Orange wine, also known as amber wine or skin-contact wine, is a color of wine produced by leaving the skins of white wine grapes to ferment with the juice instead of removing them—essentially making white wine in the same manner as red wine.
Though there is no official designation for orange wine, this style of winemaking produces a unique flavor as well as its striking color.
To make orange wine, whole white grapes are crushed and then macerated (left to sit) with their skins and stems for as little as one week and up to one year. Eventually, winemakers separate out the fermented juice, at which point they may age the wine further. This is the exact same process winemakers use to produce red wine. The only difference is the grape variety: Orange wine is made with white grapes.
Some orange wines taste like a light red wine, while others taste more like a sour beer. There is just as much variation between orange wines as there is between wine varieties of any other color. In general, orange wines are fuller-bodied than white wines. Orange wine tends to have a lot of tannins, which make the wine more bitter. Common tasting notes for orange wines include dried flowers or hay, stone fruits like apricot, and dried fruit.
They are the wines that have splashed onto the wine scene in the past few years and landed droplet by droplet on food and wine institutions around the world: from Copenhagen’s one-of-a-kind Noma restaurant, to London’s wine institution, Noble Rot, across the world the’ve hit the foodie headlines.
When it comes to food pairings, orange wines are versatile, since their flavor falls somewhere in between white wine and red wine. Orange wines have enough body to stand up to flavorful dishes, so don’t be afraid to serve them where you might typically serve a red wine. Orange wine works particularly well with fermented, spicy dishes like kimchi, savory cheese and charcuterie plates, hearty vegetables such as mushrooms and squash, and all kinds of meat and fish.
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