what is orange wine?

It’s summertime in Phoenix, which means the temperatures are scorching and we’re fielding lots of questions about the perfect orange wine to drink in the desert heat. We’re certainly not experts, but we’ve learned a thing or two about orange wine in our two and a half years of tasting, selling, and chatting all things natural wine at the market (emphasis on tasting – we are very thorough with our market research!). So what’s the deal with orange wine? Where can you buy the perfect bottle? And what can you expect to taste when you pour yourself a glass? Well you’re in luck, because we’re sharing our knowledge and breaking down the orange wine essentials.

If you really want the inside information about orange wines, we think your best bet is to find your nearest indie bottle shop (in Phoenix, we’d recommend this really dope spot called Monsoon Market 🙂 ) and ask them all of your pressing orange wine questions. You’ll learn something new and you’ll leave with something yummy to sip on.

Transparently, we are writing this blog because we want to give our bottle shop exposure online, but our ultimate hope is that you’ll come chat with us about orange wines IRL so we can get into the nitty gritty details that our SEO guy says won’t drive traffic to our website. For now, we’ll leave you with the following highlights and we’ll be here at the shop waiting to help you pick out a bottle.

The term “orange” refers to the color, not the contents, of the wine. Orange wine is made using white grapes that are fermented in the same style used to make red wine, with the juice left to sit with all of the seeds and skins. Due to the time spent on the skins, the wine takes on certain qualities that differentiate its look and taste from white white. The name orange comes from the amber-colored hue that the resulting wine has when left on the skins for any amount of time. Sometimes you’ll hear people refer to orange wine as Ramato, particularly with skin-contact pinot gris, which means amber in Italian.

Characteristics of Orange Wine

The length that the juice spends on the skins can vary from hours to months, and this time affects the wine’s depth of color and flavor. The color of an “orange” wine can actually range anywhere from a pale yellow to a deep amber. The longer the wine spends on the skins, the deeper the color and flavor that develops. Wines with brief amounts of skin contact are more likely to be light and fruity whereas wines with longer contact can have deeper, more honeyed or umami notes.

Orange wines also differ from white wines in that they are tannic, and like red wines, each orange wine exists somewhere on a spectrum of tannicity depending on the length of skin contact during fermentation and the inherent level of tannins of the grapes used to make the wine. Tannins come from the grape skins and add a certain structure and mouthfeel to a wine that isn’t present in white wines.

Grapes Used to Make Orange Wine

Any white wine grape can be used to make orange wine, as long as the grape juice is left on the skins during fermentation. When you visit the market, you’ll see skin contact wines made from chardonnay, sauvignon blanc, chenin blanc, muscat, fiano, xarello, macabeu, grenache blanc, muller-thürgau, and the list goes on and on. All of these grape varieties are expressed differently when they are made into skin contact wine versus white wine.

Origin of Orange Wine

The fascination with orange wine has certainly grown in recent years, but nothing about this style of wine can be written off as simply a new “trend”. Skin-contact fermentation is an ancient winemaking tradition that for a long time was simply lost to history. The recent resurgence is not a trend as much as a rebirth of some of the most primitive winemaking techniques in the world.

The first of what we now call orange wines can be traced back over 6,000 years ago to a region that now includes modern day Georgia, Slovenia, and parts of Northern Italy. In those days, skin-fermenting white wine was actually a practical and necessary choice. The tannins and other elements that are extracted from the grape skins during fermentation help preserve the wine, which was important before refrigeration existed. With the invention of electricity (eg. refrigeration), skin contact fermentation was discarded for a more “polished” method of making white wine without the skin contact.

Ancient Roots and Modern Revival

The modern-day revival of orange wine was led by producers in northern Italy, and in particular Joško Gravner, who is considered to be the pioneer of the modern-day orange wine-making movement. He started making skin-contact style wines in Northern Italy in 1997, following in the footsteps of the forefathers of his region. Gravner is a traditionalist, and his orange wines are aged for six years before their release. The market team was lucky enough to try his skin-contact Ribolla Gialla and we were stunned by the amber hue and notes of honey, caramel, and pleasing minerality.

What does orange wine taste like?

There is no one way to describe the way that orange wine tastes. You can expect tasting notes that range from tropical fruits, to aromatics like orange blossom, or even stone fruits like peach or apricot. As a generalization, orange wine is often quite tart and more acidic than your average white wine but the flavor profiles can vary greatly. Some orange wines might be more light, crisp, and refreshing while others drink more like a sour beer or kombucha. Like we said – with this many flavor possibilities, your best bet is to come to the market, tell us all about your preferences, and have us point you towards our favorite bottles!

Food Pairings with Orange Wine

If you’ve come into the market looking for a food friendly wine to pair with your dinner, it’s likely we’ve steered you towards a bottle of skin contact wine. The flavors of orange wine are particularly well suited to bold, unique foods. Think ferment-y foods like kimchi, anything spicy, or even a grilled pork chop with a rosemary-balsamic glaze. As a general rule, orange wine is a great option if you’re eating something that doesn’t have the most obvious or traditional pairing (e.g. cab sauv with a steak, champagne and oysters, Italian reds with hearty pasta dishes, etc.). Orange wines typically have bold, layered flavor profiles that stand up well to similarly complex dishes.