Beneduce Vineyards introduces Acqua Pazza

With demand on the rise for more natural and lower-alcohol beverages that still convey a sense of fun, the search oft en ends with mass-produced hard seltzers or modern-day versions of wine coolers. A better-made alternative is now available from Beneduce Vineyards in Pittstown. Their recently released “Acqua Pazza,” Italian for “crazy water,” is better known as piquette, and piquette should become better known.

Piquette, a centuries-old drink reintroduced in the past few years, is somewhat difficult to categorize. Traditionally, piquette was an inferior wine made from pomace—the skins and pulp remaining after the winemaking process—given to field workers, sometimes as compensation. Today, pomace is typically composted or discarded, but making piquette uses those “left overs” to sustainably produce a quaff able lower-alcohol, slightly spritzy drink.

Making piquette fits nicely into Beneduce’s sustainability business model. The pomace comes from the winery’s own estate-grown grapes and is mixed with water from their own wells. That mixture is then pressed and natural yeast introduced. Some still wine is added back in to raise the alcohol level and acidity to stabilize the mix. Raw wildflower honey from neighboring Zach and Zoe Sweet Bee Farm is added to restart fermentation. The blend is then put into capped bottles to finish the second fermentation, creating a striking magenta-hued natural sparkler with a pleasing tart cranberry taste.

This is the first in a series of seasonally aligned piquette releases planned by Beneduce, with white, rosé, and orange wine versions scheduled over the next year. Also underway is a joint project with William Heritage Winery in Mullica Hill, comingling pomace from both vineyards. Heritage has already released its version, appropriately called Collaboration.

• Acqua Pazza, $20, 750 ml
  Available starting in early December.

Beneduce Vineyards
1 Jeremiah Lane, Pittstown
908.996.3823
beneducevineyards.com