Why Pet Nat is the sparkling wine to know

‘Pet nat’ is a style of sparkling wine more often found in the wine bars of Shoreditch than in the fine-dining rooms of  Mayfair. Usually featuring a colourful modern label, it might be sighted on a restaurant list alongside wine matured in amphorae, wines with minimal added sulphur dioxide (a preservative), and whites made with longer skin contact (the contact is between fermenting juice and grape – not human – skin).

Like vinyl collectors, pet nat fans can be extremely focused about sourcing their fix, but there’s no need to go to great lengths if you want to try some because it’s now coming to a supermarket near you. From Tuesday, M&S will sell what it claims will be the first supermarket pet nat: M&S Rosé Pet Nat Brut 2023 Sparkling Wine of England (11.5%, £15).

But what is so special about it? Pet nat is an abbreviation of pétillant naturel, which translates as ‘naturally sparkling’. It’s made by bottling the wine before fermentation has completed. The original fermentation continues in the bottle, the carbon dioxide that is released gives the wine its sparkle and, because the spent yeast cells (lees) are not removed, the wine often has a faintly cloudy appearance.

For champagne, by contrast, the first fermentation is completed in tanks in the winery, then more yeast and sugar are added just prior to bottling, the wine ferments for a second time in the bottle and the lees are removed before the wine is sold. This way of making sparkling wine is called the ‘traditional method’, but the first champagnes were actually pet nats – an accident of bottling the wines before the initial fermentation had completed.

If you’re into wines from Limoux, in south-west France, as I very much am, you might have come across sparkling wines made by méthode ancestrale, which is just another name for pet nat. Many Limoux winemakers believe their sparkling wines pre-date those from the Champagne region. The province is now famous for its crémant, which has two fermentations, but méthode ancestrale still exists. The Wine Society has a sweet one, Blanquette de Limoux, Méthode Ancestrale Antech NV, France (6.5%, £10.61).

The Loire is also a rich source of pet nat. I once did a job in Champagne with a foodie photographer who dragged her heavy camera kit around Paris for an hour when we changed trains on the way home so as to secure a particular bottle of it (and no, she didn’t buy any champagne).

The M&S pet nat, however, is English and it’s pink. Made from grapes grown in Heppington Vineyard, a family vineyard on the Kent North Downs, it utilises pinot noir, meunier and chardonnay, plus pinot gris which brings some subtle florals. It’s quite cloudy, very dry, good but not polished, and slightly raw… a casual wine to pour into a big wine glass and drink outdoors.

This one is better when it’s had time to warm a little from fridge temperature, allowing the fruit to emerge and gentle notes, like spring blossom, to bloom on the finish. It also tastes better with food. I fried slices of chorizo to go with mine, but a ploughman’s lunch also works well.

Like to explore more offbeat and unusual English wines? I’ve got three more here.

Try these...

Knightor Mena Hweg 2023, England

8%, grapebritannia.co.uk, £18.99

Bacchus, but it’s medium-sweet and has the faintest pétillance. Delicious if you like spätlese riesling.

Balfour Albariño 2022, England

12%, balfourwinery.com, available only to Balfour wine club members, £25

There is minimal albariño planted in the UK, so this is a rarity. Expect more citrus acidity than in a Spanish albariño.

Lark & Folly Kent Sparkling Schönburger 2010, England

12%, Grape Britannia, £29.99

Only 150 bottles exist – Tim Wildman MW buys overlooked parcels of English wine and sells them under his own label.