General Terms

Question 1

Pét Nat

Answer 1

“pétillant naturel”—a French term that roughly translates to “naturally sparkling.”

Fermented completely in the bottle, leaving the co2 trapped. Most sparkling wines are matured and then bottled (losing co2), and have sugar and yeast added during the bottling to produce co2.

Question 2

Natural Wine

Answer 2

The primary difference between natural and regular wine is how the winemakers produce the wine. Conventional winemaking involves heavy intervention from the beginning to the end of the process.

Traditional winemakers use machine pickers to harvest grapes, while natural wine utilizes hand-picking. The grapes in regular wine are grown with pesticides and herbicides to protect and enhance their growth. In the United States, winemakers have different approved additives they are not required to share on a wine bottle’s label. These additives help control:

Flavor
Aroma
Texture
Natural wines shy away from additives, including preservatives that keep the wine fresh for longer once it’s bottled. The added sulfites that help preserve the freshness of regular wine often receive the blame for headaches and hangover symptoms for wine drinkers. During the fermentation process, makers use lab-grown yeast to boost the conversion of sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide, while natural wines only use wild or native yeast. And unlike natural wines, regular wines are filtered before bottling.