pétillant means of wine, cider, etc.: sparkling, fizzy.
Why “pétillant” is a great word
Pétillant describes a beverage, especially wine or cider, that possesses a light, vivacious effervescence. It is borrowed from the French pétillant, present participle of pétiller ('to sparkle, fizz, crackle'), itself from péter ('to break wind, crackle, pop'). Unlike mousseux (which denotes a fully sparkling wine with higher pressure and legally defined persistence) or gazeux (a general term for any artificially or naturally carbonated drink), pétillant is the whisper of a sparkle, a private celebration. It is the delicate, dancing chain of pearls rising in a flute of Vinho Verde, the soft crackle against the tongue of a farmhouse cider, the barely audible sigh from a just-opened bottle—effervescence as a fleeting mood, the sparkle that knows it will not last.
adj
- Of wine, cider, etc.: sparkling, fizzy.