Orange – the new colour for wine

Orange – the new colour for wine

Orange wines are the latest trend among dedicated winemakers. These are white wines that have been left to ferment for a long period with the must, in the same way as reds. Just as people used to in the past.
 

The amber-coloured wine shimmers in the glass and gives off scents of rose petals, lychees and roasted almonds. On the palate are flavours of orange peel and tannins, with a hint of sage. And that’s white wine? It has a fresh taste, but where is the familiar acidic flavour of white wines that calls to mind citrus fruits, gooseberries or crisp apples? This 2011 red Traminer – the “red” refers to the colour of the grape skins – from Weingut Heinrich in Gols in the Austrian state of Burgenland is actually a white wine, but one which spent 18 months with its own yeast in used oak barrels and was not filtered before bottling.

White grapes are normally pressed very carefully and then only the must is fermented in steel tanks. The result is the sort of white wine we are used to, which has primary aromas of citrus fruits, sour berries, apples and pears. Orange wines in contrast are made in the same way as reds. They are left to ferment for weeks with the skins in the must, because the best parts – the colour, the extract and the tannic acid – are in the skins. So why isn’t the same process used for white wines? Some winemakers even decide not to add sulphur. This is why some orange wines have a very specific aroma of petrol or tar, even when they are still young. The experts describe them as having oxidised.

First attempts in Friuli
The new wave of old(-fashioned) wines began in 2001 in the Italian region of Friuli. The winemaker Josko Gravner allowed his white wines to ferment with the must, firstly for seven months in large barrels and then in amphorae. Then they spent three years in oak barrels. The resulting wine had an aroma of dried flowers and tasted of cooking apples, olives and liquorice.

Although the experiment was a financial disaster, orange wine made an impact in Italy and in some areas of Austria, the south of France and Spain. There was an orange wine boom in Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary and Georgia, and in Istria, the peninsula in the Adriatic Sea where the soil is red. This is where the two winemakers Giorgio Clai and Mladen Roxanich produce organic wines using a long fermentation period with the must, according to the old tradition. The exceptional level of minerals in the soil gives the wines a considerable storage potential. Clai’s showcase wine, the 2010 Sveti Jakov, has the aroma of sweet dried apricots. Critics in the industry magazine “vinum” could detect scents of butterscotch, caramel and lemon peel in Roxanich’s 2008 Antica and then, after seven days, “plenty of ripe red fruit, strawberries with sugar and bouillon”. They voted it the best orange wine of the year.

Text: Rainer Meier