thing but in this context, and in wines like lambruscos, this is a good thing. You might even sense sweetness here but I honestly just thing that is frutiness.
This wine also has strong acidity, lurking minerality and even a little barnyard funk. Do not be frightened. This is pretty mild as funkiness goes. We are not talking Parliament levels of funkiness, more like The Commodores. It is a refreshing, fun and easy to drink wine. The grapes used are malbec, gamay and groulleau. The last is used for roses and blends in the Loire (an oft derided but also oft delicious grape). The other two are less grown in the region.
Frantz Saumon's La Cave Se Rebiffe is a charming pet nat from France's Loire Valley, a stronghold of the Ancestral Method of making sparkling wine. The nose is like a cherry soda with a wee bit of vinegar. It has a crisp clean, fresh smell and that is also what you get when you taste. It is a dry wine with lots of cherry and a tiny, almost undetectable bit of acetic acid (the same acid that gives vinegar its taste.) NOW, too much of this acid is a bad thing but in this context, and in wines like lambruscos, this is a good thing. You might even sense sweetness here but I honestly just thing that is frutiness.
This wine also has strong acidity, lurking minerality and even a little barnyard funk. Do not be frightened. This is pretty mild as funkiness goes. We are not talking Parliament levels of funkiness, more like The Commodores. It is a refreshing, fun and easy to drink wine. The grapes used are malbec, gamay and groulleau. The last is used for roses and blends in the Loire (an oft derided but also oft delicious grape). The other two are less grown in the region.
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When you hear "pet nat," and we have written on this before, it means Petillant Naturel (aka Ancestral Method). This is a method of making sparkling wine that predates Method Champagnois. The basic difference, without going into too much detail, is that Champagnes are made from wines fermented to dryness, then those wines are bottled, have sugar and yeast added, and a second fermentation begins in the capped, but not corked, bottle. Pet nats do not ferment the wine to dryness before putting the wine in the bottle. The fermentation continues and since fermentation creates CO2? You get bubbles.
Some pet nats, like this one, you will find a bottle cap instead of a cork. This also shouldn't frighten you. Champagne is also capped just like this for the secondary fermentation (the cap is removed, the bottle topped off and re-sealed with a cork in the case of Champagnes). Pet nats have become trendy of late; you will see them from a variety of areas around the world. They method isn't the only thing different from Champagne. These wines have a different character but that character varies from wine to wine, area to area.
Some pet nats, like this one, you will find a bottle cap instead of a cork. This also shouldn't frighten you. Champagne is also capped just like this for the secondary fermentation (the cap is removed, the bottle topped off and re-sealed with a cork in the case of Champagnes). Pet nats have become trendy of late; you will see them from a variety of areas around the world. They method isn't the only thing different from Champagne. These wines have a different character but that character varies from wine to wine, area to area.
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