We often get asked about Orange wine day to day in the shop, customers keen to explore new wine are frequently drawn to this category having only drank white, rose & red, and many are often surprised to hear that it is not in fact made using any oranges. An understandable conclusion to make given the plethora of skin contact wines with oranges adorning the labels.
Skin contact is simply the process of letting the juice stay in contact with the skins of the grape, whether that be white, red or rose, grape skins offer tannin, texture, colour and aromatic qualities to the wine. The little bit of structure and tannin present in skin contact wines are often a nice addition to a wine that might normally be zippy and fresh, and can enhance food pairings, as tannins bind with proteins in food making them the perfect partner to rich and fatty foods such as red meat. Tannic wine will draw the moisture out of your mouth, you will feel this gripiness noticably with wines like Barolo, which are made using Nebbiolo, or big ol' Cabernet Sauvignons.
Orange, or skin contact wines, are carefully controlled during the the process of fermentation to offer the perfect balance of structure extraced from the skins to match the winemakers desired finish.
To newcomers of orange wine and the die hard "claret" customers, this may seem like a new trend, or even a fad, however this couldn't be farther from the truth. There is a rich history dating back thousands of years, particularly in countries such as Georgia where grapes like Rkatsiteli have been fermented in underground clay vessels known as "qvevri" and have been synonymous for the amber or orange hue which is still a fundamental part of their winemaking today.
Orange wine is incredibly food friendly with broad and versatile pairing potential, from fermented foods such as kimchi and sauerkraut to falafel & hummus and umami heavy dishes that are biso based, mushroom risotto & stroganoff.
Like all wine, skin contact and orange offer a broad spectrum of what can be expected, and may just surprise you to find it's not all cloudy, funky, a trend or a fad.
Mark.K
