Pet nat and pizza

I’ve been on a road trip visiting wineries in Kent for the last few days but the highlight from a food and wine pairing point of view was the pizza and pet nat combo we had at Westwell, a ‘low intervention’ (aka natural) wine producer just southwest of Canterbury.

Like many other English wineries now they produce a ‘pet nat’ or pétillant naturel which is an deliciously fruity semi-sparkling wine that is bottled while it’s still undergoing its first fermentation (as opposed to champagne which is aged on its lees). There’s a good explanation here. Westwell’s, which is rather charmingly called Naturally Petulant Pink, is particularly appealing

We got the chance to try it with pizza as they had a truck from Alkham Valley Pizza dishing it out on the Friday evening we were there. I'm not sure the toppings made a huge difference - maybe the Spicy was a tad challenging but the Margherita was a cinch and I loved the garlicky, cheesy ‘Nutty Blue’ (above) which had Stilton and confit garlic on it. Pet nat basically works just like a beer with pizza - thirstquenching and refreshing. (And yes, beer is cheaper but pet nat is more fun!)

You can buy it direct from their website for £24 a bottle.

You can see their other upcoming events here.

For other pizza pairings see the best wine and beer pairings for pizza

I visited Westwell on a press trip.