Orange wine

Orange wine is a white wine that is made more like a red wine. Instead of pressing the white or pale green grapes straight away and removing the skins, the winemaker lets the juice ferment together with the skins (and sometimes the stems and seeds) for a period of time. It is this long contact with the skins that gives the wine its golden to amber, slightly orange hue and its distinctive character. You can think of it as a white wine that has been given the red wine treatment, and the term refers to the colour, not to the fruit orange.

It matters for what you taste and smell. Contact with the skins draws out more substance and structure, so the wine often takes on a slightly firm, almost dry grip (tannin) that you normally associate with red wine. On the nose you will often find notes of dried fruit, skins and honeyed tones, and the taste comes across as more powerful and complex than a typical fresh white wine.

You can often recognise an orange wine by its colour and by that slightly grippy, dry sensation on your gums. A widespread misunderstanding is that it is sweet or tastes of orange. It rarely does. Most are dry and pair well with food that has flavour and structure, from spicy dishes to mature cheeses.