What is orange / skin-contact wine?

Made from orange peel of course… You didn’t fall for that, right?  Orange wine is simply wine made from white grapes in the same fashion as a red wine.

 

White grape skins are left—instead of separated out as usual—during maceration, along with pips (seeds) and sometimes stems. The result? Rich, amber-colored wines of various hues with a lot of texture and higher tannins than white wine, due to the skin.

 

There is speculation orange wines are as ancient as the more common wine ‘colors’, but the term “orange wine” was first used only in 2004. Its fan base seems to be ever growing, over the last maybe five or so years in particular. Georgia, Slovenia, and Italy’s ‘orange game’ is strong! Greece, Spain and France are following suit. 

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