‘First’ English natural wine bottled

English wine producer Albury Vineyard claims to have created and bottled the UK’s first Petillant Naturel from its 2014 harvest.

Nick Wenman and Matthieu Elzinger (winemaker) with the first bottle of Pet Nat

The natural wine is said the “first of its kind” to be produced in the UK and it has been a “very interesting experiment” for the vineyard, says owner Nick Wenmans.

He said, “We have been undertaking this project of making natural wine with biodynamics expert Monty Waldin, and the wine will be called Monty’s Pet Nat. We have around 600 bottles and hope to release them in May this year.”

Claiming that natural wines are gaining in popularity across Europe, Wenmans continued, “They are made using only natural yeasts from the vineyard, are relatively low in alcohol (ours will be under 10%) and have very few sulphites.

“The next few weeks are important for Monty’s Pet Nat as we need some fermentation to take place in the bottle. We hope it will be a light, crisp, slightly sparkling wine, perfect for drinking in the summer,” he said.