Pét-Nat Is Older Than Champagne. Is It Better?

The Wine Pair Podcast · Apr 12, 2026 · 52m

Pét-Nat has a “reputation.” Some people love it, and some people think it is a revival of an ancient technique that should have stayed ancient. But, did you know that the Pét-Nat style of making sparkling wine, more broadly known as Méthode Ancestrale, is hundreds of years older than the Méthode Champenoise? The origins of Pét-Nat probably came about by accident when wine that wasn’t quite done fermenting yet was bottled, and so carbon dioxide, which is produced when yeast turns sugar into alcohol, was trapped in the bottle, producing bubbles that people found to be a pleasant surprise…