Wine 101: Wine, Explained Well

Clear, jargon-free guides to natural wine, winemaking techniques, organic and biodynamic farming, and the science behind every bottle.

Illustration of a green bottle labeled PET-NAT beside a coupe glass of pink sparkling wine and a purple vine leaf
Explainer 9 min read
What is a Pét-Nat?
A pét-nat, short for pétillant naturel, is a sparkling wine bottled before its first and only fermentation has finished, so the carbon dioxide from that fermentation is trapped inside the bottle. It has one fermentation where Champagne has two, nothing added to sweeten it, a crown cap instead of a cork and cage, and it is usually cloudy because the lees, the yeast left behind by fermentation, are never removed.
Illustration of a Champagne bottle and a bunch of purple grapes beside striped vineyard rows, a stone farmhouse and cypress trees
Explainer 8 min read
What is Grower Champagne?
Grower Champagne is Champagne made by the grower who farmed the grapes, rather than by a house that buys them. Two letters in the fine print tell you which one you are holding: RM for a grower, NM for a house. Both make it by the same method.
Illustration of a dark green sparkling wine bottle with two amber coupe glasses, a purple vase and olive branches
Explainer 8 min read
What is a Crémant?
Crémant is French sparkling wine made by the same method as Champagne, in one of eight French wine regions outside Champagne. The traditional method is identical: a still base wine, a second fermentation sealed inside the bottle, months on the lees, then disgorgement and a cork under a wire cage. The place and the grapes change.
Illustration of a sparkling wine bottle with a pink label and a bunch of purple grapes in front of vineyard rows leading to a pink stone winery with cypress trees
Explainer 10 min read
What is Champagne?
Champagne is a sparkling wine made in one delimited region of northeast France, about 90 miles east of Paris, by starting a second fermentation inside the sealed bottle and leaving the wine on its lees for at least 15 months before release. Only wine from this region may be called Champagne. Sparkling wine made the same way elsewhere uses another name.
Illustration of a dark green wine bottle with a gold label and a bunch of purple grapes, beside a grower in a wide-brimmed hat working the vines on a red hillside
Explainer 8 min read
What is Prosecco Col Fondo?
Prosecco col fondo is Prosecco that finishes fermenting inside the bottle it is sold in and keeps its lees, the yeast left behind by fermentation. The name is Veneto dialect for "with the bottom," meaning the sediment in the base of the bottle. It is dry and cloudy, and most of it is lightly sparkling.