Oregon wine: 2019 Brandborg Vineyard All Hands Riesling Pétillant Naturel

2019 Brandborg Vineyard All Hands Riesling Pétillant Naturel

Bradley Vineyard,
Elkton Oregon,
Umpqua Valley,
Southern Oregon,
Oregon

12.2% alcohol

Empty bottle weight: 31.9 ounces // 905 grams

Crowncap closure

121 cases produced

Pét-nat, short for Pétillant Naturel, is made by bottling a wine before fermentation is complete, thereby trapping CO2 bubbles inside the bottle. Known as the ancestral method, it’s likely the oldest way of making bubbles. If you want to read more about how Pét-nat and other bubbly wines are made, follow this link to the first article in our three part series called Bubbles… explained!

Owner/winemaker Terry Brandborg purchased the Riesling grapes for this Pét-nat from the Bradley family, who planted their Elkton vineyard back in 1983. (Click here to read about the Pinot noir he makes from Bradley Vineyard fruit.) Once the handpicked grapes entered the Brandborg winery, Terry allowed them to begin fermenting on their own and, in his words, “bottled when the wine told us to, October 29, 2019.”

This is the first Pét-nat I’ve tasted made with Riesling grapes and it is FUN in all-caps! Terry also makes a Pét-nat using Gewürztraminer, another unusual wine, with aromas of maple bar donut and cake icing. (Here’s the link to my tasting notes on it.) Pét-nats can be super-interesting, and since they finish fermenting in the bottle, it’s common for them to have some residual sediment. That can make them look slightly cloudy, but don’t fear, drinking the sediment is perfectly safe.