“Pét-Nat,” or “pétillant naturel,” is the term given to sparkling wines made with a single fermentation. Fermentation is started in-tank, then the wine is put into a bottle and topped with a crown cap, like those on beer or glass soda bottles. The yeast in the bottle will continue to ferment the sugar in the grape juice, and the carbon dioxide that is a byproduct of fermentation has nowhere to go, except into the wine itself, yielding a sparkling wine.

Join City Vino on Thursday night, June 25th, at 7 PM, as we virtually hit the highway with a tasting of wines from Highway 12 Winery. Jon Yeager, of International Cellars, and Paul Giusto and Jeff Lubin, of Highway 12, will be steering us on this trip along the highway. The tasting will feature the Highway 12 Carneros Highway Chardonnay 2018 , Highway 12 Sauvignon Blanc 2019, and the Highway 12 Pinot Noir 2017.

The country of India conjures up thoughts of exotic spices; colorful fabrics, woven with golden thread; intricate hand-drawn henna hand art; elaborate gold jewelry; and beautiful temples; but did you know that it is a growing wine region? Grape growing in India dates back a couple of millennia, but modern-day winemaking in India saw its start around the 1980s, with the rise of the middle class and its demand for wine.

In the world of wine, there are many terms and places on labels that can be difficult to decipher. In some parts of the world, the wine is labeled by the grape variety name, and other places it is labeled by the place where the grapes are grown, and the wine is made. Sometimes having the wine labeled as the place is all you’ll need to know, to figure out what is in the bottle. In many places around the world, local laws dictate the grape or grapes that can be made into wine and bottled and labeled with that place name.