Pet-nat is still the coolest kid in the room

It doesn't try. It doesn't need to.

Pet-nat just shows up: slightly chilled, slightly cloudy, and completely magnetic.

This isn't Champagne's polished sibling. It's the one who dropped out of art school, started a mushroom farm and throws the best backyard parties. And somehow, you always want to be near it.

So what is pet-nat?

Let's keep it soft but honest.

Pet-nat is short for pétillant naturel, French for “naturally sparkling”. The wine goes into the bottle before its first fermentation has finished. The yeast keeps working inside the closed bottle, and the carbon dioxide it makes has nowhere to go. That's the fizz. The French call this old way of making bubbles méthode ancestrale, the ancestral method.

Champagne works differently. There, a finished still wine gets a second fermentation in the bottle, then time on its lees, then the yeast is removed and the bottle is usually topped up with a little wine and sugar, the dosage. Pet-nat skips all of that: one fermentation, nothing added at the end.

Many pet-nats are never disgorged, so the spent yeast stays in the bottle. That's the haze and the little sediment. Some producers do disgorge, for a clearer wine.

What does it taste like?

Like a rebellion in a glass. Or a sunrise at 4am when you haven't slept.

Pet-nat can taste like white peach, unripe strawberry, funky cider, or a lemon spritz kissed with wildflowers. There's no one flavour, and that's the thrill. Each bottle is a little unpredictable. Sometimes gently fizzy, sometimes a full-on party. Most are dry; a few keep a touch of sweetness from sugar the yeast didn't finish.

Expect floaties. Expect cloudiness. Expect fun.

When do you drink it?

• When you're not in the mood for anything serious.
• Making out in the kitchen.
• Hosting a picnic that might become a dance floor.
• When your soul needs a reset.

It's perfect for brunch. Or breakups. Or both.

Three bottles worth knowing

Look for small producers, natural winemakers and fun labels. Three names to start with:

• Les Capriades (Touraine, Loire, France): pet-nat legends, among the growers who brought the style back in France. Soft, dreamy fizz; the Pet Sec is Chenin Blanc. Their last vintage was 2022, so if you see a bottle, you're holding a piece of history.
• Wild Arc Farm (Hudson Valley, New York): a small natural winery making pet-nats from New York grapes. Juicy, cloudy and always surprising.
• Costadilà (Veneto, Italy): cloudy, amber-tinged fizz from the Prosecco hills, made with skin contact. Strictly a cousin: these are col fondo wines, refermented in the bottle and left on their lees. Same wild spirit.

How to serve it

• Chill it well. Cold wine holds its bubbles better, and some pet-nats are lively.
• Clear or cloudy, your choice. Stand the bottle upright for a few hours to let the sediment settle, or turn it gently to mix it through.
• Open it slowly, over the sink. Many come with a crown cap, like a beer. It might be excited to see you.

More bubbles: Champagne vs Prosecco, told by your overconfident date, and why Champagne tastes better from a magnum.

Some wines want to impress you. Pet-nat just wants you to feel something.

Questions people ask