Pét-nat (pétillant naturel)

How it differs from other methods

In the traditional method a finished still wine is bottled with a tirage liqueur and ferments a second time. A pét-nat has no second fermentation: the wine goes into the bottle while the first one is still running, and the carbon dioxide from the end of that fermentation stays in the wine.

Legal status

Article 53 of Regulation (EU) 2019/33 regulates three production-method terms for sparkling wine: "bottle-fermented", "traditional method" and "crémant". "Pétillant naturel" is not among them.¹ No primary French text defining pét-nat could be located for this page, so its legal status in France is treated as unverified. On the label it is best read as a producer's description of the method, not as a protected term with fixed conditions.

The regulated relative: méthode ancestrale

The closest method with written rules is the ancestral method. The specification of Clairette de Die defines its méthode ancestrale as a single fermentation, begun in vat, slowed by cold and partial removal of yeast, and completed in glass bottles from partially fermented must.² The same text adds firm conditions:

• no tirage liqueur and no expedition liqueur;
• at least four months in bottle on lees;
• at least 35 g/L of sugar and at least 3 atmospheres of pressure when ready for sale;
• the deposit removed by bottle-to-bottle isobaric filtration or by transfer at 4 °C or below.

Source: Clairette de Die specification.² See also Gaillac méthode ancestrale, Bugey Cerdon and Blanquette méthode ancestrale; each appellation has its own rules.