I was just reading about this wine style the other Day and it’s possibilities (fresh and low alcohol) have piqued my interest. Is anybody making a solid version Worth checking out? I’d appreciate any general knowledge of the style and production as well as it’s something that I can’t say I’ve ever seen in the Wild.
Lots of fun and interesting takes out there for sure. One thing to keep in mind is that the low alcohol and elevated pH during the soak/fermentation make for significantly more lactic sourness (and volatility if you aren’t careful), so results are really broad ranging from clean and fruit-forward to straight kombucha funk.
We were the first producer to sell piquette commercially in the US, and we’ve adjusted our process over the years to focus more on keeping things on the cleaner side of that equation without having to rely on elevated SO2 usage. We’ve also leaned more heavily into blending to make more balanced versions for our canned output, though we still do have fun with varietal bottlings each year when the results call for it.
The hard part about getting to try these is that they are (luckily, in my opinion) still small, handmade affairs by smaller producers. We release our 2x a year to the mailing list and then the rest go to wholesale. Other US producers whose piquettes I have enjoyed that also see some national distribution are:
Monte Rio Cellars, The Marigny, Field Recordings, Southold, Old Westminster (maybe easier to find).
Joe Swick just released his first piquettes which I haven’t been able to check out yet, but I’m looking forward.
Old Westminster is available in Indy, so I’d bet you can find it at a hipster market in Cleveland.
It tastes like if beer and wine had a kid. Quite interesting, but be prepared for your palate to be challenged.
American Wine Project in Michigan make two piquettes. I’ve had and thoroughly enjoyed Light Verse, the one they make from white grape pomace. The other, Wit and Wisdom, is from red grapes.
I’ve also enjoyed the Monte Rio Cellars piquette.
In general I think it’s an exciting style - generally affordable, light, refreshing - characteristics that can be harder to find in US wines. The microbial complexities that Todd referred to can be a headache for producers but also provide for some more diversity. I personally think that the carbonation, combined with phenolic texture from the must, is better able to balance some funky notes than a lot of still wines made in the “natural wine” style, making the range of funky flavors in piquette more likely to be interesting than off-putting.
Ah yes of course, AWP makes excellent Piquette as well!
And agreed, bubbles (and in our case fortification with some of the actual press wine) are both necessary for balance, texture, and drinkability.
For us, the more important aspects of piquette are the economics. It allows us to sell something at the magical sub-$15 price point (sub-$8 for cans) and also to keep the prices of our traditional wines lower (all below $25 direct) since we get 50% more yield per ton of fruit when including the piquette. This means we can survive as as small self-funded winery, and our consumers can buy our products more comfortably. Making/keeping wine accessible is important.
