Piquette

Piquette is a French wine term which most commonly refers to a wine-like beverage produced by adding water to pomace, but which sometimes refers to other wine substitutes or very simple wines.

Piquette from pomace

If water is added to the pomace remaining after grapes intended for wine production have been pressed, it is possible to produce a thin, somewhat wine-like beverage.cite encyclopedia |editor=Jancis Robinson | encyclopedia=Oxford Companion to Wine |edition= Third Edition |title=Piquette |year=2006 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=0-19-860990-6 |pages=532 ]

Already the Ancient Greeks and Romans used pomace in this way under the name "lora", and the product was used for slaves and common workers. After the wine grapes were pressed twice, the pomace was soaked in water for a day and pressed for a third time. The resulting liquid was mixed with more water to produce a thin, tepid "wine" that was not very appealing.

The production of piquette by poor farmers, or for consumption by farmhands and workers continued during the centuries, and is known to have been in practice as late as the mid-20th century. However, piquette seems to have been primarily associated with poor conditions, where real wine could not be afforded. [ [http://www.cliffordawright.com/caw/food/entries/display.php/topic_id/21/id/73/ Cliffordawright.com: Wine as Food in 15th century Languedoc] , accessed on May 27, 2008]

EU regulations on piquette

The common European Union wine regulations define piquette as the product obtained by the fermentation of untreated grape marc macerated in water, or by leaching fermented grape marc with water. [ [http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:1999:179:0001:0084:EN:PDF Council Regulation (EC) No 1493/1999of 17 May 1999 on the common organisation of the market in wine] , p. 42] In those cases where EU member states allow the production of piquette, it may only be used for distillation or for consumption in the families of individual wine-growers, and therefore may not be sold. [Council Regulation (EC) No 1493/1999, p. 24]

Piquette produced by other methods

During the Great French Wine Blight in the late 19th century, the production of wine fell so dramatically in France that several types of "Ersatz wine" were frequently produced in France under the designation piquette, and not just consumed locally, but also sold. Some of it was coloured and flavoured to appear as real wine, or was blended into actual wine to increase the amount available.

A common way to produce such piquettes was to mix raisins with water. [ [http://digital.lib.msu.edu/projects/cookbooks/books/grocersencyclopedia/ency.html The Encyclopedia of Food and Beverage by Artemas Ward, New York, 1911] ] The raisins used were imported to France from Mediterranean countries, and were produced from grape varieties not directly suitable for wine production.

The wine Piquette

Piquette has also been the name or nickname of an actual French wine of low quality. It was produced in what was then Paris's outskirts, in Belleville and Montmarte, in an era when the simpler wines for Paris were sourced as close to the capital as possible because of the problem and cost involved in transporting wine. [ [http://chocolateandzucchini.com/archives/2005/08/drink_local_drink_montmartre_wbw12.php chocolateandzucchini.com August 10, 2005: Drink Local, Drink Montmartre!] ] [http://www.theparistimes.com/content/rebellious-belleville The Paris Times May 25, 2007: Rebellious Belleville] ]

This Piquette was a simple red wine which was drank young and had a slight fizz, which gave it its name "piquer", which means to prick or prickle.

It seems likely that this nickname for a very simple wine was transferred to other wine substitutes.

Very simple wine, not produced from pomace, is still sometimes referred to as "piquette" in French.

References