A.Retief Christmas Selection
Wow…it’s hard to believe the end of the year is nearly here, and we are starting to turn our minds to next year’s harvest!
For those of you that are still on the hunt for holiday wine, or even a present idea, we’ve put together our A.Retief Wines Christmas dozen – a mix of some of our favourites, some more experimental and some just delicious-and-easy to drink on those summer days in front of the cricket!!
This year’s selection includes something pretty special just in time for Christmas- the all-new, inaugural release of the Pet-Nat Riesling.
Every year I experiment with a wine and this year it was a Petillant Naturel, or Pet-Nat- a naturally lightly sparkling wine made in what is known as the “ancestral” method, which is the oldest version of sparkling wine making with origins in France; this method involves bottling before first fermentation has finished, allowing the process to complete in bottle leaving a light fizz.
I chose Riesling to make the Pet-Nat because of its light, textual flavor, and fermented the fruit on skins for seven days, using absolutely no additions in the whole process as well as no fining or filtration. The wine has then matured in bottle for nine months pre-release, the final beast having seriously attractive aromatics of tropical fruit and ginger with a palate hinting on a pear cider finish.
A seriously fun wine you will not be able to put down- and you can see my sense of humour has extended to the label…. Pet-gnat….??!!
The Christmas selection is listed below, and as always, you can buy by the case, $270 delivered.
Have a safe, fun and relaxing holidays – and I just wanted to thank all of you- you have supported us throughout the year and across the whole 18 months now that we have been in the EQ site!
Happy Holidays!
Alex