What exactly is orange wine (and why will you want to try it)?
Wine can always make me happy, but I have to be honest: I often stick to my familiar favorites. I do really enjoy wine tastings, though, because you often discover new wines that go down very well — but I rarely see any orange wine there. And that’s despite seeing it appear more and more often on terraces. I’ve also ordered a glass a few times, and it was a bit of a hit or miss; I found one absolutely delicious, while the other really wasn’t my thing.
So it’s high time to dive into orange wine, because I think we’ll be seeing even more of it on all the terraces this coming summer.
What is orange wine?
With orange wine, white grapes are processed as if they were red grapes for red wine. With white wine, the juice is separated from the rest of the grape (the seed, skin, etc.) as quickly as possible, while with red wine — and therefore also orange wine — this does not happen. Everything from the grape is left to ferment together in a special vessel (usually made of ceramic or cement). The result is this orange wine, and you might think it’s fairly new, but nothing could be further from the truth: people were already drinking orange wine in Georgia 5,000 years ago.
Because of this winemaking method, orange wine has the body of a red wine, while also having the freshness of a white wine. That makes it a very suitable wine for any occasion (see, that’s what I like). However, you may be disappointed when you’re sitting on a terrace expecting a light glass of wine, such as a rosé — orange wine tastes very different, is much more complex and considerably less light.
Which orange wine is worth trying?
Gall & Gall has several orange wine options. My recommendation is the Winzer Krems Orange Grüner Veltliner (also because it’s one of my favorite white wines), which isn’t too complex in flavor and is a good entry-level wine if you’d like to try orange wine. If you’d prefer something more complex, go for the Winiveria Khikhvi Qvevri 2019. Fun fact: it comes from Georgia, where they’ve been drinking this for 5,000 years!
If you’re from Amsterdam, Wijnbar GlouGlou also has some really nice options — and they can advise you very well there too. As far as I’m concerned, orange wine is definitely worth trying!
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