Orange Wine Production

🔍 Quick Summary

Orange wine turns white grapes into amber-hued, tea-like elixirs by giving them the skin contact usually reserved for reds.

🛠️ What It Is

Orange wine is a style of white wine made by fermenting white grapes on their skins and seeds—just like red wine. Normally, white wines are pressed immediately after harvest to avoid color and tannin extraction. In orange wine production, the skins stay in contact with the juice for days, weeks, or even months.

This extended maceration pulls pigment, tannins, and phenolics from the skins, resulting in a deeper color, richer texture, and more savory flavor profile. The process can be done in stainless steel, clay amphorae, concrete, or oak.

Orange wine production is an ancient technique—originating thousands of years ago in Georgia—and has seen a global revival in the natural wine movement.

👅 Flavor & Style

Color

  • Ranges from pale gold to deep amber or copper, depending on skin contact length and grape variety

Aromas & Flavors

  • Primary: Stone fruit, dried citrus peel, tropical fruit

  • Secondary: Tea, honey, herbs, nuts

  • Tertiary: Dried flowers, spice, savory or oxidative notes

Structure

  • Tannin: Noticeable grip—rare for white wines

  • Acidity: Can be bright or softened, depending on variety and aging

  • Body: Medium to full, often with a tactile, slightly drying finish

Common examples:

  • Rkatsiteli from Georgia – Ancient, amphora-aged versions

  • Friulano & Ribolla Gialla from Friuli, Italy – Elegant yet structured

  • Skin-contact Pinot Gris from Oregon – Copper-pink and aromatic

🎯 Why Winemakers Use It

Orange wine production is chosen for texture, complexity, and distinctiveness.

  • Flavor effects – Layers fruit with savory, herbal, and tea-like notes

  • Structural impacts – Adds tannin and grip; makes white wine more food-friendly

  • Technique variation –

    • Short Skin Contact: A few days for subtle color and light grip

    • Extended Maceration: Weeks or months for deep color and bold tannins

    • Aging Vessels: Amphora for earthy purity; oak for added spice; stainless for clean expression

Tradeoffs:

  • Can polarize drinkers—flavors and textures are unusual for white wine

  • Skin contact can bring bitterness if not managed well

  • Often hazy or unfiltered, which some view as rustic

Orange wines blur the line between white and red—bringing the freshness of one and the structure of the other.

🔗 Related Topics to Explore

  • 🍊 Skin-Contact White Wines – The broader category orange wines belong to

  • 🪨 Amphora Aging – Traditional vessel for Georgian orange wines

  • 🌱 Low Intervention / Natural Wine – Movement that helped revive orange styles

  • 🧪 Extended Maceration – The key to tannin and color extraction

  • 🍇 Rkatsiteli – Historic grape often used for orange wine

🤓 Deep Dive Topics

  • Orange Wine – Wikipedia

  • Skin-Contact White Wine – Wikipedia

  • Amphora (Vessel) – Wikipedia

  • Maceration (Wine) – Wikipedia

  • Winemaking – Wikipedia