Orange wine: what are they and how are they produced?
Orange wines are produced from white grape varieties that undergo a more extended maceration than usual. When we talk about white wine, the average consumer expects a light and greenish-yellow wine such as Grüner Veltliner, a straw-colored wine such as Ribolla Gialla or Pinot Grigio, or at most a full and viscous wine such as Gewurztraminer. Orange wines are the exact opposite: coppery, amber, almost pink, full of color, orange, as Gewurztraminer, Ribolla, and Pinot Grigio are and should be.
The situation changes radically when you uncork an orange wine, or it would be better to say a macerated white wine. The grape variety is always the same, but the vinification is different.
In classic white wines, the maceration, the contact between the skins and the must, is usually rapid, ranging from a few hours to a maximum of 24 hours, then the must is deprived of the skins and is fermented. Nothing strange, the typical white vinification.
Orange is the new red: how are orange wines made?
When you make an orange wine, the skins must be left in contact with the must in vats or amphorae and, in the meantime, the fermentation starts.
Just think that Castellada’s Ribolla (Oslavia) maceration lasts two months, 60 days. In this case, we have a vinification used “usually” for reds, but with white or copper grape varieties.
But why are we talking about Castellada, a splendid Friulian winery? The reason is simple, to go deeper into the macerated topic, we called Stefano Bensa, owner of Castellada because we have known him for years, we love his wines and he is a wonderful and sunny person, who is always a pleasure to hear.
As you well know, orange wines were born in Armenia thousands of years ago. They are the famous Georgian wines made in qvevri, structured, balsamic and tannic wines.
Real works of art, whose production method in amphora has been recognized as a heritage of humanity of Unesco: liquid history.
But when we say “orange wines,” we think of Italy, thanks to the Orange Revolution triggered by Josko Gravner, the poet of maceration, the one who abandoned traditional vinification in the 90s, to start a new one, which is actually ancient. So call it just a return to origins.
Who does not remember the “genuine wines” of 40 years ago? The oxidized ones that seemed to bite the copper, those that too often bordered on vinegar after a glorious and bubbly ride of a few months in demijohn.
Well, there has been a return to “ancient” wine, but with awareness and sensitivity. And all this commitment has resulted in balsamic wines, full of resins, tannins, texture, and charm.
Wines that last for ten or twenty years; indeed, some reach maturity after at least ten years. Such as the wines of the Denavolo winery, which seem to be reborn from the ashes. The dimensions have become four, as reality is: time has become a fundamental ingredient.
And the epicenter of this oenological earthquake is Oslavia, the small town between Italy and Slovenia, just outside Gorizia, immersed in an idyllic landscape.
The pioneers were Gravner and Radikon, the first to recover the ancient art of making macerated wines, a technique that has fallen into disuse for apparent reasons. Wines are more challenging to drink and understand due to the homologated taste we have bowed to in the last decades of ephebic stylization.
The production process is longer, more expensive and more complicated: in practice, they are vinified as red wines, production times are lengthened.
They must age for two, three or five years; they are not ready in six months like Pinot Grigio Santa Margherita. Obviously, the cost for the consumer is higher; moreover, it goes against the paradigm that wants white wines to be slender, golden, cheaper, fragrant like dish soap and very drinkable.
And so the macerated pride movement (MPM) went on and expanded beyond Orange City as well: in the early days, the macerated white wines looked like oddities, alchemical wines, but harvest after harvest, the followers grew. We moved on to the opposite problem: in a while, it will be time to stop drinking the celebrated orange wines because they are becoming dangerously trendy.
We find them on many mouths that are usually dry and sober. Although it is good to tickle the curiosity for these noble wines and a more conscious, respectful and artisanal production method, the problem of the homologation of this kind of wine is a real problem.
So much so that today many wineries try their hand and perhaps too many, to be honest. You are nobody if you don’t make a macerated wine, a nice Trebbiano, a sturdy Albana or a powerful and cloudy orange Pecorino. Seriously, some vines lend themselves. Some winemakers have experimented, have tried year after year, failing and finally succeeding. Others are jumping on this train headlong and have no idea what they are doing. This is to say that orange wine or macerated on the label is not synonymous with good wine, real wine, artisanal wine, healthy and beautiful natural wine with few sulfites. As always, the skill is essential.
And then came the amphorae. Yes, because Josko Gravner began to use them and so orange wines became even more “Georgianized.” Not everyone obviously, Radikon and Castellada do not use them, for example. But even here you need attention and lead feet: the amphora is an excellent material, many consider it the best because it allows the wine to micro-oxidize slowly and so the maceration of the wine is slow, gradual and the wine becomes rounded, also thanks to the oval shape of the amphora. But it’s not that if you spend thousands of euros to buy a cool amphora, this automatically makes you aware of its use and wise as a Georgian. Unfortunately, in the world of wine, storytelling and skills overlap dangerously.
Organoleptic characteristics of orange wines
Ok, but the real question is: are good these macerated wines? Difficult to make an identikit. It depends on the vine, but what Stefano told us, whom we thank for his help in drafting this in-depth page, usually the more neutral the vine is, the more it macerates. For example, his Ribolla Gialla, the queen of Oslavia, macerates for two months, the time necessary to ferment and carry out the malolactic fermentation. Pinot Grigio macerates for two weeks, while the more aromatic and intense wines such as Sauvignon Blanc and Tocai Friulano macerate for a maximum of four days.
What is certain is that the more the wine macerates, the richer it becomes in polyphenols, tannins and “thickness,” and therefore also, the aging will increase proportionally. Returning to Stefano’s Ribolla Gialla: it ages three years in wooden barrels.
Therefore, the color is more intense and dark, orange or amber. The aromas are more intense, mature, even herbaceous and floral. We can speak of natural enhancement of the aromatic content. Sometimes aromas of resins, Mediterranean scrub, balsamic, eucalyptus, and malt cereals, balsams, and peat develop.
The taste is enveloping. The pulp is juicy. It bites, the wine has developed more tannic ardor, texture, the fullness of body.
Price of orange wines
Do they cost more? Perhaps, if you are drinking a Pinot Grigio that has been in the cellar for four years compared to the Santa Margherita, it is only natural that it costs five times as much. The processing, the risk and the consistency of the wine are different and it is right to pay the difference.
Orange wine Food Pairings
Being more tannic, structured and full-bodied, these macerated wines can also be daring with more intense combinations, such as white meat, venison salami, aged cheeses, and duck or dishes based on fatty fish. When pairing, they should not be considered red wines, but don’t limit yourself to pairing them only with fish and also try with veal in tuna sauce, gnocchi with meat sauce, chicken curry, pulled pork, empanadas, burgers.
Serving temperature of orange wines
This is one of the most critical issues: never mortify orange wines with classic white wine temperatures. 8 and 10 degrees are Himalayan temperatures to forget: 12 and 14 degrees are more suitable temperatures to enhance the aromas and not increase the harsh sensations of these wines, which, let’s remember, have polyphenols and plenty of tannins. If you try to drink a blind macerated hot Albana, you can easily confuse it with a red or mulled wine.