Wild Combination: Experimental Releases from Offbeat
New releases just arrived from Nicola & Daniel at Offbeat! Spring/Summer drinking in its finest forms no matter the occasion: Piquette, Pet-Nat, Cider and a Wine/Cider hybrid!
The guys will be pouring these and a sneak peak of more new releases at Real Wine Fair this weekend - Sunday 28 & Monday 29 April.
Alongside a top-up of the fave WILD JUICE CHASE (Their pet-nat of Triomphe & Bacchus from a small, nearly wild plot of 39-year vines grown in the Test Valley, Hampshire.)
We've also received the new edition of LOOSE JUICE - one of the first legal Piquettes to be released since the new rules! A 5% glugger. Bring us your picnic blankets, lidos, park benches, summer whippet gatherings: we give you Loose Juice.
Two brand new exciting additions to the range also: SUNBEAMS & RAINBOWS, a hugely drinkable pet-nat cider made using a blend of apple varieties from Smith Hayne’s unsprayed traditional orchard in Devon; and COMBO - a wine/cider hybrid, each beginning fermentation separately, the two were bottled together in spring 2022 to finish fermentation and carbonate naturally.
All made with no additions, available now and detailed in full below:
NEW OFFBEAT RELEASES!
LOOSE JUICE 2023 - PIQUETTE
A vibrant, crunchy Piquette made from Pinot noir and Pinot Meunier pomace from the 2023 vintage. Organically farmed by Ben Adams just outside Winchester in Hampshire. Following initial pressing the pomace was soaked with water and left to macerate for 5 days. The skins and stems were pressed again, and the resulting light must was left to spontaneously ferment to dryness. A small addition of local wildflower honey was added at bottling to spark a bottle fermentation. Bottled via gravity without any sulphite additions.
SUNBEAMS AND RAINBOWS 2022 - CIDER
A natural Pet Nat cider made using a blend of apple varieties from Smith Hayne’s unsprayed traditional orchard in Devon. Apples were collected by hand from the orchard floor late in the season and directly milled and pressed. Following a slow, spontaneous fermentation over the winter, the cider was bottled in the early summer of 2023 to capture a small amount of fizz. Bottled with no additions and not disgorged.
COMBO 2021 - HYBRID
A pétillant co-ferment of cider (77%) and wine (33%) from 2021. The cider was made using a blend of apple varieties from two traditional, unsprayed orchards in Somerset and Devon. Apples were collected by hand from the orchard floor late in the season and directly milled and pressed. The juice was left to spontaneously ferment over the winter and blended with a small portion of wine, prior to bottling.
Pinot blanc and Chardonnay grapes were hand destemmed, foot trod and left to macerate for 10 days. The free run and press wine were transferred to amphora and left to spontaneously ferment over the winter. Prior to the end of fermentation, the wine was blended with the cider and bottled in the Spring of 2022 to finish fermentation and naturally carbonate. Bottled via gravity with zero additions.
WILD JUICE CHASE 21/22 - PET NAT
Hand-harvested from a small plot of 39-year-old vines in the Test Valley, Hampshire. Triomphe from 2021 was fermented semi-carbonically and aged in used French oak for 1 year. This was then blended with a co-ferment of Triomphe (direct press) and Bacchus (whole bunch macerated for 2 days) from 2022 and bottled in time to allow the fermentation to complete in bottle. After a rest over winter, the wine was disgorged by hand to remove the heaviest sediment. No additions.