Tried this new natural wine that showed up at ArroyoVino last weekend:
1. OldWestminsterWnry blinded by the light (10%; 50% PiquetteBlanc/30% GrunerVeltliner/20% VidalBlanc; "Piquette for the people"; Frmtd: Wild Yeast; No added sulfites; Contains sulfites; U/U; Acidulated with Verjus) Westminster/Maryland 2019: Med.gold/bit bronze cloudy/murky color w/ lots of tiny bubbles & froth; some grapefruity/bit herbal/bit SB-like slight floral/muscat-like/bit R-like bit orangey light earthy/natty bit interesting nose; rather spritzy/fizzy/dissolved CO2 some chalky/earthy rather tart/tangy/bit metallic light floral/herbal/hybridy fairly grapefruity surprisingly clean if a bit dull flavor; med.short some fizzy/spritzy chalky/earthy/grapefruity/bit hybridy/earthy quite tart/some metallic mildly interesting finish; amazingly clean and un-natty for a natural wine; a rather interesting off-beat white that is pushing towards vapid; a rather classic Piquette wine. $18.00 (AV)
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A wee BloodyPulpit:
1. This wine was sold to me with the claim that it was made mostly with Piquette grapes. In point of fact, there is no such grape variety, even though the label implies such. As best I can tell, it is a Piquette wine that has Gruner & Vidal wine blended in. Piquette is a light/low-alcohol/fizzy wine that is made by taking the pomace after pressing, not adding suger like is done in making a false wine for grappa, and letting it ferment from the sugar left in the skins. Generally this make a wine in the 4%-9% alcohol range. Given the 10% alcohol, I would guess the GV & Vidal wines were fermented out naturally and then blended into this Piquette wine made from god-knows what varieties in the pomace.
Piquette wine is a wine that has become the darling of some natural winemakers. This is only the 2'nd Piquette that I've tried. I suspect, natural or not, it's not a wine that's going to set the World on fire. What did strike me about this wine is that it's a natural wine brought into NM by a new distributor, PM Wines, that specializes in natural wines. I'm always a little skittish about buying/trying their wines because some are very natty/unclean/mousey. But this wine was not at all funky and showed only hints of a natty character. I suspect that that will change as the wine ages and the bacteria therein starts to go wild.
I would be hard-pressed to find an ideal circumstance that I'd want to drink this wine. Unusual is one thing but a wine has to give some pleasure. This one had little of such to offer up. It's the kind of wine that Maryland attourneys would go apoplectic over.
Tom