Amber nectar

There’s a wine for each season – warming winter reds, spring whites and summer rosé, while shades of orange suit autumn perfectly, writes Newcastle Wine School owner David Harker

Trendy today, orange wines were some of the first wines ever made and knowing how they are produced explains their colour.

The colour in wine comes from the grape skin. To make a red wine, or a rosé, we need black grapes. The grapes are crushed and the juice, pulp and skins are fermented together – the dark skins giving the wine its red colour. The skins also give red wines their bitter tannins, not something we want in white wines.

In conventional white winemaking, the white grapes are crushed and then gently pressed to separate the clear juice from the skins. This juice is then fermented to make a white wine.

Orange wines are wines from white grapes made in the same fashion as red winemaking – fermenting the juice in contact with the grape’s skins. This skin contact gives orange wines their colour and distinctive flavours.

Before winemakers had the know-how or the inclination to separate the juice from the skins, everything would be thrown into the fermentation vessel and then fingers were crossed in hope that fermentation would begin.

This is how the traditional wines of Georgia have been made for more than 8,000 years – and Georgian wine can claim to be the original orange wine. To this day, traditional Georgian wines are made by fermenting crushed grapes, stalks, skins and pips in an egg-shaped clay pot or qvevri.

The interiors of the pots are lined with beeswax to prevent oxidation, sealed with a clay lid, and buried in the ground up to their necks to ensure a constant temperature. They are then left to ferment for six months, with the sediment collecting in the pointed bottom of the vessel while the wine circulates in the middle, sediment-free.

Minimal intervention by the winemaker means orange wines are beloved by the natural wine movement. The prolonged maceration of the skins also results in tannin levels that are higher than in conventional white wine. These are useful antioxidants that help preserve wines bottled with low or no additions of sulphur dioxide.

Orange wines come in a range of styles depending upon grape variety, length of skin contact, and type of fermentation vessel. Clay amphorae are fashionable, but not essential. They also come in a range of autumnal colours – from amber to bronze or gold. Expect aromas of dried apricot, orange peel, quince and almonds, but beware, some of the more natural wines can appear cloudy and take on funky, cider-like aromas and flavours.

Dry, freshly acidic and slightly bitter, orange wines are appreciated by sommeliers for their gastronomic qualities – pairing well with a wide range of dishes, and I particularly like them with cheese.

In selecting an orange wine for the list at recently opened wine shop District in Whitley Bay, Laura Parker was keen to select wines that showed varietal character. She says: “We didn’t want anything too funky but rather bottles that tell a story and express the true nature of the grape.” I’ve included one wine from District in The Wine List, along with four more to try this autumn.

The Wine List
Domaine Amelie & Charles Sparr, Farouche – District, £26
Alsatian blend of Gewürztraminer and Pinot Gris

Bonny Doon La Cigare Orange – Tesco, £15.25
A Grenache and Pinot blend from California’s central coast

Bedoba, Orange – Carruthers & Kent, £18.95
Georgian orange wine from native Rkatsiteli and Kisi grapes aged in qvevri

Origine Bianco I.G.T. Terre Siciliane – The Rare Drop, £28.95
Stunningly complex and satisfying, from Grillo and Zibibbo grapes

Salamandre, Languedoc – The French Quarter, £36.50 (in restaurant and available to take home)
A gentle entry-level orange wine from Grenache Blanc with 10-day skin contact