Dirty blondes have even more fun.
Pop off into the summer with this fresh, delicious Paso Robles Pét-Nat. This wine utilizes the OG way of making sparkling wine: Méthode Ancestrale. Here, we press grapes and bottle the juice during its first and only fermentation. Which differs from the more prissy Méthode Traditionnelle found in champagne, where juice is fermented to finish, and then reignited with sugar and yeast for a second fermentation. No, no. We are much too impatient and punk for all that bullshit.
For Dirty Blonde, we worked with the Duas Terras Vineyard in the prestigious Geneseo District, which is about 11 miles east of our filling station in Downtown Paso Robles. This terraced area around the Estrella River and Huerhuero Creek was established with grape vines in the 1800s but really started bubbling in the 1970s and 1980s, primarily due to its climate. Thanks to the Central Coast's radiant sunshine, and cooling influence from the Templeton Gap, vines can experience a 50 degree temperature swing during the summer days. The daytime heat helps develop concentrated ripeness, and the marine influence helps perfect acidity at night.
The star of this soap opera is Vermentino, a grape with Italian roots known for its citrus kiss, floral perfume, and light-body. We've also got Albariño guest appearing in a supporting role. Our lots were picked in late August 2024, pressed, and put into the bottle on September 5, 2024, to do their thing. Pét-Nats usually have less pressure and do a better job at preserving freshness, complexity, and personality than Traditionnelle.
The result is delicious, bubbly, and refreshing. Aromas of pear, lemongrass, and yeasty fresh-baked bread dance around your nostrils. Close your eyes, lean back, and take a sip, and you'll be delighted to taste lemon, grapefruit, honey crisp apple and juicy stone fruit, elevated by a delicate bubble structure. The wine is crisp and satisfying in all the ways a summer wine should be. This thing is dangerous with food too, pairing perfectly with tangy cheeses, raw oysters, and wood-fired pizza with some ricotta on top.
As the term Pétillant Naturel would suggest, this wine attempts to preserve all the natural elements of the Vermentino and Albariño. As it was bottled with active yeast, not disgorged, and unfined/unfiltered, it maintains a rebellious, if not dirty, staw-colored haze to it: hence Dirty Blonde.
