Sons of a thousand-year-old tradition that dates back to the origins of viticulture, theorange wines are made from white grapes , through a production process that involves maceration of the skins in the must. Prolonged contact with the skins favors the release ofaromatic substances and ofpigments , responsible for an extraordinaryaromatic complexity and of the typical colourorange with which orange wine is identified. Until recently relegated to the oblivion of an ancient peasant tradition that seemed to have disappeared, surviving in Georgia and in some European regions such as Friuli-Venezia Giulia, today orange wines are returning with vitality, rapidly spreading throughout the world and experiencing great commercial success, being appreciated for his intense, rich, complex and, at times, unpredictable character. Callmewine offers you a rich selection ofbest Italian and international orange wines of the most important wineries.
Sons of a thousand-year-old tradition that dates back to the origins of viticulture, theorange wines are made from white grapes , through a production process that involves maceration of the skins in the must. Prolonged contact with the skins favors the release ofaromatic substances and ofpigments , responsible for an extraordinaryaromatic complexity and of the typical colourorange with which orange wine is identified. Until recently relegated to the oblivion of an ancient peasant tradition that seemed to have disappeared, surviving in Georgia and in some European regions such as Friuli-Venezia Giulia, today orange wines are returning with vitality, rapidly spreading throughout the world and experiencing great commercial success, being appreciated for his intense, rich, complex and, at times, unpredictable character. Callmewine offers you a rich selection ofbest Italian and international orange wines of the most important wineries.
The type of orange wine is essentially identified by the particular orange color , due to the transfer of the pigments of the skins into the grape must. The polyphenols present on the skins of white grapes are flavones, leucoanthocyanins and catechins, present in different ways depending on the variety , degree of ripeness , territory and vintage . For this reason the particular orange color, due to the prolonged contact of the skins in the must , can depend on all these factors, as well as, obviously, on the contact time . Generally, the longer the maceration period, the more the white wine will tend to take on an orange colour, but this is not always true: many producers have testified that the skins of some varieties, after having transferred all the aromatic substances and polyphenols to the must, tend to partly reabsorb them.
Simplifying, we can talk about white wines vinified in red , with long macerations on the skins, which can last from a few days up to several months. This production technique dates back to the origins of viticulture and has remained active and constant only in Georgia . In the rest of the world, however, the custom of maceration on the skins had been lost since modern technologies made it possible to quickly separate the must from the skins, in order to obtain white wines of great cleanliness and stylistic clarity .
In Italy this tradition was maintained only in some regions such as Friuli , Emilia and Liguria , in small farmers' production. Starting from the 1990s, a group of winemakers from Oslavia, a small hamlet in the Collio Goriziano , trying to best express a difficult grape variety like Ribolla Gialla, revitalized with great success the practice of maceration on the skins: "maceration gave us great satisfactions. So much so that with each new harvest we increased the contact time between the skins and the must".
The best orange wines are characterized by great aromatic richness , a light volatile acidity and intense aromas of yellow fruit, candied fruit, aromatic herbs and much more, depending on the grape variety used. On the palate they often reveal concentration and intensity, but also momentum, freshness and flavor.
Today orange wines are produced throughout Europe and in all regions of Italy, especially in Sicily, Tuscany and Emilia, where many producers have never forgotten the ancient peasant traditions and have always continued to macerate the Malvasia di Candia, producing iconic labels such as Ageno from the La Stoppa winery and Denavolino.
Orange wines represent, for many enthusiasts, the truest and most traditional face of viticulture. For their production it is in fact necessary that the grapes are healthy , in perfect shape and that they have been grown without abusing pesticides or synthetic chemicals. During the winemaking phase, the presence of polyphenols in the must makes it richer and more resistant, making correction interventions unnecessary. To preserve the most authentic and integral soul of the products, the producers avoid using additives and carrying out filtrations, strongly limiting the use of sulphites and resorting to spontaneous fermentations.
It is therefore not always easy to pair an orange wine with food. The best expressions can in fact be considered for meditation , but they have also proven to accompany rich and structured dishes based on red mea