TASTING NOTES

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Orange Wine

Passionate pursuit of the next great wine knows no limit

by Mark Tarbell

For the past few years orange and natural wines have taken the attention and praise from the world of wine experts and sommeliers. Be careful, however, before you dive into this latest trend.

Orange wine has a long history of being produced in regions like Italy’s Friuli-Venezia-Giulia, Slovenia and France’s Jura. Orange is a wine made from white grapes that have had the skins and seeds left in during maceration and fermentation.

This leaves pigments and aromatic qualities normally found in white wine, and the color is often amber or orange toned. The aromas can range from heavy stone fruit to deep floral to tea-like characteristics. These wines are cool, but funky and can age quite well.

The latest micro-trend is natural wine. Essentially, it’s a movement to make wine with no intervention at all—no added yeast, sugar, preservation methods, chemistry, technology or science. Simply put, you pick the grapes, crush them, and see what happens.

There are many approaches to this style and no laws dictating one decisive method. In truth, many of the world’s top boutique winemakers make their wines

“naturally” with minimal or no intervention. In my view this requires tremendous knowledge and care to do well.

Many of the hot new natural wines are fun and interesting for sure, but technically flawed—secondary fermentation in the bottle, reduced sulfur, bacterial issues and excessive oxidization. Dive a little deeper with research and trust your palate.

Mark's Picks

LE MONDE PINOT GRIGIO, FRIULI-VENEZIA GIULIA 2017 TASTING NOTES: Wonderful white fruit and white flowers; fresh, balanced.

SCARBOLO RAMATO PINOT GRIGIO, FRIULI VENEZIA GIULIA 2018 TASTING NOTES: A pop of pomegranate with rose petals, blood orange, wild berries and white tea.

JOLIE-LAIDE TROUSSEAU GRIS TASTING NOTES: Summer melon, stone fruit and white tea.

CADUCEUS CELLARS JUDITH’S BLOCK MALVASIA BIANCA, JEROME, ARIZONA TASTING NOTES: Amazingly expressive wine with orange citrus and a light passion fruit; delicate, well balanced.

ARNOT-ROBERTS, GAMAY, EL DORADO, CALIFORNIA TASTING NOTES: Very expressive wine with packed, focused bright fruit and a medium structure, good with a variety of food.

DIRTY & ROWDY WINERY “FAMILIAR MOURVÈDRE, CALIFORNIA TASTING NOTES: Herbaceous notes with bright red fruit, very balanced.

DIRTY & ROWDY WINERY SEMILLON, YOUNTVILLE TASTING NOTES: Some high tone lemon, light fennel, textured tannins and a balanced finish with stone fruit.