NV Vignale di Cecilia Vino Frizzante Bianco ‘Val di Spin’

Region: Padova < Veneto < Italy
Grapes: 40% Garganega, 30%Glera, 30% Pinella
Vineyard/Cellar Stats: Certified organic/biodynamic farming, 40 year-old vines on Calcareous Stone soils, fermented in stainless steel; méthode ancestrale; no added SO2
Winemaker: Paolo Brunello

This is how Paolo Brunello, the farmer and winemaker of Vignale di Cecilia near Venice, describes his delicious pet’nat: “an experimental trip in the world of sparkling wine, blinking an eye to the traditional natural fermentation in the bottle, while maintaining its natural yeasts.” He may or may not have been high when he wrote that, but his description is spot-on – this is hippy beer drinker wine, but for a natural beer geek, not a Bud-slugger. It’s bright and refreshing, the sort of thirst-quenching thing you want to drink after the last ski-run of the day, or a sweaty hike. Made in the ancestral method, the fermentation is still going on in the bottle when they cap it, trapping the natural CO2 and yeasts, this is pure stuff, nothing added – no yeast, sugar or (loads of) sulfur as in most bubbly out there. Important if you love bubbles like we do, and can easily down a couple of glasses. Because the generic stuff is full of the ‘chimica’, including many of the most expensive and elite bottles, (looking at you, big house Champagne!) that will leave you with a pounding headache the next day. Save yourself – and your wallet – some serious pain and go for some natural, easy and happy bubbles like this delicious Pet’nat.  The perfect house bubbly, to start or finish an evening.