Oh when the Saints – Pet Nat from Gernot Heinrich Winery
The Gernot Heinrich Pet Nat Oh when the Saints 2022 is a sparkling Blanc de Noir made from the red Sankt Laurent grape. This brass-colored sparkling wine is part of the Freyheit series of natural wines that Gernot and Heike Heinrich "let become" on their winery. The incredibly animating Pet Nat shows refreshing aromas of quince, Nashi pear, and mandarin peel, complemented by notes of white tea and hay flowers. On the palate, it is juicy-sparkling with a crisp acidic nerve, gentle tannins, and a creaminess owed to the yeast.
The Pet Nat "Oh when the Saints" owes its catchy name to its grape variety, Sankt (Saint) Laurent. This early-ripening grape variety is ideally suited for sparkling wine production: due to its thin skin, it yields good results during direct pressing, and since it has a relatively low initial must weight of 16° KMW, the alcohol content in the final product is not too high. This makes you want a second or third glass.
The label, designed by Viennese artist Olaf Osten, features the Swedish jazz musician Mats Gustafsson. This closes the circle of pure affirmation of life and carefree drinkability.
Heinrich oh when the saints – Winemaking
The Sankt Laurent grapes, harvested by hand at the end of August 2022, come from the Rosenberg vineyard, an east-facing slope strongly influenced by mica schist in Breitenbrunn am Leithagebirge. Heike and Gernot Heinrich cultivate their vineyards organically-biologically, biodynamically according to the guidelines of Respekt and Demeter, and with a lot of manual labor and care. After the harvest, direct pressing takes place. Through subsequent must cooling, Gernot gives the must time for the sediments to settle before spontaneous fermentation begins. At the beginning of October 2022, after three weeks in stainless steel tanks, the still fermenting must is bottled, where it continues to ferment and a fine perlage forms. The residual sugar still present is responsible for the carbonation of the resulting PetNat. From June 2023, the finished PetNat will be disgorged.
Pet Nat, Petnat, or Pét-Nat is the short form of Pétillant Naturel. An old, original method of sparkling wine production, also known as Méthode Ancestrale, which originated in France. Unlike sparkling wine production, which involves a first and second fermentation, the must is bottled and sealed while still fermenting, so that the carbonic acid forming with the residual sugar can no longer escape and the must can complete its (first) fermentation. Often, the remaining natural yeast remained as a deposit in the bottle. Heike and Gernot Heinrich prefer disgorging, which frees the bottle from yeast residues.
Pet Nat – a sparkling wine and its values
- Origin: Sparkling wine from Austria
- Grape variety: Sankt Laurent
- 10.0% vol. Alcohol
- 7.7 g/l Acidity
- 5.2 g/l Residual sugar
Organic control body BIO-AT-402 – Austrian Agriculture