You’re seeing it more and more on the menus of trendy wine bars and specialist wine shops. Its amber colour intrigues, its name raises questions.
Is it a blend? A rosé gone wrong? A drink flavoured with citrus? Not at all. Orange wine is a category in its own right, with a millennia-old history and a precise winemaking technique that we break down in our educational tour.
Welcome to the “fourth colour” of wine.
Orange wine is… red wine made with white grapes!
To understand orange wine, you need to go back to the basics of winemaking, explained in our “From Grape to Wine” module:
- To make white wine, the grapes (usually white) are pressed immediately and the juice is separated from the skins at once. Only the juice ferments.
- To make red wine, the juice macerates with the skins (from black grapes) during fermentation. The skin provides the colour and the tannins.
And orange wine? It’s an ingenious hybrid. The winemaker uses white grapes (such as Chenin or Gewurztraminer), but vinifies them like a red. Instead of pressing immediately, the skins are left to macerate in the juice for several days or even several weeks.
Why that amber colour?
It’s neither a colouring agent nor accidental oxidation. It’s this extended skin contact that tints the wine. The pigments in white grape skins diffuse into the juice, giving it a colour that ranges from deep gold to copper-orange, sometimes even amber.
Watch out for the common misconception: “Orange wine” has nothing to do with the fruit! It contains no oranges. The name comes purely from the colour produced by the maceration.
A technique as old as civilisation (almost)
If orange wine seems “trendy” today, it is in fact one of the oldest winemaking methods in the world. It was born in the Caucasus, in Georgia, over 5,000 years ago.
There, traditionally, wine was not kept in stainless steel tanks or barrels, but in large clay jars called Qvevris, buried underground to maintain a stable temperature.
Today, this method is being revived, particularly by “natural” winemakers seeking wines that are more raw, less filtered and highly expressive.
What does it taste like? The sensory experience
This is where orange wine surprises the most.
- On the nose: Powerful aromas of tea, dried fruits, spices or citrus peel.
- On the palate: A genuine surprise! Unlike a classic white wine that plays on acidity, orange wine has structure. The presence of the skins brings tannins — that slightly grippy sensation typical of red wines.
It’s a “food wine” par excellence, capable of standing up to spicy dishes, aged cheeses or Asian cuisine, in situations where a classic white would be overwhelmed.
In summary
Orange wine has the freshness of a white with the structure of a red. It’s a wine that challenges habits, sometimes a little hazy (as it’s often unfiltered), but one that offers a truly unique experience.
In our room dedicated to winemaking, you can use our interactive terminal to compare, step by step, the birth of a white wine, a red, a rosé… and an orange. You’ll finally understand why the colour of the grape doesn’t tell the whole story.