Discovering Your Pet Nat
If you read my previous blog post about shaking off your wine store jitters, you’ll remember that I mentioned using a question about Pet Nats to charm your local wine store salesman. Well, let’s say you went through with that plan, purchased a Pet Nat, and now you’re home staring at this intimidating glass bottle with a …bottle cap? Weird right?
Today, I just want to talk about finding and embracing Pet Nats. They’re weird wines. They’re always expressive; they’re always challenging (in a good way), and, until you’ve tried quite a few, they’re always a little different than you’d expect. I got lucky with my first Pet Nat experience – at least the first one that I remember. We were in Georgia, the country geographically underneath Russia, shooting our film “In Pursuit of Flavor” and our host, Dato, brought us to his home in Kakheti where he distills a small-batch liquor called Chacha. Halfway through the filming process, Dato and his winemaking partner, Amiran, pull out a bottle of wine from their previous harvest and pop it open. It practically explodes. They went on to explain that Pet Nats ferment inside the bottle rather than in a tank, vat or hole in the ground. This leads to carbon dioxide being trapped inside the bottle while the yeast consumes sugar. You can oftentimes even see the dead yeast at the bottom of the bottle in the form of this residue-looking matter coating the base. Don’t worry, that’s flavor. And don’t worry x2, because your bottle won’t explode like ours did as we were dealing with an experimental batch that was produced under unusual circumstances. Your bottle cap should pop open, fizz a bit, and be ready to drink.
When you pour yourself a glass, you might notice the bubbles seem larger and more volatile than what you’d observe in a prosecco. I’ll be honest, I don’t remember why that is – you might have to check unPINNED. Something about pressure…? Anyway, you give the glass a swirl, then a smell. What do you notice? Well, it’s always different but I generally notice a bready, yeasty smell. Sometimes a fruity funk? Okay, you take a sip. It’s odd, right? Not in a bad way! Just, different. It might be pleasant or it might not be – either way, what you’re experiencing is the beginning of taste acquisition. Trust me, two bottles later and you’ll be asking every wine-facing friend whether or not they’re been introduced to Pet Nats.
Congratulations, friend, you’ve found Pet Nats. As you move forward, you’ll want to practice embracing them. No, I don’t mean hugging as many as you can fit within your arm span. I mean taking it upon yourself to keep an open heart and try to be adventurous when searching for more to drink. As you’ll quickly find, Pet Nats can come from all over the place but you’ll find quite a few from Europe and, more specifically, Eastern Europe. They’ll be labeled in languages you don’t speak and the colors will vary and you might begin to feel like you don’t really know this type of wine that well anymore. Don’t worry x3, just keep trying them. When your palate catches up with your heart, you’ll be glad you took the risk. Cheers!
