Been wondering just what the heck Orange Wine is? Well, drop on in and we’ll tell you what’s what! You can kind of think of Orange Wine as a cousin to Rosé wine, but there are some key differences - differences in the grapes, the production, and the tastes of the wines. If you have been hesitant to try Orange Wine, we’re here to tell you you shouldn’t be. And, yes, it may seem hip, cool, and in vogue, but the reality is that this is a style of wine that has been around for millennia. So, before you taste it, stop on by, and we’ll give you a quick primer on just what the heck it is in this quick and fun episode.
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Show Notes
Hi everyone, and welcome to this special mini-episode of The Wine Pair Podcast! I’m Joe, your sommelier of reasonably priced wine, and this is my wife and my wine pairing partner in crime Carmela. And we are The Wine Pair.
If you are new to The Wine Pair Podcast, these minisodes are just shorter versions of the regular podcast that we put on weeks where we might be traveling or handling other life stuff, and instead of tasting and reviewing three wines under $20 that are easy to find, which is what we usually do in our longer episodes, in the minisodes, we focus more on things like wine etiquette, wine education, and wine tips. And, we try to make it fun and understandable to regular, everyday people like us! And our podcast is recommended by Decanter magazine. So there!
In this minisode, we are going to talk about something that you may have wondered about - what exactly is this stuff called Orange wine? And, by the way, we did do an episode in April (of 2023) where we not only talked about Orange wine, but we tasted and reviewed three Orange wines! But, let’s just first start by saying it is not a wine made from oranges. Are we clear on that right off the bat?!?
So what, then, is Orange wine? Well, the easiest way to explain it is that it is a cousin of Rosé wine. However, whereas Rosé wine is a pink colored wine made from red wine grapes, Orange wine is a yellow to orange colored wine made from white wine grapes.
There are a few other differences that are important. First, Rosé wine is made by keeping the grape juice in contact with the red grape skins for a few hours, up to a day total. Orange wine, on the other hand, is made by keeping the grape juice in contact with the skins, and sometimes the seeds and other parts of the grape plant, for day, weeks, or even months.
Another difference between the two is that Rosé wine is generally a wine that is fined and filtered so that it is clear, Orange wine is often cloudy, and is rarely filtered. This is one of the reasons why Orange wine is also popular because it is part of the natural wine movement.
From a taste profile standpoint, there can be some similarities between the two - they both tend to be crisp and acidic, but the more natural style of Orange wine can add some funky flavors and bitter flavors, too. Sometimes people will use the wines interchangeably in terms of pairing with food, but Rosé can actually be a relatively difficult wine to pair with food due to it’s very fruity flavors, while an Orange wine is a little bit more flexible with food, going well with fish and white meats in particular, and richer versions should be able to stand up to spicy foods and even some red meats.
Orange wine may seem new and in vogue, but it is actually a very ancient and traditional way of making wine. And in Italy, the style of wine called Ramato, which is Pinot Grigio with skin contact, is a very traditional style of wine that I have seen come up more frequently - and in fact our friends at Compton Family Wines in Oregon have a nice Ramato.
It should be getting fairly easy to find these wines, and more hip and trendy restaurants and wine stores will tend to have some selections available. And, we even know of wine shops in New York, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, and others that specialize in natural wines, and will often have large or even exclusively natural wine selections.
If you want to see the sources for our content today and get the links to learn more, come to our website, look for this minisode, and open up the show notes.
Articles and Links
- https://www.bonappetit.com/story/orange-wine-popularity
- https://mysa.wine/blogs/no-mog-blog/orange-wine-vs-rose-wine
Ok, that’s it for this minisode. Check out our other minisodes to learn more which you can find on our website or your favorite podcast service. You can follow us on Instagram at thewinepairpodcast or you can visit our website thewinepairpodcast.com and in any of those places you can reach out to us directly, and you can send us an email at joe@thewinepairpodcast.com. We also will have our show notes on our website, and we will include links to articles on this topic as well. And, on our website you can also sign up for our fun newsletter!
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