I’d say they are well-absorbed into the mainstream, but there is room for growth in older demographics since they didn’t grow through the service industry while Pet Nats were widely available (at least in the US). You can find them at any wine shop in the Midwest, and every trendy restaurant is going to offer at least one Pet Nat that is generally very affordable and marketed to a younger crowd. The variability in quality and style is both a feature and bug, IMO, akin to the flexibility enjoyed by microbreweries experimenting with different styles. There are a lot of the larger Pet Nat producers who seem to spend a lot more time creating cool labels than refining the product. I’m open to trying more, but I’ve just had so many meh to bad experiences with them, I’m more interested to try other categories of sparkling.
Haha, I hadn’t heard them described like this, it’s cute and I like it a lot! Thanks for sharing your POV @K_John_Joseph. You’re right, I think winemakers like Pet Nats because they’re time to market is short; they’re a great product to promote cash flow; cash flow can be a big problem for wine producers. Surprisingly, the margins aren’t significantly different than producing a still wine. Grape prices are grape prices no matter the winemaking style, and sparkling wine glass happens to be one of the highest priced glass molds available. Barrels are another significant cost, but not many sparkling producers use new oak, I’d guess, so I’d assume that’s not a huge expense for champagne producers, at least.
Thanks for the referral to Johan Vineyards and Cruse Wines @Siun_O_Connell, I’m trying to find great Pet Nats, so I’ll definitely check them out.
Yes, there are some bad Pet Nats wines out there, and definitely a fair share of producers who focus on label art rather than quality wines. My guess is, with time, the industry will weed those producers out. As the old adage goes: Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice…
Got any champagne recos?
I think in many ways, Pet Nats and carbonic maceration wines scratch the same itch from the winemaker and consumer side - they are ‘quick to market’ and enjoyable immediately. Both are meant to enjoy immediately but some can age for a bit as well.
And both tend to be priced ‘more reasonably’, making them attractive to non-wine drinkers as well.
Cheers
How much time do you have? 
That would be surprising to me. I went back and looked at my tasting notes. Yeasty, beer like, malty, strawberry husk, rhubarb all were used. As a wine geek, I thought if it as a nice novelty but nothing you would really go out of your way to track down. None of my non geek friends wanted anything to do with it. I’ve seen it on a few wine lists in restaurants in the NJ/NY metro area but doesn’t seem mainstream at all. Almost never for sale in bottle shops.
I drink little sparkling wine. Just doesn’t do much for me. To paraphrase Cole Porter, I get no kick from Champagne.
Pet Nats are different.
Particularly, I have enjoyed the Pet Nats of La Garagista, a Vermont winery with Deirdre Heekin at the helm. Her Pet Nats are outstanding and one of the few Vermont wines worth seeking.
Mainstream ≠ wine geek crowd. Every hipsterized wine menu in the country has a pet nat on it, or maybe Kansas City is the pet nat capital of America. Every 1 million+ city has at least one natty wine-focused store or a store with decent natty wine focus. That’s my perspective. Tasting notes have nothing to do with it. They are very marketable.
Perhaps in NY/NJ, you just have so many good stores with traditional focus you don’t see them everywhere, but they are very much around my local shops.
We sell way more Pet Nat than Champagne instore.
And the opposite online.
Wow! Great intel, thanks for sharing.
It does seem like a lot of folks here in Napa are making them as a tasting room-only offering, since it’s also kind of a novelty (in a good way) for nearly everyone, and who doesn’t want to try something special, weird, different, and limited when they’re enjoying their time at a tasting?
For my palate, seems like a wine only a wine geek could love. Not sure how it appeals to the masses but good on them. Maybe it’s the new craft beer
I think that these types of wines are attractive to non-wine drinkers, because they are out of the ordinary and ‘different’
My experience is that “the masses” love wines that are delicious, especially if you don’t portray them as weird and just tell them what to expect, taste-wise. Ironically, it can be harder to get wine geeks to try wines from out-of-the-ordinary appellations/techniques, because they know enough to be sure they won’t like them.
When I worked retail in Nashville, for example, we sold cases and cases of Camillo Donati’s sparkling+skin-contact Malvasia. It was non-disgorged (though not pet-nat), so it was hazy and orange—but that wine is so easy to love once you pop the crown cap.
Champagne - The Greatest Thread on Berserkers
I’ll just leave that link there. We hit all price points, natty sparklers, method, young, old, domestic, foreign, it’s not really just champagne. It’s welcoming, fun, we know a bunch of each other’s preferences and so can weigh whether a reco is a good fit for this or that person’s palate. Really friendly group. Tons of phenomenal information and great recos, high and low.
For me, these 2 points are exactly what I enjoy about Pet Nats. I find it fun to see winemakers express creativity and it seems that Pet Nats are becoming an outlet for that. I’ve had some really funky Pet Nats but also some really great bottles.
I know it’s ‘col fondo’ rather than ‘Pet Nat’, but @Saul_Mutchnick’s Racing Gloves is a house favorite. Story of Soil did a Gruner Pet Nat last year that’s pretty darn delicious. And Bichi’s Pet Mex is a really fun bottle to try, if you can find it.
Loved your col fondo, Saul.
Pet nats and orange wine in hipster restaurant scare me probably more than they should.
In Italy they’ve always been mainstream if you think about it.
They are easy and cheap, and when i’m in the mood for something glou glou i’d go for it.
I really enjoy lambrusco from Crocizia (7-8€ from the producer) and also the malvasia from podere cipolla.
Lambrusco is a wonderfully food-friendly wine, with the ability to pair well with rich and light dishes alike. It works with spicy foods and aromatic ones too.
And with bread and prosciutto or salame, i can’t think of a better pairing!