Many of you were following along in Spring 2023 when we released our Chillable Red with Michael from Cutter Cascadia—a blend of Tempranillo from Underwood Mountain and Riesling from The Dalles. The idea was simple: take two grapes you never see together and make something bright, juicy, and built for summer. We let it finish fermentation in bottle for a light spritz and jokingly called it our Columbia Gorge Lambrusco. Fun wine. We loved it.
When we finalized that blend (70% Tempranillo, 30% Riesling), it left behind one oddball: a 70-gallon tank of Riesling that just wasn’t playing well with others. It was also fermenting at a glacial pace, still holding a fair amount of natural sugar - but it smelled incredible. Elderflower, apple blossom, desert herbs and spices. It didn’t take long to realize it was sitting in the perfect spot for Pet Nat (short for pétillant naturel.)
For those unfamiliar, Pet Nat is a style of sparkling wine where the final stages of grape fermentation happen inside the bottle, thus trapping co2, thus creating a fizzy sparkling wine. It’s historically the rustic, slightly unhinged cousin to Champagne - looser bubbles, a little farmyard edge, less polish, more personality. Usually they are bottled in winter and released in Spring when the fruit is still vibrant and lively. They are the kind of sparkling wines you want to consume very quickly with friends, while standing around and not thinking too hard about anything. Easy summertime wines.
That’s the normal template.
We were on pace for all of this, and in early summer we cracked one open to see how it was tasting. One problem - there were no bubbles and the wine was still intensely sweet. The fermentation was stuck. This can happen for all kinds of different reasons and often the fix is to warm everything up, which kickstarts the yeast. Sometimes in Summer, you’ll see winemakers move palates of Pet Nat outside where its hot. Other times, when summer warmth isn't an option, wrapping heating blankets around the wine works. We opted to stick the palate of wine outside and hope for the best. Set it and forget. Which is exactly what happened. By the time we got around to tasting one again in Autumn, we were shocked. Still no bubbles. Still sugar. Still no fermentation happening. At this point, it became clear to me that this wine was gonna do whatever it wanted to do. I didn't want to force it with a heating blanket - that just felt too prescriptive. As often happens, we realized there was a pretty cool opportunity here.
What if we just ignored it for as long as possible and let it live at its own pace? When the yeasts were ready to wake up, they’d wake up. We knew the end result would be an aged Pet nat but we didn't really know what that would mean, because no one ages pet nat. What came out the other side isn’t your typical pét-nat. The fruit has changed from fresh picked to something more culinary, savory. It’s like grilled pineapple dipped in apple skin yellow curry. It feels like one of a kind. And since it was only a small tank, we only have about 25 cases, just enough for a wine club exclusive release.
