what is orange wine?

Orange wine has never been trendier. You’ll see it on menus at brunch spots to your local pub. If the natural wine movement is currently having a field day, then Orange Wine may well be the poster for said celebration. However, the term ‘orange wine’ is absolutely a misnomer, and leads to considerable confusion. To clear up one matter from the start: orange wines are not made with oranges. They are made from the same grapes as white wine, and are called ‘orange wine’ due to their orange hue.

While orange wine is enjoying a major renaissance currently, it is nothing new. Back in the day, all white wine was orange wine. The process for creating white wine as we know it today is a fairly modern innovation, with wine-makers filtering out the green grape skins before fermentation before adding yeast, sulphites and conservatives. Several thousand years ago, however, winemakers didn’t have the ability, and would leave the grape skins on throughout the whole process of fermentation as the tannins in the skin create a natural conservative and help prevent oxidisation. This helped the wine last longer, especially before regrigeration. By leaving the grape skins on throughout the fermentation process however, the resulting wine comes out a deep orange-hued colour, and looks more ‘bodied’ than white wines. Hence, orange wine. What’s old is new. White wine grapes made by a different process basically. A better term for orange wine is ‘skin-contact white wine’, which I personally like better, but you might also hear it described as ‘Ramato’ in Italy, or skin-fermented wine.

Wanna learn more about Slovenian wine? Read my guide here!

the taste

Orange wine generally tastes way more robust than regular white wine, with some tasting nutty and tea-like, which comes due to the extra oxidation during the wine making process. Some orange wines have a rich, spicy tang that can taste a bit like beer. They definitely hold a richer flavour, and pair well with heaps of foods.

Because of their boldness, orange wines pair excellently well with equally bold foods, including curry dishes, Moroccan cuisine, Ethiopian cuisine (like those spongelike pancakes called Injera), Korean dishes with fermented kimchi (bibim bap), and traditional Japanese cuisine, including fermented soybeans (Natto). Due to the high phenolic content (tannin and bitterness) and the nutty tartness they exhibit, orange wines pair with a wide variety of meats, ranging from beef to fish.

SLOVENIAN ORANGE WINE

Orange Wine has been made in Slovenia for a very, very long time. While the method of creating orange wine originated in Georgia (the eastern European country) around 5000 years ago, skin-contact white wine has been made in Slovenia for thousands of years. While the methods has a long history in Slovenia, the process for making it nearly died out during the tumultuous years Slovenia experienced throughout the 20th century. During these years Slovenia was part of Yugoslavia, which, using a form of socialism, had farmers deliver their grape harvests to state owned cooperatives who favoured mass production of white wine using modern technology. Because of this, the traditional method of skin-contact white wine production slipped off the radar, and didn’t re-emerge in the country until two Slovenian wine-makers in Italy, Joško Gravner and Stanko Radikon began to make wine using this style again in the 1990’s.

The region of Goriška-Brda in the south-west of Slovenia has the longest history of orange winemaking in the country. Some of our favourite orange wines in Slovenia come from this region. However, Vipava Valley, Karst, and Slovenian Istria also have some producers making amazing orange wine.

PRODUCERS BY REGION

Vipava valley

UOU
Batič
Burja
Guerilla
JNK
Lepa Vida
Mlečnik
Ussai
Slavček
Svetlik

Goriška-Brda

Atelier Kramar
Blažič
Brandulin
Erzetič
Kabaj
Klinec
Kmetija Štekar
Marjan Simčič
Movia
Nando

Karst region

Čotar
Klabjan
Renčel
Štemberger
Tauzher

WHERE TO get IT?

If you don’t have the liberty to visit a winery whilst in Slovenia, but are still keen to get your hands on some orange wine, your best bet is going to be visiting a specialty wine shop or wine bar.

Ljubljana

My main suggestion for Ljubljana? Check out Wine Store Storija, located at Trubarjeva cesta 17, 1000 Ljubljana. I wrote a whole post about this place over here, but David at Storija stocks a myriad of orange wines, and will gladly point you in the right direction for anything skin-contact, natural or biodynamic. Outside of that, Wine Bar Suklje carries a few orange wines, and Movia Vinska Sklet also serves them by the glass (they also do a radikon ribolla by the glass, which is exceptional). For more Ljubljana wine bar suggestions, check out my guide here.

Maribor

Though small, Maribor has a few wine bars dotted around. The best place in town to grab an orange wine is definitely the Old Vine House. You’ll also be able to get it at Vinag, where they also house one of the biggest cellars in Europe, Rozmarin, a trendy wine bar in town and at Luft, a fairly nice restaurant in Maribor.

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