Orange Wine: The Wine That Forgot What Colour It Was Supposed to Be

At 19 Sixty – Four by Mcgettigans, we like wine that starts a conversation.

Sometimes that conversation begins with a great bottle of Burgundy. Sometimes it involves Champagne, a beautifully chilled rosé or a red that makes everyone at the table suddenly very interested in where the grapes were grown.

And sometimes, someone puts a glass of orange wine in front of you.

There is usually a pause.

"Is that... wine?"

Yes.

"Is it supposed to look like that?"

Also yes.

"Is it made from oranges?"

Absolutely not.

Welcome to orange wine: one of the most misunderstood, fashionable, occasionally controversial and genuinely fascinating categories in the wine world.

It looks like white wine that has spent too long sunbathing. It can smell of dried apricots, tea leaves, orange peel, herbs, nuts and, occasionally, something you can't quite identify but suspect has recently escaped from a farmyard.

It may be crystal clear.

It may be hazy.

It may be pale gold.

It may be deep amber.

It may be delicious.

It may be challenging.

And, occasionally, it may taste like someone fermented a cup of kombucha in an old sock.

At 19 Sixty - Four, we think that is exactly why it's worth talking about.

First things first: it isn't made from oranges

Let's clear this one up.

Orange wine is not orange-flavoured wine.

There are no oranges involved.

No one is squeezing Valencia oranges into your Chardonnay.

Orange wine is essentially white wine made using a red-wine technique.

White grapes are crushed and fermented with their skins, seeds and sometimes stems for an extended period. The skin contact extracts colour, tannin and flavour compounds from the grapes.

The result can be anything from pale gold to deep amber or copper. And suddenly your white wine has developed an attitude.

The ancient technique that became incredibly fashionable

Here's the amusing part. Orange wine isn't new.

In fact, it's extremely old.

One of the most important homes of traditional skin-contact white winemaking is Georgia, where wine has been made for thousands of years in large clay vessels known as qvevri.

The grapes are fermented with their skins and other solid material, often underground, producing wines that can be deeply coloured, textured and structurally very different from conventional modern white wines.

So when someone tells you they've discovered this exciting new wine trend called orange wine, you can politely nod. Then tell them that Georgian winemakers have been doing it for several thousand years.

It's rather like announcing that you've invented cooking.

So why is it orange?

The answer is skin contact.

Most white grapes have relatively pale juice. If you press the grapes and immediately separate the juice from the skins, you produce the kind of white wine we're accustomed to drinking.

But leave the juice sitting with the skins during fermentation and things start to change.

Colour is extracted.

Tannins are extracted.

Phenolic compounds are extracted.

Flavour compounds are extracted.

The wine becomes more textured and, depending on the grape and winemaking, considerably more structured.

Think of it as the difference between making tea by briefly dipping the teabag into hot water and leaving it there for considerably longer. Although, to be fair, orange wine can occasionally feel as though the winemaker has left the teabag in for three days.

Orange wine has tannin.

This is one of the first things people notice.

White wine generally doesn't have much tannin because the skins, seeds and stems are usually removed before fermentation.

Orange wine is different. Because the wine ferments with those solid grape components, it can pick up tannin.

That gives it texture.

Grip.

Structure.

Sometimes a slight bitterness.

And this is where orange wine becomes particularly interesting with food. Because rather than simply refreshing the palate like a crisp Sauvignon Blanc, a structured orange wine can actually interact with food in much the same way a lighter red wine can.

And that makes it incredibly versatile.

Forget the wine rules

One of the best things about orange wine is that it tends to ignore conventional wine categories.

Is it white?

Sort of.

Is it red?

Not really.

Is it rosé?

Absolutely not.

Is it natural wine?

It can be, but it doesn't have to be.

And therein lies another important point. Orange wine and natural wine are not the same thing.

Orange wine describes a winemaking technique: extended skin contact with white grapes.

Natural wine is a much broader and less precisely defined category relating to farming, winemaking and intervention.

You can make a conventional, technically precise orange wine.

You can make a low-intervention orange wine.

You can make an organic orange wine.

You can make a biodynamic orange wine.

And, inevitably, you can make one that looks like cloudy apple juice and tastes like your grandmother's pantry.

They are not all the same.

The flavour spectrum is enormous

Depending on the grape, region, skin-contact period and winemaking, orange wine can taste remarkably different.

Some are full of dried apricot, peach, orange peel and exotic fruit.

Others show chamomile, tea, honey, herbs and spice.

Some have nutty, oxidative characteristics.

Others are saline, savoury and almost mineral.

And some have the slightly wild, earthy qualities associated with certain natural wines.

This is where orange wine gets exciting.

It isn't designed to deliver one predictable flavour profile. It is a broad canvas.

And for adventurous wine drinkers, that's half the fun.

Orange wine loves food

Now we get to the really important bit. Orange wine is brilliant with food.

Particularly food that makes conventional wine pairing difficult.

Think Middle Eastern cuisine.

Indian food.

Thai dishes.

Korean barbecue.

Japanese fermented flavours.

Moroccan spices.

Rich vegetarian dishes.

Roasted vegetables.

Charcuterie.

Hard cheeses.

Spicy seafood.

Anything involving herbs, spices, fermentation or umami.

The combination of acidity, fruit, texture and tannin gives orange wine an ability to deal with complicated dishes that can leave some white wines looking rather nervous.

Take a dish with chilli, coriander, cumin, fermented flavours and a little sweetness.

A delicate white wine might disappear.

A big red might overwhelm it.

Orange wine walks into the room somewhere between the two and says: "Don't worry. I've got this."

But here's the warning...

Orange wine isn't automatically good.

This needs to be said.

Because the popularity of orange wine and natural wine more generally has created a slightly strange situation where technical faults can occasionally be celebrated as personality.

Volatile acidity isn't necessarily complexity.

Oxidation isn't automatically sophistication.

A wine that smells strongly of cider, vinegar or nail-polish remover hasn't necessarily achieved enlightenment.

And "funky" is not a synonym for "excellent".

There are extraordinary orange wines being made around the world by producers who combine traditional techniques with meticulous attention to farming, fruit quality and cellar work.

There are also bottles that appear to have been made according to the principle of:

"Let's see what happens."

Sometimes what happens is wonderful.

Sometimes what happens should stay in the winery.

At 19 Sixty - Four, we're interested in the former.

The great orange wine experiment

The best way to understand orange wine is not to read another article about it.

It's to taste it.

Ideally, taste several.

Start with a relatively fresh, aromatic example. Then try something with more substantial skin contact and tannin.

Then taste a traditional Georgian qvevri wine.

You’ll discover that orange wine isn't one thing at all.

It's a spectrum.

And somewhere along that spectrum you'll probably find a style that makes sense to you.

You may even discover that the wine you initially thought looked slightly suspicious is actually the perfect partner for your dinner.

And that's exactly the sort of discovery we at 19 Sixty – Four, encourage you to make.

So, should you be drinking orange wine?

Absolutely. But don't drink it because it's fashionable.

Don't drink it because someone on Instagram told you that cloudy wine is more authentic.

And don't drink it because the label looks like it was designed by someone who owns a very expensive typewriter.

Drink it because it tastes good.

Drink it because it makes food more interesting.

Drink it because it challenges the way you think about wine.

And drink it because wine is at its most exciting when it occasionally refuses to behave.

At 19 Sixty - Four Wine, that's what we're all about.

Wine doesn't have to fit neatly into a box labelled red, white or rosé. Sometimes the most interesting wines are the ones that sit somewhere in between.

So next time you see a bottle of orange wine, don't be frightened by the colour.

Don't worry if it's cloudy.

Don't panic if it has tannin.

And don't assume that the slightly eccentric label means the wine is going to taste like fermented tree bark.

Give it a chance.

Come to 19 Sixty - Four.

Ask questions.

Try something you wouldn't normally order.

Put an orange wine next to a white wine and see what happens.

Better still, order some food and discover why this slightly rebellious style can be such a brilliant partner at the table.

You might just find your new favourite colour.

And if you don't? Well, there's always Champagne.

Discover orange wine at 19 Sixty – Four by Mcgettigans  — where the wine doesn't always behave, but the conversation always does.