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MUST….NOT….MENTION….POLITICS*… *FAILS AND DOESN’T CARE…
“Politics: noun. A strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. The conduct of public affairs for private advantage.” (Ambrose Bierce – on the subject of politics.)
This brought a wry smile to my face and would seem a reasonable description of current UK politics to me, whichever corner you may choose to stand in…
And, much like our view on politicians at the moment, it’s understandable that you might not rush, open armed, towards… and to taste, the newly emerging ‘orange’ wines. The term orange wine was originally used to describe a non-interventionist style of white wine making and the term orange can be deceiving, in that skin-macerated wines come in a wide range of colours, which are not always particularly orange. The grape’s original colour and the length of maceration both impact the colour. The term is really more about the process.
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Orange winemaking is a very natural process that uses little or no additives, sometimes not even yeast, and because of all this, they will taste very different from more usual styles of white wine. Essentially, orange wine is treating white grapes as though they were red, extracting far more character than would be typical. The modern origins of skin-contact can be traced back to the late-nineties and to the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region of northern Italy, where there has been a resurrection of ancient but ongoing techniques that they encountered in what is now the republic of Georgia – namely the use of the amphora-like vessels known as ‘Qvevri’ (originally closed with stones and sealed with beeswax!) and subsequent long soaking of white wines on their skins.
Friuli is probably one of the few places in the world where white wine is more important than red and winemakers there became invested, very quickly, in the whole resurgence of these wines. By the early noughties, orange wines had become defining style, not just in northern Italy, but throughout Europe, plus California, Oregon, Australia, Chile and other New World countries.
Juice is fermented with the grape skins, which gives the wine its orange hue. Depending on how long the juice ferments with the skins—anywhere from a few hours to many months – wines can range in colour from golden-straw yellow to vibrant amber. The time with the skins also gives these wines more red wine characteristics, such as more body and tannin, whilst maintaining the acidity of a white wine and while the technique was not intended for aromatic varieties such as Riesling or say, Gewurtztraminer, these are also making good examples. More progressive winemakers in Australia have produced incredible wines, primarily from Sauvignon Blanc.
It is worth remembering that, since skin-contact wines can be made with any white wine grape and using any winemaking technique, orange-hued wines can vary wildly on your palate. My own personal caveat would be that they perhaps have a more limited palette than rosé, which can be refreshing, easy going and drunk with almost everything you can fit on a plate! Orange wines are, by design, typically richer, more densely textured than most white wines.
Arguably their ideal time is in autumn or winter, and it’s true that many orange wines are capable of stepping up to the plate, at moments when you might pour red. Many of their scents and flavours, such as dried apricots and nuts, orange peel and pepper, savoury spice, herbal, lemon peel and plums, bitter almonds, are typical when comparing tasting notes…these wines are no shrinking violets.
It’s exactly for this reason, that orange wines pair incredibly well with equally bold foods, including curry and strong Moroccan cuisine, Korean dishes, traditional Japanese cuisine and last, but certainly not least, due to the high phenolic content (tannin and bitterness) and the nutty tartness they exhibit, orange wines pair with a wide variety of meats.
It’s not difficult to find a variety of orange wines from most suppliers, but the ones listed below are a cut above: Josko Gravner: The modern story of orange wine must involve Gravner, who was already famous in Italy when, in the late nineties, he became fascinated with the old winemaking
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WINING & DINING WINE EXPER T
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