The Taste of Summer

The Taste of Summer: Orange Wines

If you want to try something new and funky this summer, we would love to introduce orange wines! Orange wines get their unique hue and flavour profile from white wine grapes fermented using red winemaking techniques. Here’s how they are made.

Pinot Grigio grapes are a popular choice for winemakers that create orange wines.

Harvest (picking) Crushing

Fermentation & Maceration*

*Maceration is the key step in making orange wines: essentially these are white wines made as reds, with extended skin contact: skins are macerated with the juice and fermenting wine for weeks, to months to even one year. In contrast, rosé wines are typically made from red grapes, and skin contact is a few days or weeks to achieve the lively pink tones—a much shorter maceration period compared to orange wines.

Pressing & Bottling

Oxidation: Many orange wines are aged in vessels such as a clay amphora, where slow oxidation adds to the golden colour and pronounced aromas and flavours of nuttiness.

Taste profile:

The long skin contact gives orange wine a unique complexity and an astringent, textural mouthfeel.

Try these orange wines from Jones & Company Wine Merchants:

• Tawse 2020 Growers Blend Skin Fermented

Pinot Gris Niagara, Canada ($26.99) • Primosic 2016 Skin Friulano Friuli Venezia

Giulia, Italy ($37.99) • Le Ragnaie 2018 Civitella Tuscany, Italy ($46.99) • Podere le Ripi 2019 Canna Torta Tuscany, Italy ($48.99)