Winemaking
How orange wine is made
White grapes treated like red ones — and one of the oldest methods in wine, not a modern invention.
Overview
White grapes ferment on their skins for days to months, extracting tannin, colour and phenolic texture that conventional white winemaking specifically avoids.
The result is amber-coloured, tannic and savoury, with dried apricot, orange peel, black tea and walnut character.
This is the traditional Georgian method. The modern category began as a deliberate revival of it in Friuli and Slovenia in the 1990s.
"Orange wine" is a recent marketing coinage; "amber wine" is the term used in Georgia.
Sources
Sources consulted
- Ancient Georgian traditional Qvevri wine-making method — UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity — UNESCO
- National Wine Agency of Georgia — National Wine Agency, Georgia
More in winemaking
Winemaking
Fermentation
Yeast converting sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide — the step that makes wine wine.
Winemaking
How red wine is made
Fermenting grape juice in contact with the skins, which is where colour and tannin come from.
Winemaking
How white wine is made
Pressing the juice off the skins before fermentation, then fermenting the clear juice.