What the Heck is Orange Wine?
This style of wine that has exploded in popularity around the globe is actually a throw back to ancient wine making techniques used in Georgia as long ago as the 6th millennium B.C., but what exactly is orange wine?
In short, “orange wines” are white wines made like a red wine. All orange wines are all made using white wine grapes that are fermented in open-air containers while on the skins. Traditionally, white wines are made by pressing off the sweet juice from the grape skin on the day the grapes are harvested, leaving the grape juice to ferment on its own in barrels or tanks. Red wines on the other hand, are made by leaving the whole berry (or whole cluster, including the stem) in the fermentation bins. This process allows the red wines to develop their unique colors, pick up added depth and complexity, and in the case of thicker-skinned grapes (like Syrah, Tempranillo, etc.), pick up tannin structure, which create that puckering dryness in the mouth as you swallow these types of wines. Similarly, when this skin-contact process is applied to white wine grapes, the resulting wine will have a deeper, orange-like color, as well as more weightiness, depth of character, and tannin structure that one normally associates exclusively with red wines. Because of this, drinking an orange wine is a completely different experience than drinking either a white or red wine, so open-mindedness is highly encouraged.
In 2022, we made our orange wine with Chenin Blanc grapes sourced from Clarksburg, just south of Sacramento, from vines planted along the sandy soils of the Sacramento River. The day the grapes were picked, I destemmed the Chenin Blanc into large, open-air fermentation bins. The grapes underwent a 13-day ferment with native yeasts before the juice was finally pressed off into old French Oak barrels, where the wine aged for 14 months before being bottled without fining or filtration.
In the glass, this wine introduces itself with aromas of peach tea, chamomile, and cardamom. As you get into the wine, you’ll notice stone fruits such as white nectarine, tropical mango and passion fruit, as well as slight honeyed characteristics, framed in a wine that is significantly weightier compared to our Chenin Blanc made as a traditional white wine. The Skinz finishes off with a fair amount of tannin structure complimented by high, zippy acidity that one would expect from Chenin Blanc.
Rollin’ on Skinz has bolder flavors than a white wine, so don’t be shy in pairing this wine with other bold flavors. We especially enjoy the Skinz with Indian and Middle Eastern cuisine as well as Korean dishes featuring kimchi. Given the wine’s complexity and structure, orange wines like this also make excellent pairings with cheese and charcuterie plates and a variety of proteins from fatty white fish to red meat.
The label art (if you can call it that) was drawn by Aaron and inspired by one of his favorite movies, The Big Lebowski. The label depicts Aaron’s profile licking a bowling ball-like white wine grape as it changes color from yellow to orange.
We hope you try and enjoy our 2022 Clarksburg “Rollin’ on Skinz.”
The Chenin Abides…