Chenin Blanc Pétillant Naturel

This year, we made two types of Chenin Blanc Pétillant Naturel. Although the grape is Chenin Blanc, the fermenting yeast differed and this can make a difference. We used QA23 and VIN13 to ferment our Chenin Blanc. Once the sugar content in the wine reached 2-3% (20-30 grams/liter) sugar, we put the wine into champagne style bottles and capped it with a crown cap, like those used for beer. The live yeast and the remaining sugar will hopefully transform into 3-5 atmospheres of entrained carbon dioxide, creating the desired bubbly, fizzy effect.
Recently, we tasted our Pétillant Naturel fermented with VIN13. According to Scott Laboratories, VIN 13 is a very good thiol releaser (guava, passion fruit and grapefruit) and an outstanding ester producer.

The bubbles are still on the large side, but the aroma and the flavor was definitely that of passionfruit!