Not that long ago, we went out to dinner with friends to enjoy a tasting menu, and with six at the table, we ordered a bottle per two courses. Our pals enjoy a glass of wine with their meals but are not experts; as the main course approached, we ordered a crowd-pleasing red from the list—but the sommelier proposed a more interesting choice. We decided to play along and order his recommended bottle, an orange wine made with Sauvignon Blanc. As soon as our friends took a sip of it, it was obvious that they did not care for the wine. At all. Their faces alone told the story, but they then used descriptors like “apple cider vinegar” and “sour beer” while they waited for something more pleasant to clear their palates. We then called for a bottle of the crowd-pleaser we had first requested, which everyone enjoyed immensely. And yes, at dinner with friends, when we were off the clock, we found a teaching moment to discuss orange wine and natural wine and their pros and cons. (Not all orange wines are natural and not all natural wines are orange, but they occupy a lot of the same space in a Venn diagram.)
Orange wine—that is, wine made from white grapes that has had extended contact with skins, giving it a distinctive orange, amber, or copper hue—is having currently a moment. But it’s not an easy category to understand, so it often requires a conversation. If the spiritual home of orange wine is Georgia, where it has been made in much the same style since around 6,000 B.C., it has found a new generation of acolytes in Brooklyn, which may just have the highest concentration of natural wine bars and devotees on the planet. At Cherry on Top, a natural wine bar in Bushwick, an entire section of the wine list is devoted to the Garfield-colored beverage, and head sommelier Sammi Schachter, who goes by the name Sammi Schack, says orange wine is the bar’s “most requested style of wine by far,” which is why she always has at least two choices available by the glass. But confusion remains even among her enthusiastic clientele. She has overheard guests speaking about “wine made from oranges,” but she uses those errant comments as an opportunity to discuss the style more.
“Many of our guests are in their 20s, and I can sense their hesitation in using wine terminology and generally deciding on a bottle of wine that they might not be familiar with,” Schack says. “I love to share their enthusiasm towards orange wine, and I am always eager to encourage guests to feel confident in what they order and how they describe it.” She prefers bottles from northern Italy or eastern Europe, and one of her favorites is Franco Terpin Quinto Quarto Bianco Sivi, for its “lively structure balanced with zesty acidity, honeyed citrus rind, and salty minerality.”
While it might be difficult to find a selection of orange wine outside of major metropolitan areas, especially where options are limited to grocery stores or chain restaurants, the style is becoming more prevalent in big cities. At both El Che and Brasero in Chicago, wine director Alex Cuper has separate sections for the category. At El Che, he includes fun, informational descriptors of some bottles on the list, while he believes that Brasero’s selections open the door to talking about deeper-hued, more complex white wines. “At Brasero, we have a menu that has all bottles under $100 with the intention of breaking down the barrier of entry and really striking up a conversation about wine in a comfortable, easy going way,” Cuper says. He is fond of versions coming from southern Chile’s Itata Valley and Argentina’s Uco Valley, with Viña González Bastías Naranjo, which is fermented in terra-cotta tinajas, among his top picks.
At the acclaimed southern Italian restaurant A16 in San Francisco, co-owner and wine director Shelley Lindgren organises her list regionally; she offers dozens of orange wines, with some of the top bottles she serves coming from Lazio, Sicily, Campania, and Umbria. From the latter she is especially fond of Paolo Bea Arboreus Trebbiano Spoletino, thanks to the owner’s commitment to preserving ancient vines.
Despite its popularity, orange wine often requires at least a denotation on a wine list so that customers know what they are in for. Luke Boland, corporate wine director for restaurant group Hospitality Department, which operates Bronze Owl, Coral, and Point Seven in New York, adds the word “orange” to the listing to identify the style. Boland says while his midtown Manhattan clients are often looking for more classic options, he believes that “it’s an important style of wine that has its devout fans and for us as sommeliers orange wine offers a unique flex pairing opportunity in certain situations.” For example, with Coral’s 17-course omakase menu, Boland says “an orange wine can offer unique flavors and complexity, a bigger structure than a typical white wine, and nuanced umami that pairs particularly well with sushi.”
Boland does proceed cautiously with diners at times. If someone orders a bottle of orange wine “out of nowhere with no previous discourse,” he will switch to the term “skin-fermented white” and say something along the lines of: “This is a more savoury style of white wine that takes on some color and tannin from the skins, so it’s a white wine fermented like a red wine—I just want to make sure that’s what you’re looking for.” And even if after all that, the client orders the bottle and doesn’t like it, he will take it back at no cost. “I’m not going to make someone drink something they don’t like,” Boland says. He looks to Eastern Europe, especially Georgia, and to northern Italy for the style, and among his preferred bottles is Josko Gravner Ribolla Gialla. The current vintage is 2015, and Boland says it “showcases dried orange zest, orange oil, mushroom, forest floor, sea salt, and dried peach and apricot flavours that you really don’t find in many other wines.”
Boland makes an interesting point; orange wine can have a flavor profile that’s completely different from what one may expect in a white wine, including notes of dried peach and apricot, flint, leather, smoke, toasted nuts, and roasted meat—plus, those aged in amphora can have a much fuller texture. While many orange wines made in the natural style are best drunk young, some are built for long-haul aging and will only get better with time. Among that group is Gérard Bertrand Villa Soleilla, a blend of Roussanne, Viognier, and Vermentino from Bertrand’s Château l’Hospitalet estate. Farmed biodynamically, it is fermented in oak and then aged in a combination of clay amphora, glass amphora, and egg-shaped vessels made of wood and stainless steel. The result is round in the mouth with delightful freshness and flavors of nectarine, dried thyme, honeycomb, and slivered almond with a bright yet complex finish. This bottle, like so many orange wines we’ve enjoyed, offers exciting food pairing opportunities.
Lead image: Alexia Roux
