As with most mountain towns, the city of Asheville is tucked in a valley. This makes it hilly but still relatively walkable/driveable/buildable. Drive 20 minutes in any direction, however, and you will find yourself suddenly surrounded by rippling, breathtaking mountains. The constant reminder that you live within a geological marvel never gets old.
Addison Farms Vineyard is 15 minutes from Asheville in the town of Leicester (pronounced Lester), and it sits on top of a hill hugged by high mountain ridges. The views are nothing short of spectacular, and the wine is pretty damn good, too.
I visited for the first time with my wife, Meredith, and our friend Jenieice, who was visiting from DC. We did a tasting that included four of their wines, then we stuck around to try a few more. All of the wines we tried were solid. Some were fantastic. One that really got me excited was their Lore Red Wolf Sangiovese piquette.
When I expressed how much I liked it and that I was a fan of piquettes in general, the conversation really started. Alex, the tasting room manager, assistant winemaker, and general doer of things on the farm, shared how he likes when people are into piquette because most people are unfamiliar with it. From there we launched into a winding conversation about making and marketing North Carolina wine. After sharing a horror story about pressing Muscadines and his passionate case for the potential of canned wine, Alex also mentioned that Matt, the head winemaker, would love to hear that someone liked the piquette.
I was able to confirm because I met Matt the next day. I bought a bottle of piquette then promptly forgot it at the winery. When I returned to retrieve it, Matt greeted me and shared that he loves it when people are into the piquette.
So, what is piquette, and why were all three of the wine nerds in this story stoked about it?
What’s piquette?
Piquette is a beverage created by rehydrating the pomace (i.e., the grape skins and seeds) that is leftover after juice has been pressed off to make wine. I call it a beverage instead of wine because it’s not exactly wine.
You can use any kind of liquid to rehydrate the pomace, such as more grape juice, water and honey, just water, etc. Once this mixture ferments, you get a low-alcohol, spritzy, and extraordinarily refreshing wine(ish liquid). Think tangy, dry, alcoholic Fresca or Cheerwine.
Historically, piquette is for common people. It’s what the servants and laborers were allowed to make from the scraps of what would become fine wine. Flavor-wise, piquette is not nearly as complex as a wine that is made from more concentrated free run or first press juice (grape juice that comes from barely crushed or lightly pressed grapes, which makes more “delicate” wines). And, of course, you have to introduce additional liquid of some sort, making it a somewhat less-pure expression of the grape.
¿Por que piquette?
The reason piquette is so exciting is not because of the wine per se — though they are often exciting! It’s more about the way it fits into the big picture of supporting wineries. Making wine is an expensive endeavor. You have a lot of upfront costs, like equipment and rent, and it may be years before you can release your product to the market. It’s honestly a miracle that so many small producers manage to compete with the big, established name brands that operate with the advantage of scale.
Piquette offers smaller producers a chance to make the most of their investment. It’s like whole-animal butchery for wine. You already have the grape skins. Why not use them to create something you can put on the market in a fraction of the time? You might not be able to charge as high a price for the piquette itself, but some return is better than the zero return you’d get by throwing the pomace away. Plus, having a tasty product out there with your name on it might help you get a fair price for your fine wine when it’s ready.
These are the types of ideas and conversations that piquette sparks for me. It’s a heady problem to figure out how to make natural, local wine in North Carolina and other regions where more traditional wine grapes are difficult to grow. For example, Addison Farms Vineyard lost nearly all of their crop this year to mildew and deer. While they learned some valuable lessons about what grapes survived and how they can prune their vines to reduce losses, that won’t help them for at least another year. In the meantime, making piquette is one way they can maximize the value of their smaller-than-expected 2023 harvest and live to make wine another day.
The right place for piquette
If you’re reading this and thinking, “Piquette? That’s old news,” you are probably in the food and beverage industry. Piquette recently had a moment — at least amongst trendy f&b people. Back in 2018-2019 piquette was the hot thing, but its star quickly burned out. It hit the scene as “White Claw for Wine Lovers” (in a good way) according to Bon Appetit, the next moment, Punch (the coolest of the cool-kid beverage industry publications) named piquette as a drinking trend that “should disappear” in 2020.
I agree that piquette may have been overhyped, then overdone. As tasty as it is, piquette is not something that should be put on a pedestal. It’s not a substitute for real-deal wine, and it definitely should not cost as much. Maybe it’s a good thing that we’ve chilled out about piquette, but I am really glad it hasn’t disappeared.
Piquette is perfect when you want something fun and refreshing to drink but don’t want to spend much money and/or drink much alcohol. Beach days, picnics, Tuesday nights, and spontaneous porch-drinking sessions are all perfect for piquette. Plus, in addition to enjoying something tasty, you get the added positive vibes associated with knowing your consumption is keeping the lights on at your favorite winery.
A new favorite winery
Addison Farms’ Lore series are all experimental small productions. The Lore Red Wolf piquette that inspired this post is made from Sangiovese grown at their vineyard. It’s bright red like a cherry Life Saver and intensely carbonated — grab a kitchen towel and be prepared for some overflow when you open the bottle. The upside is that it was still bubbly several days after opening, which is great for when I just want one drink on a week night.
Its most stark characteristic is that it smells like a barnyard, which I assume comes from Brettanomyces (the same yeast that they sometimes use for “farmhouse” beers). Unlike most piquette, Red Wolf was aged a bit (as an experiment), which may have allowed some of that funkiness to develop. To be honest, it will be a little much for some people. Alex even warned us that the smell is “offensive.” But for those of us who enjoy the contrast of stinky and funky aromas with fun and fruity flavors, it’s intensely craveable. The red berry flavors are concentrated and intense, yet delicate and fleeting on the palate, like freeze-dried raspberries and sour cherries.
I’ll write about the other wines I tried at Addison Farms Vineyard another time. After our chat, Matt offered me an open bottle of their Bottle Rocket pét-nat. I hadn’t planned to stay, but I couldn’t turn down the opportunity to sit and read as the sun started to set over the mountain. He also extended a standing invite to me and any locals who wanted to come hang out. I absolutely plan to take him up on that