The Future’s Orange

You will probably have heard of, if not tasted, an ‘orange’ wine. Though seeming to appear from nowhere, such wines are actually a recreation of wines made with an ancient technique.

White wine is usually made by fermenting grape juice that has previously been squeezed from the grapes. There is minimal contact with grape skins, because those contains phenolic compounds such as tannin and colour pigments that are undesirable in white wine.

That was not the case in places such as Georgia in the Caucasus however. There, the tradition was to ferment the whole lot, skins and all, so tannin and some colour where part of the picture. Leaving the wine in contact with the skins even after fermentation picked up more of those characters. That, essentially, is an ‘orange’ wine.

Making Orange Wine

Sometimes known as ‘amber wines’ or simply ‘skin contact wines’, this technique is basically identical to how a red wine is made: the skins giving the colour, tannin and phenols that are familiar in reds. So the aromas and flavours of orange wines can be quite surprising. Think of it as the difference between eating an unpeeled apple, and a peeled apple. One key is to make sure grapes are fully ripe, not just with sufficient sugar, but with stems and seeds in a ‘brown’ rather than ‘green’ state of maturity: the bitterness of green stems and seeds is never a good thing.

Those wines from Georgia were traditionally made in large clay pots known as qvevri (a type of amphora, buried in the ground). Purists may argue, but that’s not an essential part of the orange wine ‘recipe’. Wines can be made in stainless steel, concrete, wood, or any other fermentation vessel. It’s the skin contact that’s he secret.

The Orange Controversy

The orange wine phenomenon has as many detractors as fans. For some, the character that has been extracted from the skins is not what they look for in white wine. Aroma and flavour is very different, and so too is texture quite often. Many are classed as ‘natural wines’, made with wild yeasts that again impart a different personality, and possibly even pouring with a light haze as they have not been filtered or fined. Some have a slightly more sour, wheat beer-like character.

But lovers of these wines celebrate that difference and the undoubted complexity the wines can display. There’s no doubt that the skins of grapes have more inherent complexity than the juice, and for orange wine makers and drinkers, that is what they love. ‘Ordinary’ white wines made without skins are accused of lacking interest.

The Wines

Not all orange wines are the same. Styles span very lightly macerated and subtle influence that still express typical varietal character (the orange dial turned down), to others that are hazy in appearance with chewy tannins and all sorts of skin-derived characters (the dial turned up to 11).

Orange has become mainstream as producers around the world add them to their portfolio, rather than specialising in them. The wines tasted here represent the more moderate end of the spectrum, but offer a good introduction that still ups the ante in terms of unusual and complex flavour profiles.