The Perfect “Poolside in Palm Springs” Pet Nat?
The Wine Cult will be hitting up Palm Springs in July and, until then, we are all hunting and gathering the perfect natural wine selection to bring with us. It’s going to be a vacation to remember, so celebration BUBBLES are a must. Can we find the PERFECT Pet Nat for the trip??
VDC Wine & Good Luck Wine Shop to the rescue! We attended their Burger & Bubz event yesterday in Pasadena. Burgers were supplied by Yellow Paper Burger. Bubz provided by VDC Wine, debuting their 2020 “Pettilant”, a super fun pet nat.
What exactly IS “pet nat”? Pet Nat is short for the French name “pétillant naturel”, which means “natural sparkling.” Essentially, it’s sparkling natural wine made in the very specific “ancestral” method, the oldest way of making sparkling wine developed in the 16th century. The wine is fermented in the bottle once, letting the natural yeasts create the bubbles using the existing sugars in the grapes, no additional sugars added. Typically, with conventional sparkling wines and champagne, additional yeasts and sugars are added to ferment a second time which kind of guarantees the bubbles. However, since pet nat is made naturally without those additives, winemakers never REALLY know if they will open their bottles to bubbles or flatness. (Can we call them “little miracles” then?)
VDC Wine’s “Pettilat” is DELICIOUS! With the subtle flavors or watermelon and strawberry juice, this pet nat was juicy without being sweet and had juuuust the right amount of bubbles. It was a perfect pairing to have with the peppery, double stacked Yellow Paper cheeseburgers. Way cooler than your basic-ass burger and soda. This pet nat is made for sunshine, grillin’ & chillin’, by the pool. So YES…we have found our PERFECT “Poolside in Palm Springs” Pet Nat. You can snag a bottle from Good Luck Wine Shop here while they last!
This was VDC Wines’ very first event at the new tasting room, right next door to the shop. (They bought the space RIGHT when COVID hit Los Angeles.) Super fun, and we are looking forward to more events and more wines by this couple!
Some flicks from the event are below.
