Orange wine and Pet-Nat – on-trend wines with a VDF signature

They have taken the most popular wine bars and wine shop/eateries by storm and feature on the wine lists of bistro-style restaurants. Orange wine and naturally sparkling wines or Pet-Nats are trending high, and both wine merchants and sommeliers have developed a soft spot for them.

Orange wine and Pet-Nat, aka naturally sparkling wine, have both captured the zeitgeist of the current era, one that has broken free of its shackles and boredom to embrace authenticity and inspired creativity.

Vin De France wine designers have the freedom to conjure up new flavours by dipping into the extensive choice of wine regions and grape varieties across France. By doing so, they have resurrected these styles of wine made using time-honoured techniques. As genuine wine artists, they aspire to fusing innovation and tradition, reinventing the classics, breaking the mould and straying off the well-trodden path.

So Vin De France offers enthusiasts the chance to discover a huge variety of wines that has never been so extensive!

Enough of that, let’s get down to the introductions!

Orange wine – the fourth colour of wine

Back to its roots. Alongside red, white and pink, orange is the fourth colour of wine and is one of the oldest wines in the world. It was already being made over six thousand years ago!

The principle with orange wine is that white grapes are fermented in the same way as for red wines. In practice, that means that white grapes are soaked whole with the skins and the pips, without being crushed, using a technique called skin-contact maceration. Orange wine, whose name stems from its beautiful amber or fawn hue, is therefore referred to as a skin-contact wine.

This ancient technique has been revisited by the most enterprising wine designers to produce wines with myriad flavours. These stem primarily from the different grape variety or varieties used – Sauvignon blanc, Chardonnay, Chenin, Viognier, Muscat, Roussanne and Grenache blanc De France for example. The signature style of the winemaker, though, obviously plays a major part in their character too.

On the nose, they display hallmark aromas of dried or even candied fruits, citrus and spices including ginger. On the palate, their structure envelops the palate in the same way a red wine does, whilst their remarkable freshness and elegance are more reminiscent of a white wine.

Sommeliers can’t get enough of them and love the way they pair with food from starter to pudding, as well as their ability to partner with the exotic sweet and sour dishes you find in fusion cuisine.

  Don’t be shy, try one of the medal-winning orange wines from our Best Value Vin De France Selection!

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Pet-Nat – freestyle bubbles

Here’s another wine that wasn’t born yesterday! Pet-Nat is a semi-sparkling wine displaying fine effervescence whose bubbles stem from an ancient technique, which blazed the trail for sparkling wines.

Vin De France winegrowers and winemakers have added a creative twist to the style, where partially fermented wine is bottled. Fermentation subsequently continues in the bottle, releasing CO2 which, as it dissolves in the wine, brings the delicate bubbles typical of Pet-Nat wines to life.

Once in the glass, there is nothing pretentious about a Pet-Nat. It sits equally well alongside a buffet as with dinner in a restaurant or a brunch. That’s because this is a laid-back, accessible wine displaying a light mousse and expressive fruit notes, but more importantly, oodles of freshness! Most Pet-Nats have a signature style that fits them like a glove – the Vin De France style!

Looking for something new to try?
  Take a look at the award-winning Pet-Nats from the Best Value Vin De France Selection.