Sinor-Lavallee Soirée Du Gris Pétillant Naturel

Winemaker Mike Sinor is the SLO Coast Champagne Renegade. Instead of focusing on traditional-method sparklers, he takes interesting varieties and the older, pared-down and simple, ancestrale method instead.

Pétillant Naturel, or Pét-Nat, is an even more ancient way to make sparkling wine than the widely-used méthod traditionelle or méthod champenoise originated in Champagne, France. In the méthod ancestral, the wine is bottle before it even finishes its first fermentation, so developing carbon dioxide as it goes. It’s not disgorged, often unfiltered and can be made from any grape variety. 

Each year at Sinor-Lavallee, you can find something different and fun as Mike experiments with all-natural frizzante bubbles.

But his new sparkler is the 2020 Soirée Du Gris, made from Pinot Gris in the spirit of vinho verde. This means it was picked early (when the grapes are almost still green) and delivers crispness to the palate, with flavors of green apple, pear and jasmine.

Sinor’s original Ancestral Pét-Nat Sparkling Pinot Noir is also available, in limited quantity. This is his original Sparkling Wine, first released in 2016.