Do you immediately think: the new black ? Or are you, like us, thinking of wine? The series has now come to an end – gloriously, to be sure. But we believe there are more episodes to come for the centuries-old orange wines.
What is orange wine? The name, of course, refers to the color. By making white wine the same way red wine is made, but from white grapes (are you still with us?), white wine becomes orange. In practice: normally, white wine is made from pressed white grapes. The seeds and skins go on the compost heap. Red wine, on the other hand, is made by first allowing the red grapes to ferment for a while, with all the trimmings. This also happens with orange wine: the white grapes ferment for one to six months with so-called skin contact —something that takes on an extra dimension during these coronavirus times.
Furthermore, orange wine is often made without standardized yeasts, controlled temperatures, and sulfites. This is largely due to the origins of orange wines. In Georgia, wine has been made for eight thousand years from white grapes on their skins, which underwent natural fermentation in open kvevi —stone jars—at low temperatures. Slovenia also likely has a long tradition of white wines on their skins. It is therefore no surprise that the first orange wines to become widely known came from the Italian Friuli region, on the border with Slovenia.
