Sour Beer and Pétillant-Naturel ("Pét-Nat")
... What is Pét-Nat?
one of Cruse Wine Co's Pét-Nats
For most people, “wine” conjures images of thick-bottled austere red wines, or oaky white wines. Some may envision bubbles (Champagne, Cava, etc.) or neutral, watery Pinot Grigio. Wine is a massive concept, spanning every continent and most countries, and at the center of mainstream films, like Sideways, Bottleshock, the Somm film series, and others. So it’s no wonder that even the mention of wine brings up so many different images and sensory memories. What it probably doesn’t bring up, though, is Pétillant-Naturel.
Pétillant-Naturel (colloquially shortened to “Pét-Nat”) is one of the oldest forms of sparkling wine in existence. To add context, it’s also called “Méthode Ancestrale” - or if you’re French-illiterate, “Ancestral Method”. While the process may be old, I believe its rise in popularity over the last few years can be attributed to a few main points:
Picture a sour beer drinker, someone who has cut their teeth on Cantillon or Drie Fonteinen - two classic Belgian Lambic makers and Gueuze blenderies - and what they generally like about those beers. They love the wet hay and straw aromatics of Cantillon “Gueuze”; The subtle sheep-shit notes of Drie Fonteinen “Armand and Gaston”. They live for the funk. They die for the funk.
Now, take that same sour beer drinker and tell them that instead of begrudgingly trading their feet pics to strangers for aged Tilquin Gueuze, they can just go to a natural wine shop and pay $20 for a bottle of funky, sharp, sparkling wine. You just changed their life.
Pétillant-Naturel (colloquially shortened to “Pét-Nat”) is one of the oldest forms of sparkling wine in existence. To add context, it’s also called “Méthode Ancestrale” - or if you’re French-illiterate, “Ancestral Method”. While the process may be old, I believe its rise in popularity over the last few years can be attributed to a few main points:
- Low Alcohol: Pét-Nats generally range from 8% to 12% alcohol by volume, which is considerably lower than most sparkling wines. Being lower in alcohol allows it to be better served as a pre- or post-dinner drink (“aperitif” or “digestif” respectively), or as something easy to toss back with a friend or partner.
- Accessibility: While cost is a subjective factor for most, Pét-Nats are generally inexpensive, which in this case means around $20 per bottle. This is comparable to most Prosecco, Cava (Spanish sparklers), or any Loire Valley bubbles (mostly known as Cremant de Loire). Pét-Nats place no emphasis on saving a bottle for a special occasion - they’re the everyday driver. Also, unlike most wines, they don’t even have corks - they’re fermented under Crown Cap (like beer). Pop it now!
- Funk: Yep, funk. While it may be off putting to blue blooded wine buyers, the musty, funky, volatile nature of Pét-Nat is actually seen as a feature - not a flaw. These wines are tart, earthy, and “rustic” or “farmyard-y”; sounds enticing, no?
Picture a sour beer drinker, someone who has cut their teeth on Cantillon or Drie Fonteinen - two classic Belgian Lambic makers and Gueuze blenderies - and what they generally like about those beers. They love the wet hay and straw aromatics of Cantillon “Gueuze”; The subtle sheep-shit notes of Drie Fonteinen “Armand and Gaston”. They live for the funk. They die for the funk.
Now, take that same sour beer drinker and tell them that instead of begrudgingly trading their feet pics to strangers for aged Tilquin Gueuze, they can just go to a natural wine shop and pay $20 for a bottle of funky, sharp, sparkling wine. You just changed their life.
Wild and Wonderful Ferms
Resident Culture Brewing's Coolship
The most obvious shared component of Sour Beer and Pét-Nat is their fermentation. Pét-Nat (and most non-commercial wine) is fermented spontaneously - meaning that the wine begins fermentation via wild yeast on the skin of the grapes, as well as the naturally-occuring yeast in the air. Because wort (pre-fermentation, sweet beer) is boiled, any of the wild yeast on the grain is killed off, so sour beer breweries use a large stainless steel vessel called a “Coolship” to inoculate their wort. In the Fall, when overnight temperatures get cool enough to inhibit any unwanted bacteria growth (roughly 25°F-46°F), brewers will empty their boil kettles directly into their “Coolship”, which is generally either outside in a protected space (like at Oxbow) or in a room with open vents (here in Charlotte at Resident Culture, pictured) that allow the outside wild yeasts to inoculate the wort.
Without going too overboard into tech talk, I’ll talk a bit about yeast. Saccharomyces Cerevisiae is the yeast that is most efficient at fermenting wine and beer. In fact, there are many different cultivated strains of Saccharomyces Cerevisiae: some for Hazy IPAs, some for Lagers, some for Champagne, some for Pinot Noir, etc. However, when doing a spontaneous or “wild” fermentation, wild yeasts like Brettanomyces, and souring bacteria like Lactobacillus will also be included in fermentation; all of these different, uncultivated microbes allow the wine or beer to be more expressive and have a greater sense of place than cultivated yeasts. Wild fermented ales and wines are truly “one of a kind.”
Without going too overboard into tech talk, I’ll talk a bit about yeast. Saccharomyces Cerevisiae is the yeast that is most efficient at fermenting wine and beer. In fact, there are many different cultivated strains of Saccharomyces Cerevisiae: some for Hazy IPAs, some for Lagers, some for Champagne, some for Pinot Noir, etc. However, when doing a spontaneous or “wild” fermentation, wild yeasts like Brettanomyces, and souring bacteria like Lactobacillus will also be included in fermentation; all of these different, uncultivated microbes allow the wine or beer to be more expressive and have a greater sense of place than cultivated yeasts. Wild fermented ales and wines are truly “one of a kind.”
What’s All the Fizz About?
Michael Cruse disgorging his Pét-Nat
There are many different methods of carbonating wine and beer, which I’ll link to below, but Pét-Nat is a special case. The wine is bottled before it finishes fermentation and continues to ferment in bottle; this means that the wine naturally carbonates in bottle (hence its name), leaving the wine effervescent, but less carbonated than sparklers that undergo a second fermentation in bottle like Champagne, Cava, or other Traditional Method styles.
Traditional sour beers are bottle-conditioned - which is closer to Traditional Method - in which finished, fermented beer is mixed with priming sugar or honey and left to re-ferment in the bottle; this naturally carbonates the beer. Some traditional Belgian brewers, like Orval, will add Brettanomyces at bottling, which will continue to eat all remaining sugars as it ages, leaving the beer bone dry, highly carbonated, and funky.
Traditional sour beers are bottle-conditioned - which is closer to Traditional Method - in which finished, fermented beer is mixed with priming sugar or honey and left to re-ferment in the bottle; this naturally carbonates the beer. Some traditional Belgian brewers, like Orval, will add Brettanomyces at bottling, which will continue to eat all remaining sugars as it ages, leaving the beer bone dry, highly carbonated, and funky.
Unfined, Unfiltered, Unfuckedwith
A traditional Belgian Lambic Basket
These styles both predate any modern style of fining or filtration, and most contemporary producers will keep in line with that. A handful of producers, like Michael Cruse (Cruse Wine Co., pictured above), will disgorge: an ancient method of filtration (linked below). But due to its nature of being bottled before fermentation is finished, most Pét-Nat producers will not disgorge as it adds an extra step and removes many of the more expressive, funky aspects of the wine. Likewise, most sour beer producers will wait for a beer to settle out - but certain yeasts like Brettanomyces will never fully “flocculate” out of the beer, remaining hazy ad infinitum.
While you can minimize haziness by pouring from the bottle slowly and with minimal jostling, most sour beers and Pét-Nats are known and loved for their slightly opaque concentration. It doesn’t just add flavor and aroma: it adds character.
So grab a glass, pop some caps, and get to it! It’s springtime and the day is always young.
While you can minimize haziness by pouring from the bottle slowly and with minimal jostling, most sour beers and Pét-Nats are known and loved for their slightly opaque concentration. It doesn’t just add flavor and aroma: it adds character.
So grab a glass, pop some caps, and get to it! It’s springtime and the day is always young.
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