An orange wine is a white wine that is produced in the same way as a red wine. The white wine grapes are fermented with the berry skins (mash). This extracts more tannins and colouring agents from the grape skins, which give the wine its typical, sometimes somewhat unusual taste and its deep yellow to orange colour.
An example of mash-fermented white wine is the traditional Quevri wine from Georgia. Even if this type of wine production still represents a niche market at the moment, there is an international trend in this direction and more and more winegrowers are experimenting with this method in order to find their own style and develop their own product.
The wines are very different in appearance, aroma and flavour to a white wine. The original flavour of the grape used has changed completely and can no longer be compared with that of white wine. Their aroma is less fruity and characterised by freshness, with notes of dried fruit and nuts as well as earthy tones developing. Sometimes a sherry note can also develop or the orange wine can also taste chocolaty.
How are orange wines produced?
The production of the wines is often associated with that of natural wines, as most natural wine producers are also dedicated to the production of orange wines.
To put it simply, the berries are placed in a Quevri or other container in autumn, the lid is put on and the Quevri is opened again in summer. The winemaker tries to exert as little influence as possible during production, ideally none. Some of the berries are crushed during filling and the juice flows out. The other berries ferment from the inside out and burst in the course of fermentation. The must remains above the skins and over time a second fermentation takes place, the malolactic fermentation, in which the more aggressive malic acid is converted into milder lactic acid. This makes the wine more pleasant, softer, creamier, velvety and fuller at the expense of its freshness and effervescence.
In summer, the wine is pumped from the top until it begins to cloud from the solid particles. The remaining residue, the marc, is usually distilled into brandy.
In the production of orange wine, SO2 is usually not added and no filtration is carried out, as phenols, which pass into the must when it comes into contact with the mash, prevent the must from oxidising. Phenols are radical scavengers and antioxidants that partially scavenge oxygen. The resulting oxidation products are responsible for the discolouration. If SO2 were added and filtered, the orange wine would not differ much in colour from its white relatives. At least it would no longer be an orange wine.
Orange wine is vinified reductively. Decanting the wine and/or aerating it can change its flavour. This makes it rounder and more pleasant to drink, just like the tannin-rich young red wines.
The process of making orange wine is still in its infancy and a lot is being tried out. There is still no standardised process, textbooks on the production of orange wines are not yet available, nor are practical guides. However, the results are very exciting.
The lack of SO2 makes the wines more prone to errors and reduces the yield. The preparation before fermentation also requires a great deal of care. Only the best grapes are used to make these wines in order to avoid off-flavours. All of this makes it understandable that orange wines are still rare on the one hand and predominantly found in the upper price range on the other.
Why do winegrowers do this when the risk of loss is so high? It is the "back to nature" idea that drives them; the idea of producing a natural wine in which the terroir, i.e. the soil, climate, bacteria, etc. are still unaffected.
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