Orange wine, also known as skin-contact white wine, skin-fermented white wine, or amber wine, is a type of

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink made from Fermentation in winemaking, fermented fruit. Yeast in winemaking, Yeast consumes the sugar in the fruit and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Wine is most often made f ...

made from

white wine White wine is a wine that is Fermentation in winemaking, fermented without undergoing the process of Maceration (wine), maceration, which involves prolonged contact between the juice with the grape skins, seeds, and pulp. The wine color, colou ...

grapes where the grape skins are not removed but stay in contact with the juice for days or even months, as is more typical with red wines. This contrasts with conventional white wine production, which involves crushing the grapes and quickly moving the juice off the skins into the

fermentation Fermentation is a type of anaerobic metabolism which harnesses the redox potential of the reactants to make adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and organic end products. Organic molecules, such as glucose or other sugars, are catabolized and reduce ...

vessel. The skins contain color pigment,

phenols In organic chemistry, phenols, sometimes called phenolics, are a class of chemical compounds consisting of one or more hydroxyl groups (− O H) bonded directly to an aromatic hydrocarbon group. The simplest is phenol, . Phenolic compounds ar ...

and

tannins Tannins (or tannoids) are a class of astringent, polyphenolic biomolecules that bind to and precipitate proteins and various other organic compounds including amino acids and alkaloids. The term ''tannin'' is widely applied to any large po ...

that would normally be considered undesirable for white wines, while for red wines skin contact and maceration is a vital part of the winemaking process that gives red wine its color, flavor, and texture. Orange wines tend to be

natural Nature is an inherent character or constitution, particularly of the ecosphere or the universe as a whole. In this general sense nature refers to the laws, elements and phenomena of the physical world, including life. Although humans are part ...

(a.k.a. minimal intervention) wines. The

International Organisation of Vine and Wine The International Organisation of Vine and Wine (; OIV) is an intergovernmental organisation that deals with technical and scientific aspects of viticulture and winemaking.

describes orange/amber wine as "White wine with maceration" and prescribes the minimum duration of the maceration phase to be 1 month.

History

The practice has a long history in winemaking dating back hundreds of years in

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

and

Friuli-Venezia Giulia Friuli-Venezia Giulia () is one of the 20 regions of Italy and one of five autonomous regions with special statute. The regional capital is Trieste on the Gulf of Trieste, a bay of the Adriatic Sea. Friuli-Venezia Giulia has an area of and a ...

, and thousands of years in the Eastern European wine producing country of

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

.Bonné, Jon, ''San Francisco Chronicle'' (October 11, 2009)
Soaking white grapes in skins is orange crush
The practice was repopularized by Italian and Slovenian winemakers, after visiting Georgia and importing qvevris, initially in the cross-border Friuli-Venezia Giulia wine and Gorizia Hills regions, while there is also production in Spain,

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

, and

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

.Asimov, Eric, ''The New York Times'': The Pour (August 3, 2009)
Orange Wines
Skin-fermented white wines were common in Italy up until the 1950s and 1960s, but fell out of fashion when technically 'correct' and fresh white wines came to dominate the market.Dalheim, Ulf, ''Adresseavisen'' (September 4, 2009)
Ikke på ville veier
.

Terminology

The popular term ''orange wine'' was coined by a British wine importer, David A. Harvey, in 2004. This style of wines can also be known by their color references of having an amber or orange tinge that the base white wine receives due to its contact with the coloring pigments of the grape skins.Asimov, Eric, ''The New York Times'': The Pour (October 8, 2009)
Orange Wine Edges Toward the Mainstream, Slightly
Bonné, Jon, ''San Francisco Chronicle'': The Cellarist (October 13, 2009)
When is a wine orange?
In Georgia, skin-contact white wine is known as “karvisperi ghvino", which translates as amber wine. This term was introduced by Sandro Shanshiashvili in his 1920 poem "Wine".

Production

The basic differences of orange wine with the other wine 'colors' are based on the color of the grape and the duration of their skin contact. Red wine is made with red grapes. After the red grapes are crushed, their skins stay in contact for a period of 1 week to 1 month, and the wine gets a red or deep red color. Rosé, at least when rosé wine is the primary product, is produced with the skin contact method, using red grapes. After the grapes are crushed, their skins only stay in contact a few hours before pressing, but in that short period they give the wine the characteristic light pink hue. White wine is made either with red or white grapes. The grapes are pressed and their skins are removed immediately. Because the grape skins do not "participate" in the fermentation, their color does not matter and the wine acquires a neutral, green to slightly yellow hue. Orange wine is made with white grapes. After they are crushed, their skins stay in contact for 1 month to 6 months, and the wine acquires an amber, orange color.

References

{{wines Wine styles

History

Terminology

Production

See also

References