Raw Sparkling Cider
Pétillant-Naturel (Pét-Nat)
Pétillant Naturel simply means “Naturally Sparkling” in French. So if carbon dioxide has not been added mechanically, then any drink with bubbles can (and often does) call itself a Pét-Nat.
A true Pét-Nat is made using a specific process (méthode ancestrale) which involves using sugar from the first fermentation of the fruit. The method predates containers (barrels) that could hold any significant pressure, so the style is lightly sparkling.
The monks of Blanquette de Limoux, a monastery would harvest their grapes late, and try to keep their wines from fully fermenting before the winter chill set in. In spring and early summer, the ferment would begin again, and a naturally lightly sparkling wine was produced.
We chill our early harvest juice to slow the natural ferment, and then blend our late harvest fruit to deliver just enough sugar to produce a great sparkle when we bottle and trap freshly picked apple smells and tastes.
Entirely natural, with no additives. It doesn’t get any more natural than our Pét-Nat.
Fizzy Apple (Brut-Nature)
Even though it is Naturally Sparkling, we don’t describe our Fizzy Apple as a Pétillant Naturel cider. Instead we call it a Fizzy Apple or “Brut Nature”.
The technique we use to make this cider is the technique pioneered by English cidermakers around 1644, who took advantage of newly invented pressure bottles and crafted a second bottle fermentation. Sugar was added to mature scrumpy, which was then transferred to a pressure bottle and sealed with a tie down cap.
Inside the pressure bottle the yeast ate the sugar, making alcohol and bubbles.
These English manufactured pressure bottles became known as the “Verre Anglais” in France, and were imported for use by Dom Perignon who copied the sparkling cidermaking technique to make his fizzy cool climate white wines in the Champagne region some forty years later.
By 1650 makers of Perry and English grape wines were sparkling their ferments, with the real success story being the sparkling Perrys that have remained a popular alternative to Champagne in Northern France.
Our Brut Nature contains winemaking history in every bottle.