Konpira Maru Whitlands Pet Nat 2025
The Wine
NOTES FROM KONPIRA MARU
We have been making pet nat for a long time. Too long really. It started as a fun thing to try, back when there were about three others on the market. It was a glorious quest. Then, well, you know what happened next.
But we continue. And we continue making it the proper way: primary ferment in bottle, hand disgorged, old school, labour intensive, spiritually depleting. Why? Because we love to drink it. Truly love it.
But gee whiz it is a pain. It costs a fortune to make and beats you to a pulp.
And the world will be better for this
That one man (actually two), scorned and covered with scars
Still strove with his last ounce of courage
To reach the unreachable star
That's right, we know we have a higher mission. To keep striving toward the perfect one. The one that hits that beautiful place of mid tipsy in two glasses, fresh flavours, and a full chorus of Michael Bublés frothing up your glass. We cannot stop. We genuinely don't know how.
And honestly, this one feels close to the pinnacle.
A field blend of, wait for it, Scheurebe, Kerner, Ehrenfelser, Muscat Ottonel, Pinot Gris, Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier, Gewurztraminer and Chardonnay, all from the vineyard we manage, Above The King in the Whitlands, King Valley.
Grown by us, fermented by us, bottled, disgorged, labelled and mostly drunk by us.
Proper cool climate and high elevation fruit, picked over a number of weeks with each day’s picking being whole bunched pressed that evening, the fresh juice added to the previous day’s ferments. This meant a super long ferment, lasting roughly four weeks.
As with all the pet nats we produce, it is bottle fermented, inverted, chilled, disgorged, topped, capped, cleaned, dried, labelled and boxed all for your drinking pleasure.
Tasting note: Aromas of nasturtium flowers, cantaloupe, and butternut pumpkin, with a palate of white peach, green tea, honeysuckle and goji berry. Recommended with slightly al dente teppanyaki pumpkin lavishly dipped in tzaziki spiced with chai.
The Details
Variety - An array...
Country - Australia
Region - Victoria
Sub Region - King Valley
Extra - Crown Seal
Year - 2025
Volume - 750ml
About the Wine Maker 
Konpira Maru started, as many great concepts do, as an idea born from two mates having a beer at the pub. Working in the retail, production and education sectors of the wine industry for many years, Alastair Reed and Sam Cook were searching for their own
creative outlet. Sharing similar viticultural, winemaking and beer-drinking values, they set out on a vinous journey and from these humble beginnings, produced the first vintage in 2014, which resulted in just 600 bottles.
The goal was simple – to produce wines that were both full of character and with a high drinkability factor; and also to inject a littlefun back into an industry often accused of taking itself too seriously. With their memorable labels and irrepressible attitudes, the pair
are quickly becoming must-haves on the natural wine circuit. All ferments use only natural yeasts. With little to no use of oak thesewines are all about fruit purity and transparency.
No adjustments are made throughout vinification, save for a very small amount of
sulphur at bottling, and even then only if deemed necessary. Wines are bottled unfined and unfiltered. Working closely with their crew of dedicated growers and now spanning regions as diverse as South Burnett, the Granite Belt and Kilmore, along with their organically farmed self-managed Whitlands vineyards in the Victorian high country, Konpira Maru’s star is seriously on the rise.
Each and every release over the past few years has seen Al and Sam take big steps forward; getting to know the vineyards better is yielding a deeper understanding of how to best express these sites, and constantly refining their craft in the winery is translating to
wines of greater purity and balance. These are undeniably joyous wines but with a serious and contemporary edge. The aim is tomake interesting wines with minimal intervention and maximum care. The results are nothing less.
