The St Laurent from Cruse is almost too clean for me to put it in the Pet Nat category.

I'd go the other way and say Cruse's Pet-Nats should be one of the benchmarks in the category vs. be seen outside the category.

Good pet-nat is crazy hard to make. I work out of Cruse's space (we made the first Pet Nat he ever made together) and witness the amount of thought, vineyard work, analysis, technique, timing, and then flat out labor he puts in to do it right. By production, they are as natty as anything else, but with the amount of work, the end product is totally different.

Part of the fun of Pet Nats is their unpredictability.

I think that's part of the initial novelty, but that goes away quickly after paying $60-$85 for one off a wine list where 1/3 - 1/2 ends up on the table or floor, some aren't sparkling, etc. Each bottle is its own end of a fermentation so there is always some variation. Sadly with Pet-Nat some producers don't have the time during harvest to put the work in, some don’t know what they are doing / are trying to figure it out on their own, and then others don’t give a *** because the category is super hot right now and people will buy it anyway. :(