By Elspeth Brown
Each Friday night we have a free wine tasting at Maggie B’s. Last Friday, we were pouring an orange wine, and I overheard my wine rep explain to the crowd, “Orange wine is to white wine, what rosé is to red wine.” I thought it was a brilliant explanation.
When a winemaker is producing red wine, they include the skins during the fermentation to give the wine color and body. Rosé wine is similar, except there is a much shorter period that the skins have contact with the juice. White wine is fermented without the skin. Orange wine is produced in a similar way to rosé. The skins of the grape are added during the fermentation process for a short period of time and, in some cases, for a couple of months.
Orange wine, amber wine or even skin-macerated white wine is not made from oranges or any other fruit. It gets its name from the color of the wine. It is made by adding skins of the grape, seeds and, sometimes, stems to the fermenting juice for 24 hours up to a couple of months. The resulting juice has a honey aroma, flavors of dried fruit and nuts, a dry but oily finish and tannins like unsweetened iced tea. Some of the common grapes used in orange wine are pinot grigio, chardonnay and ribolla gialla.
Orange wine seems trendy, but it has been around for more than 6,000 years. It originated in Georgia where the wine was aged in clay vessels, or qvevri. I remember that one of the first wines I brought into Maggie B’s in 2004 was an orange wine made in Georgia. It was such an interesting wine, but at the time not well-received, and I eventually had to pull it from my shelf.
But the time has finally come for orange to shine in the wine world. It is having a moment. This versatile wine pairs great with food because it balances tough ingredients such as roasted vegetables, fermented food, spicy dishes and smoked fish.
The wine is almost always natural or biodynamic because there are no additives, including yeast. The fermentation relies primarily on the wild yeast that already exists on the grape.
Some of our favorites are the very approachable Grape Abduction Orange from Slovenia, made with pinot blanc, pinot grigio and riesling. The wine has flavors of apple, brown spice and minerality. When Life Gives You Oranges, from France, is made from muscat, viognier, grenache blanc and Marsanne. It is soft with nutty accents and clean acidity. If you are looking for a drier, musty wine with more astringent tannins, L’Orange from Division Winemaking Company is right up your alley.
Orange wine is the new rosé. Rosé gained popularity around 2014 with celebrities and socialites endorsing “Rosé All Day.” But the tides have turned. Orange wine is right in line. Enjoy!
Elspeth Brown is the owner of Maggie B’s Wine & Specialty Store, 10 C South Main Street in Weaverville. For information, visit MaggieBsWine.com or call 828.645.1111.
