Piquette & Cider

Piquette is a light, low-alcohol fermented drink made from grape pomace, the skins, seeds, and stems left over after pressing. The pomace is soaked in water and fermented, producing a refreshing, often slightly sparkling beverage that has been made in vineyards for centuries.

Winemakers rehydrate leftover grape pomace with water, sometimes adding a little fresh juice for extra sugar, then let the mixture ferment. The fermentation frequently leaves the piquette with a gentle fizz, and the whole approach makes use of material that would otherwise be discarded.

Piquette is low in alcohol, typically around 5 to 7 percent and sometimes less. Because the sugar comes from soaked pomace rather than concentrated juice, there is far less of it to ferment, so the finished drink stays much lighter than wine.

Not exactly. Wine is made from fermented grape juice, while piquette is made from pomace and water, so it sits just outside the legal definition of wine and is usually labeled as something else. It is best thought of as a wine-adjacent drink.

Piquette is light, tart, and refreshing, often with a soft spritz and low alcohol. It tastes like a leaner, more savory cousin of wine, somewhere between a spritzer and a sour, which makes it an easy warm-weather drink rather than something to contemplate.

Serve piquette well chilled and drink it young, while it is at its freshest. It shines on its own as a low-alcohol session drink for warm days, and works much like a spritz alongside light, casual food. There is no need to age it or decant it.