Pet Nat – short for pétillant naturel (naturally sparkling). I’m not going to go into the details about what it is, because you can read about them here. I’ll just say that this is a favourite of mine, so when I saw it when I was out for a drink with a friend (OK, yes, it was TY. But I do have other friends. Honest!) I had to get it.
In the glass
Very pretty. It’s crystal clear, light. Lemon, I guess, if you wanted a colour. I notice that my notes doesn’t actually have a colour. But that’s ok. I took a picture. It has a very fine, slight mousse to it. I’m actually impressed with how clear it is. Pet Nats are often a bit cloudy, which is to be expected, given they’ve finished fermenting in the bottle.
The nose
Nothing. Nada. Perhaps a few small bubbles escaping to prick my nose, but that’s it.
The palate
My immediate response is ‘Yummy.’ The main taste is a crisp, green apple. TY, when she shows up, insists on it being Granny Smith. Perhaps. Some sort of green apple, and I can’t be bothered with varieties right now. Slight fizz, as expected. It has a long, long finish with a crisp sourness to it.
It has a bit more mouthfeel – in the sense of being fuller and rounder than you might expect judging from the colour. So I’d go with medium-bodied.
Refreshing. Dangerously drinkable. There’s admittedly not a lot of complexity going on that I pick up, but that’s perfectly fine here.
Rating
Overall, a Yummy-double-plus good, and visually, a Very Pretty. I could drink this all the time. It’s hard to imagine getting bored with it.
It’s not a serious wine, but a wonderful one. My notes also say it’s a happy drink. I’m not sure happy is the correct word. Perhaps glad? My point is, I wouldn’t call it a celebratory drink, like Champagne. But it’s still happy or glad.
Sustainability
Natural farming (whatever that means), wild ferment, low-intervention, no added sulphites. In other words, we’ve pretty much ticked most of the boxes.
Other stuff
Fuchs und Hase is a joint venture of two Austrian wineries – Arndorfer and Jurtschitsch. (Unfortunately, they don’t have a website.) I can’t recall if I’ve ever had anything by Jurtschitsch, but I’m a bit fan or Arndorfer’s wines in general, and some will doubtless appear here before too long. (In my experience – really nice people as well.) Reading up a bit more, apparently they disgorge this particular pet nat, which would help explain the clarity, although it remains unfiltered and unfined.
The technical info and such
11.0% ABV. A blend of grapes – Muller Thurgau, Gruner Veltliner, Gelber Mukateller. It is £25.90 from Thirsty, but they are currently sold out. I’m pretty sure that’s my fault.