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What is wine ?

Wine is a grape juice with alcohol coming from the fermentation of sugar. By contrast, beer comes from the fermentation of grains. This explains why historically wine is found in sunny countries and beer in continental countries.

A wine bottle contains 5/6 glasses of wine. It contains mainly water, alcohol, eventually sugar (if sweety) and then minerals and acids.

What are wine grapes ?

Wine grapes are specific grapes used for making wine. They are smaller, sweeter and with more seeds than usual seeds. Indeed sugar is needed as it is transformed into alcohol after fermentation. Seeds are needed for the minerals that give taste to the wine.

Most known wine grapes are for white wine : Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling, Muscat, Pinot Gris.

For red wine, we have : Pinot noir, Syrah, Grenache, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet franc, Merlot.

Wine tasting in 4 steps

There are 4 mains steps for wine tasting :

  1. Observing "la robe du vin"

The first steps consists in observing, swirling, looking at the color, the consistency, the bubbles and sediments if any.

  1. Smelling "Le Nez"

The second steps consists in smelling the aroma of wine. There are usuallly thousands of aroma in wine, so do not be ashamed if you do not smell the same aromas as your friend ! Aromas are infinite they can recall you white fruits, red fruits, leather, flowers, earth, trees ...

  1. Tasting "La bouche"

The third steps consists in tasting with your tongue. Additionnaly to the aroma you have only 4 basic tastes : sweetness, acidity, bitterness, minerality (salty).

Furthermore your tongue can sense the body of the wine, (heavy or light) and the tannins (small deposits in red wines).

  1. Thinking

All these sensations remind you a trip in some country side, a special event with your loved one or friend. Take notes and remember as it gets richer and richer the more you taste.

Ancestral method for producing sparkling wines

La méthode ancestrale, utilisée pour faire les petnat , est composée des étapes suivants :

  • récolte du raisin (à la main pour les bons vins)

  • vendange (pour extraire le jus, à la machine)

  • fermentation alcoolique en cuve (sans laisser terminer)

  • élevage sur lattes (continuation et fin de la fermentation)

  • dégorgement (pour enlever les résidus)

Vous l'aurez compris, les bulles viennent de la fermentation alcoolique par les bactéries qui se fait dans la bouteille, transformant le sucre en alcool et gaz carbonique.

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The ancestral method is used for creating sparkling wines such as petnat. The process consists in :

  • wine harvesting

  • crushing and pressing to extract the juice

  • alcohol fermentation in tank (shall not be terminated)

  • wine maturing on laths (continuation of fermentation)

  • disgorgement (removes the deposits)

Bubbles come from the fermentation in bottles, which transforms the sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide.

Pet'Nat

Le pétillant naturel entre amis

Le pet'nat est un vin pétillant naturel fabriqué selon la méthode ancestrale.

Historiquement c'est un vin à déguster entre amis, mais il y a de plus en plus de producteurs qui font un travail de qualité et qui rivalisent avec les champagne !

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Petnat is a natural sparkling wine done by the ancestral method.

It is generally a simple wine to drinkg with friends, but many producers are doing a great work with quality equaling some champagne !