Christoph Hoch’s family is making wine since 1640, so his efforts are only taking up a pretty small part of the story. Nevertheless, he learned winemaking traditionally in the local “wine school,” but quickly realized he wanted to make a different kind of wine. Because the soil shares similar qualities to the Champagne region, he realized this could work and asked Benoit Tarlant for used Champagne barrels, which he offered to give him for free if he could make a Pet Nat of consistently good quality. Fortunately, all those bets paid off and made him well known for his unique sparkling wines.
This Pet-Nat comes from limestone-heavy soil and is a mix of different grape varieties, some red and some white. All of them were directly pressed and left to start fermentation for two weeks. The fermenting must, which still contains unfermented sugar, is bottled and closed with crown caps to finish fermentation and mature in the bottle for four months. The wine was not disgorged, which adds some yeasty softness to counter the crispy freshness. With its very dry minerality, it goes well with cheese, but also some heavier dishes which need acidity to cut through them.