Diary of a Shopkeeper, 22nd September 2024
Orange by name, but not always in colour.
Maybe it’s because this is, officially, the first day of autumn. Maybe it’s because the leaves in Kirkness & Gorie’s courtyard are starting to turn to gold, brown and amber. Maybe it’s because I discovered another delicious example of this wine at an importer’s tasting on Thursday. Whatever the reason, today my mind is on orange wine.
Most wine produced and enjoyed in the world is either red or white. And rosé wine is popular too, especially in the summer. There’s a fourth category that’s existed just as long as the others, but – in this country at least – has only emerged into the spotlight in recent years. It’s been called different things in different areas over time, but is now generally known as orange wine.
Let me make it clear first of all that it contains no oranges. It’s 100% grapes. The name comes solely from its colour, which can vary between light copper – ramato, the Italians call it – through to a glowing amber. The colour comes from the grape skins themselves, as most wine colour does. The influence of oxygen during ageing affects the colour of a minority of wines including Sherry, and toasty oak barrels can also impart a deeper hue. But the grapes and how they’re treated are the crucial factor.
In method one, pale-skinned grapes are crushed, with the skins then being discarded and the juice fermented. The result is white wine.
Secondly, dark-skinned grapes are crushed, and the juice and skins are fermented together. This maceration encourages colour and tannin to leach out of the grape skins into the liquid. The result is deeply coloured, mouth-filling red wine.
A third approach again starts with dark skinned grapes. This time, instead of skins and juice macerating for several days or even weeks, they are separated after just a few hours. The result is rosé wine. The juice has an attractive pink hue but little or no tannic structure, as there wasn’t time for that to be extracted from the skins.
Finally, we come to the final permutation: pale-skinned grapes are crushed, and extended maceration is allowed between skins and juice. This type of fermentation results in orange wine.
You may be thinking, “Fine, but where does the orange colour come from? Surely pale-skinned grapes are green, like the one we buy for eating?” Well, some of them are. But many varieties have, when ripe, a distinct pink colour, verging in some cases on orange or even lilac. A great example is Pinot Grigio, as it’s called in Italy, or Pinot Gris in France. Both names translate as “grey Pinot,” differentiating them from Pinot Nero or Pinot Noir, “black Pinot,” which makes red wine. The wave of water-clear, neutral-tasting Italian Pinot Grigio that swept the world 20-odd years ago, and is still a staple of wine lists everywhere, is actually a recent development. Far more venerable is a style of winemaking that involves extended skin-contact, resulting in a wine with a lot more texture, and that coppery – ramato – colour I mentioned earlier, from the pinky-grey skin of the grape.
It was Pinot Grigio from Friuli-Venezia Giulia in northeast Italy that first introduced me, 20 years ago, to the notion of orange wine – even though no one called it that at the time. The places where the orange wine tradition survives most strongly are immediately to the east in Slovenia, and a lot further east, in Georgia, where it’s close to being the default approach for white grapes. Growing awareness of the style means that it’s now made in almost every wine country. We currently have fine examples from Australia, Argentina, Chile, France and Georgia.
So, is orange wine any good? There’s no yes or no answer to that question, any more than there would be to asking whether red wine was good. There are, depending on the quality of the fruit, and the skill of the winemaker, both good and bad examples. Of course, any wine shop worth its salt will seek out the good, and I hope we have. From a very pale Viognier/Riesling blend from Australia, to a vibrant orange Sauvignon Blanc from the Loire Valley, it’s well worth trying this sometimes surprising, but often delicious style. It looks great in the glass, and its extra texture makes it a great match for full flavoured dishes that lighter white wines might struggle with. Curry, for example, or fish and chips.
In the USA, October 6th has been declared National Orange Wine Day. I’ve a good mind to import that celebration into Orkney.
This diary appeared in The Orcadian on 26th September 2024. A new diary appears weekly. I post them in this blog a few days after each newspaper appearance, with added illustrations, and occasional small corrections or additions.