Celebrating Colorado Pét-Nat

There has been much conversation among Colorado winemakers and grape growers about sparkling wine production and the many forms it could take in our state: Méthode Champenois (the style produced in the Champagne region of France), Charmat-method (the style produced in Italy for Prosecco), forced carbonation (the style used in hard ciders and beer), and Pét-Nat (short for Pétillant Naturel, which translates to “Naturally Sparkling”).

I’ve always been fascinated by bubbles in wine. It’s magical soft texture, high acidity dancing on my tongue, and the swirling trails of bubbles that travel up from the bottom of the glass. Colorado grows plenty of white grapes that lend themselves to the style, so I thought it would be a great wine to include in the Vino Salida lineup eventually, but I had heard that it was a difficult style to produce.

Then, while traveling in Quebec with my mom in May 2018, just south of Montreal on La Route de Vins, I spotted a small vignoble (winery), Château de Cartes (House of Cards). We pulled in and tasted through the interesting and tasty wines and ciders. The gentleman pouring the wines for us turned out to be the owner and winemaker, Stephane Lamarre! We got into a very long and fun conversation about his winemaking journey and products and my winery in Colorado. I noticed that he had a Pét-Nat on the tasting sheet, but it was sold out. I told him that I heard it was hard to craft this style of wine, but he assured me that it was easy.

He suddenly got a twinkle in his eye and smiled the biggest smile I’d ever seen in Quebec, and said, “I’ll be right back”. He disappeared down a staircase, which turned out to be his sparkling wine aging room complete with riddling racks, and came up with an unlabeled bottle with a crown cap. He popped the cap off and proceeded to pour the three of us a generous tasting of his next Pét-Nat to be released in July 2018. I was amazed and thoroughly inspired. It was a spiritual experience, complete with magic and mystery. Bright fruit aromas and acidity, supple bubble textures, and just a touch of yeast. I couldn’t imagine that this was an easy product to make. Either way, he had done a fine job crafting a damn tasty wine.

A couple of months later in August 2018, back home in Colorado, I was touring the Ambelos Vineyards in Palisade with grower Neil Jaquet. Neil has some Aromella and Traminette grapes growing (both cold hardy varieties) and mentioned that they would probably produce a tasty sparkling wine since they had a genetic pool of Gewurtztraminer and Muscat, both aromatic vinifera grape varieties. I told him the story of my Quebecois Pét-Nat experience with Stephane, and we both got excited about a collaboration. Neil would harvest the grapes at the perfect moment for a sparkling wine (high acidity and low sugar), and I would consult with Stephane to craft a Vino Salida Pét-Nat. It was easy, after all, or so I’d heard. I called Stephane, and he was in!

Timing goes very fast with this style of wine, as it turns out. The grapes were picked at the end of August and crushed and pressed. Fermentation went fairly quickly, but slowed down by the middle of September. The wine was coarse filtered, a yeast addition was made, and then bottled on September 22. Everyone involved was quite nervous, as we were waiting for the wine to continue to ferment in the bottle (hopefully not exploding) and form the tiny bubbles that define a sparkling wine.

By spring, we had tried several bottles (okay, maybe more) and determined the Colorado Pét-Nat a success! Labels were ordered, and we released our first Pét-Nat in August 2019. Our customers have been pleasantly surprised that this is a Colorado-grown product, being so sophisticated in taste and appearance. We have toasted many times to the success of this cross-cultural, international collaboration with Stephane and look forward to another experimental Pét-Nat for Harvest 2020. Maybe a Rosé crafted with red grapes. All in all, with the nervousness aside, Stephane made our Vino Salida experience with Pét-Nat easy. Merci Beaucoup, Stephane. Santé!