Civitas Pecorino Brut Nature Spumante Petilante Naturelle (Pet Night) - Cantina Orsogna, Abruzzo

Civitas Pecorino from the Orsogna winery in Abruzzo makes a real summer beret – it is now also a pet nat (Petillant naturel)

What... pet night..???

As you may know, sparkling wine is usually made using the Traditional Method where the secondary fermentation occurs in the bottle when yeast/sugar is added.

At night it's a bit different:

Here, the wine is bottled before it has finished its first fermentation in the tank.

It thus completes fermentation in the bottle, but due to the lack of oxygen, the yeast (from the primary fermentation and sugar) is converted into carbon dioxide = bubbles – instead of into alcohol.

The result is a refreshing, crisp and elegant white wine – in this case made from the Pecorino grape.

In pet nat wines, a haze/sediment often appears at the bottom of the bottle.

Civitas Pecorino is one of the "purest" sparkling wines the world has ever seen...

• Biodynamically certified.
• No added sulfur and therefore natural wine.
• Even the label (or lack thereof) is made from 100% biodegradable material.

A little about the wine…

With this Spumante Ancestrale Pecorino, Cantina Orsogna is trying to go back to the time when sparkling wines were made in Abruzzo without the addition of sulfur, yeast or sugar liqueur.

The grapes are sourced from the winery's biodynamically cultivated, high-altitude vineyards (450-500 m above sea level), where relatively cool growing conditions allow for a longer maturation period, resulting in very aromatic and crisp wines. The wine becomes naturally sparkling in the bottle, where all the sugar is converted to alcohol, hence the designation Brut Nature.

The wine is neither disgorged nor sugar liqueur added, thus retaining the grape's natural, fruity and aromatic nuances, but also a natural sediment, which gives the wine even more character. You can either raise the bottle a few hours before serving, so that the sediment falls to the bottom, or turn the bottle upside down if you want to enjoy the special wild notes found in the sediment.

Spumante Pecorino has a very lively foam when served and subsequently small, persistent bubbles. Beautiful golden color with a greenish tinge. The aroma is very classic Pecorino, dry and mineral with typical yeast tones, which goes incredibly well with tones of citrus fruits (including grape), wild flowers, but also more creamy tones of mango and passion fruit. The taste is incredibly crisp, complex and structured.

Perfect as an aperitif but also suitable for pasta dishes or risottos, or with seafood and fish.

Grape: 100% Pecorino
Alcohol: 12.5%
Bottle contents: 75 cl