Lost in a Field Frolic Pet Nat 2022

The 2022 Lost in a Field “Frolic” pét-nat is a blend of 14 heritage grape varieties from five vineyards in five different English counties; Herefordshire, Devon, Hampshire, Wiltshire and Kent

Madeleine Angevine 60% Reichensteiner 30% Triomphe d’Alsace 2% Schönburger 2% Rondo 2% 9 other heritage varieties 4% Whites: Bacchus, Huxelrebe, Phoenix, Ortega, Madeleine Sylvaner, Siegerrebe, Seyval Blanc, 2920 bottles and 172 magnums produced Reds: Dornfelder, Leon Millot

The vintage

Following on from the washout that was 2021 the relative dryness and warmth of 2022 was a welcome change, although not without it’s challenges. The heat waves in mid July (over 40 degrees, a record for the UK) saw some of the vines in our oldest vineyard (1972) shut down, and as none of our vineyards are irrigated, drought was also a problem, leading to delayed ripening. A vineyard manager asked me to identity a discolouration on the outside bunches of grapes, thinking it was some sort of disease he’d not seen before, and I told him “that’s sunburn mate!”. The growing popularity of heritage varieties meant that we lost a couple of vineyards we’d taken fruit from the previous year as the growers had decided to keep the grapes for their own brands.

We picked earlier than most to avoid the storms that were coming in early October and over a four day period from September 30th to October 3rd we brought in a total of 3.5 tonne of fruit from five vineyards from five different English countries, Herefordshire, Devon, Hampshire, Wiltshire and Kent. The majority of the 2022 wine comprises Madeleine Angevine (60%) which provides beautiful aromatics, then 30% Reichensteiner for some citrussy freshness, with Triomphe d’Alsace and Rondo for colour then a mixed field blend of nine other heritage varieties from our “lost vineyards” comprising seven white varieties (Bacchus, Huxelrebe, Ortega, Madeleine Sylvaner, Siegerrebe, Seyval Blanc and Phoenix) and two red varieties (Dornfelder and Leon Millot).

How we made it

Fruit from our five vineyards was hand picked between 30th September and 3rd October 2022. The smaller parcels were basket pressed at BSixTwelve in Hampshire and the larger parcels delivered to Defined Wine in Canterbury, Kent. The must was transferred to a 2500 litre tank where co-fermentation with wild yeasts of all fourteen varieties began after a week. After eight days we dropped the temperature of the tank to encourage the wine to become tartrate stable, after which we racked the wine of its gross lees and tartrate crystals, which reduces the risk of the final wine gushing when opened. Fermentation continued slowly as temperatures dropped and the wine was bottled by hand on 23rd February 2023 when the residual sugar was around 12 g/L which would hopefully ferment dry leaving a pressure of just under 3 bar. We bottled the wine into 2920 bottles and 172 magnums. As temperatures rose in the Spring the wine continued to ferment, we tasted samples every month and decided that by early April the wine had successfully fermented and the flavours had transformed from raw juice to wine. May was then spent arranging labels and waxing the magnums ready for release on June 12th 2023, eight months after the grapes were picked.

How it tastes

Remarkable colour; coral pink, lychee skin or candy floss? You decide! Exotic aromas of red current and wild strawberry lead to a featherlight body (just 9.5%) and a gentle mousse that is soft and foaming with creamy flavours of rhubarb and gooseberry fool. Fresh as a dew-picked-daisy, perfect summer sipping, drink the rainbow! Fruity, fault free, zero sulphur English pét-nat made from heritage grape varieties from old vines.

“Tastes like summer, and dangerously drinkable” – Tamlyn Currin, JancisRobinson.com The numbers Alcohol (ABV) pH Total acidity (TA) Free Sulphur Dioxide (SO2) Total Sulphur Dioxide (SO2) Residual sugar (RS) 9.5% 3.26 5.9 g/L 0 g/L 9g/L 1.4 g/L