TASTE / FEEL

Your favorite fizzy water / the memory of your favorite Marigny wine / tart raspberry / black cherry / floating the river / reading in the sun / catching up for hours and remembering the entire conversation

STORY

When wine is too much, and water is too little, there is Piquette. This "Wine Like Beverage" is made by re-fermenting the grape skins and stems after they are pressed, resulting in a highly-drinkable low-alcohol beverage that has been around since the dawn of time, but is experiencing a revival in the states in large part due to the efforts of their friends Wild Arc Farm in NY.

Their take on Piquette was made by filling closed top stainless steel tanks with pressed pomace (the leftover grape stuff I mentioned above) + water and giving that combo several days of maceration on skins and stems. After the liquid seemed to taste about right, it was drained to a new tank and sometimes, but not always, the pomace is re-pressed into that same tank. A small amount of underripe Pinot Noir juice was added to help adjust the acidity and general chemistry. This liquid was racked once, crossflow filtered and professionally bottled with CO2 added. The result is a crisp, clean drink that straddles the line of many of our favorite things (flavored fizzy water, beer, hard seltzer), while being completely unique and unto itself. Open at lunch, at the park, in the sun, by the river, or wherever you'd like a drink but don't want to imbibe too much.

FERMENTATION

Pomace and water fermented in a closed top fermentation bin and moved to a stainless steel VC tank after pressing. This “Wine Like Beverage” was racked and filtered back to stainless steel for bottling.