There are few things as refreshing as the first sip of a cold glass of wine as we enjoy an alfresco dinner in the summer heat.
Naturally, in the warm weather we would gravitate to a familiar rosé or white, but this summer the unexpected star of the show is orange wine.
What is orange wine, you may ask? Well you’re not alone, many people - us included before we embarked on this boozy investigation - have heard relatively little about it, let alone how to enjoy it or what to pair it with.
To find out more about this emerging type of wine, we spoke to Hannah Crosbie, founder of Dalston Wine Club: “Georgian winemakers have been crafting skin contact wine for thousands of years, but we’re only just scratching the surface of its incredible potential.
“Making orange wine follows the same process as making white wine, with one crucial added step. For white wine, the grapes are crushed and pressed immediately after. When making orange wine, the broken skins are left in contact with the grape juice after crushing — this imparts extra layers of flavour, aroma and (of course) colour”.
When it comes to food pairings, Crosbie notes that “orange wines are often indulgently aromatic and textured, making them the ideal pairing for infamously tricky-to-pair cuisines such as Vietnamese and Thai food”.
We put eight orange wines to the test and here are our verdicts.
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Cramele Recas Solara Orange Wine 2021
We always appreciate fizz, so this wine was an immediate crowd pleaser and felt like we were enjoying a seasonal spritz. The bottle design was fun - an orange segment created to look like the sunset, and the colour of the wine was exactly bang on orange (which is surpringly rare apparently).
Served over ice, this dry wine gave us that instant summer feeling and we could all see ourselves basking in the rays as we sipped on a few too many glasses of this delicate Romanian wine. If the sunshine could be bottled, we imagine it would taste like this.
Buy now £9.95, The Whisky Exchange
Orange Natural Wine JP, Recas Estate 2021
This was an impressive orange wine. From the bottle to the taste, our testers rated this pretty highly. It was refreshing to see a vegan wine in the line-up, let alone one that had also no added sugar, yeast or sulphates (does this mean it’s hangover free?!).
Testers noted it was slightly lighter in colour - more comparable to yellow than a deep orange. If you’re after an orange wine that has a mild taste, almost blank canvas-like, then this is the one for you as we think it could be paired with almost anything and still taste great. Similar to others, the aftertaste is rather mild and dry.
Buy now £9.95, The Whisky Exchange
Essensia Orange Muscat 2019
If you’re anything like us and tend to purchase wine based on the aesthetics of the bottle and label (as well as the discounted price, obviously) then you’ll love this bottle. The fun abstract design was instantly eye-catching and the bright yellow and red colours perfectly complemented the darker wine.
Made from the rare grape variety Orange Muscat, it has the most distinctive flavour and shocked us with how sweet it was. The sugary taste, coming from notes of apricots and marmalade, meant that whilst a sip or two was lovely, drinking a large quantity wouldn’t be possible. A small glass in lieu of your traditional dessert wine would work perfectly at the end of a meal.
Buy now £13.95, The Whisky Exchange
Domaine Le Soula, La Maceration du Soula Blanc No 19 Orange Wine, 75cl
On first appearances, this bottle impressed us with its elegant design and upmarket label. Slightly lighter in colour than other orange wines, our testers guessed correctly that this is one of the most expensive ones in our roundup.
Hailing from the Fenouillèdes, an ancient route on the border of Spain and France, it brings together both influences. Upon tasting it felt slightly heavier and more complex with some tasters comparing it to the smoky taste of Australian wines.If you’re not a fan of a strong aftertaste, then this may be the one for you as the taste is fresh and doesn’t linger at all.
Buy now £35.00, Fortnum & Mason
Rigal Vin Orange 75Cl
At the cheapest bottle on our list, our testers estimated that this one sat on the higher end of the spectrum thanks to its minimalistic design - but that is not the case at all.
We were eager to get tasting but were slightly apprehensive due to the initial strong smell. We found it to have a very sharp almost acidic taste that lasted rather longer than we would have liked on the palate. After persevering through and having another glass (or two), we became accustomed to the taste and thought it would work well with the right food pairing. Save this one for your next Pad Thai or spring roll takeaway.
Buy now £7.50, Morrisons
Villa Melnik, Orange Wine, 2019
For those of us that don’t list sommelier under ‘skills’ on our CV, having information on the back of a bottle is incredibly helpful. This bottle was not only sleek and well designed, but it provided thorough information about the orange wine process, flavour and pairings - that we attempted to take on board as we gulped it down. The unique flavour was certainly distinct yet simultaneously unassuming - both initially and in the aftertaste. We’d recommend this for those adventurous drinkers who are keen to expand their wine tasting horizons.
Buy now £28.25, Humble Grape
Bizarra Extravaganza Orange Petit Manseng/Gros Manseng 2019
All the way from Uruguay, we have this ultra-cool orange wine featuring two retro pinup girls with green hair, cat-eye yellow sunglasses and a bold purple outfit. We found the wine just as great as the bottle - our testers liked the light and crisp flavour, making it the perfect summer drink served cold. We also thought it would work as an aperitif or with some light snacks such as a charcuterie board. With notes of apple and honey, we’d say this tasted like a fruit juice for adults.
Buy now £14.95, Guest Wines
