Rustic Fizz Takes Root in US

In the world of sparkling wine, not all that shimmers is Champagne. When it comes to getting bubbles in the bottle, many producers today are looking past the popular méthode champenoise and charmat (tank) methods and returning to sparkling wine production's roots: the méthode ancestrale.

Also referred to as the méthode rurale, artisanale, or gaillacoise, the ancestral method of producing sparkling wine far predates Champagne's famed méthode traditionelle, first documented in 1531 in the south of France, perfected by the monks of Saint-Hilaire. Unlike the traditionelle or charmat methods, which require a secondary fermentation to give the wines their fizz, the ancestral method comprises bottling wines prior to fermentation being complete, trapping residual carbon dioxide within the bottles, creating a light, pleasantly effervescent wine, with low ABVs and varying degrees of residual sugar.

These wines, commonly referred to as pétillant-naturel (that's pét-nat, for short), have found a newfound resurgence on the international market, with producers far beyond France looking to this style of sparkling wine production, specifically within North America. So what exactly has pushed American producers to return to this style of bubbly wine making?

Jared Brandt, winemaker at Berkeley based Donkey & Goat winery, was first inspired to create a pét-nat back in 2009, after a conversation over a shared bottle of Andrea Calek's Blonde with Lou Amdour of Lou's Wine Shop. After a few trial rounds in 2009 and 2010, the Brandts began bottling Lily's Pét-Nat back in 2011, named after their daughter, who was born that same year. "The first production we sold was Chardonnay (largely) from the Anderson Valley," explains Tracey Brandt, noting that the winery produced its eighth vintage this year. The duo has also played around with Merlot, Pinot Gris, Clairette, and Pinot Meunier in their sparkling wine production, incorporating whole-cluster pressing, stainless steel vinification, and zero additions including no sulfur, followed by hand disgorgement in the spring.

"Calek's Blonde was clearly an inspiration," explains Brandt, additionally highlighting the couple's love for the bubbly wines of La Grange Tiphaine. She notes that their winery's pét-nats are "wildly popular", leading most of them, aside from Lily's, to be reserved for their wine club members only.

In Oregon, Willamette-based winemaker Brianne Day (of Day Wines) is also experimenting with méthode ancestrale winemaking, using a blend of Vermentino, Muscat and Malvasia Bianca. "I first came across this ancient style when I was in Paris in 2007," says Day, after a year spent traveling in New Zealand, Australia, Southeast Asia, and various wine regions across Europe. "When I was in Paris, a retailer told me that a revolutionary group of winemakers was meeting and showing their wines at a bar in the city," she says, recounting her first experience with natural wines from the Loire and Beaujolais. "I went and talked with some people and tasted my first pét-nat, then later on, I traveled through the Loire and tasted quite a bit more," she says, recounting how honest the wines tasted. "I loved the simplicity of the winemaking; I felt they had a lot of energy and vitality." This eventually pushed Day to create her own pét-nat in 2014, after receiving an offer of a handful of Malvasia Bianca.

"I thought about what to do with it and decided that a pet-nat would be an appropriate style for this grape, which I had also had pet-nat style in northern Italy," she says, highlighting her choice to use the ancestral method because of its simplicity and straightforwardness. "I like the pace of making it, needing to time bottling precisely, to do manual things to reduce the sediment, and I like that it is 100 percent free of sulfur or other additives." Day finds inspiration in the wines of Giovanni Menti, seeing them as a benchmark for méthode ancestrale winemaking.

"Consumers really love the wines," she says, especially for their bright, floral, and fun nature. "They like that the wine has life in it and they like the lees being in suspension; they are surprised in a good way and I've made a lot of faithful followers."

In the Finger Lakes, winemaker Nathan Kendall and Pascaline Lepeltier MS have also begun bottling a line of pét-nat wines under their new joint label, Chepika. "We chose to make pét-nat, as it was the obvious choice in regards to the structural profile of the grapes," says Kendall, noting the high acidity and low pH of the varieties that they use. "We work with Delaware and Catawba, as these two grapes were originally used to make sparkling wines in the region back in the 1800s," Kendall explains, noting that Michael Cruse and La Grange Tiphaine are also two large sources of inspiration for the wines.

"In my observations, people really enjoy the high acid and modest alcohol [of the wines]," notes Kendall, describing the grapes' past history of being used to create mass-produced sweet table wines. "It's really quite refreshing, and really fun to see [consumers] enjoy wines made from grapes they aren't familiar with, and then to tell them the story that this style of wine was what made the Finger Lakes a wine growing region back in 1800s." Lepeltier concurs, noting that her experience with consumers' reactions has also been extremely positive. "I was pouring it for the tasting menu [at Racine's] and people were really surprised you could make a natural pét-nat so clean, fresh, and vibrant, with a great carbonation. They love the floral notes of the Catawba, and the savoriness of the Delaware. It's a great success!"

Domestic winemakers elsewhere are also experimenting with varying degrees of sparkling wine making techniques, falling somewhere in the middle of the pét-nat and traditional method spectrum. Kelly Koch, winemaker at North Fork based Macari Vineyards, explains that she began producing a sparkling wine from Cabernet Franc back in 2013, with the intentions of using the méthode traditionelle. "The plan had been to make a traditional method sparkling, but it tasted so good as it was, we decided not to disgorge it and left it under crown cap," she explains. The winery's sparkling Cabernet Franc is bottle fermented and non-disgorged, though does indeed undergo a secondary fermentation. "Our production style is not really modeled after any one producer; we are just trying to make something that tastes great and makes people happy." As for consumer feedback? "They love it," says Koch. "We have trouble keeping it in stock!"

Moral of the story: when it comes to American wine consumption, bubbles, no matter which method they're produced from, will always be in style.