Orange Wine 101: Everything You Need to Know About Orange Wine

We’re continuing Wine Week on Bri Books! I started the week with episodes about how to select the perfect wine and my wine-shopping hacks, and now we’re delving deep into the specific wines and regions. My love for orange wine led me to an NYC wine shop called Orange Glou in 2019, shortly after the shop opened. It’s a store dedicated 100% to orange wine! This past November, Orange Glou hosted their second-ever orange wine fair, and it was a roaring success. Hosted at the Wythe Hotel in Williamsburg, Orange Glou’s founders Doreen Winkler and Jack Won really knocked it out of the park and managed to secure nearly 5 dozen winemakers and importers. It was a veritable who’s who of the orange wine world. 

A few facts about orange wine:

1. Orange wine is a type of skin contact wine, made from white grapes that macerate on the skin. It’s not wine made from citrus oranges! 

2. Orange wine was invented in the Republic of Georgia thousands of years ago and was reintroduced to the rest of the world 40 years ago by 2 Italians, Gravner and Radikon, who wanted to explore this winemaking style.

3. Today there are 1,000+ wine producers and wineries that make orange wine along with other styles they're producing. 

4. I find orange wine to be fascinating because of the geographical differences in the wines. From South Australia to South Africa, Austria to Alsace, Georgia to Germany, the varieties of white grapes put on display in orange wine are divine. 

 In this episode, I’m sharing a few of my favorite orange wine importers and orange wines. 

1. 5:00: D-I Wine (Alsace): D-I Wine is a natural wine import and distribution powerhouse. I met the founder Brett Taylor (for the second year in a row!), and spent too long gushing over his selection. D-I wine takes a truly DIY approach to natural wine. Their portfolio is stocked with natural and low-intervention wines. They're all about deep partnership with producers who understand and respect tradition. The true gem on the D-I Wine team is George Kalligeros, a wine Somm with a diverse background in the wine industry. He has experience as a portfolio manager, sommelier, and is knowledgable about wine-making. He's currently serving as the portfolio manager of D-I Wine, and in this role, he curates and manages the wine selection for the company, focusing on French natural wines. His expertise expands to Paris, the Rhone, and beyond. One of my favorite selections  from D-I Wine is Domaine Brand’s Tout Terriblement wine from Alsace, France. A 100% Gewurztraminer, this full-bodied wine has a fresh, yellow and orange-fruit flavor with a hint of sweet lychee. 

2. 8:25: Donkey and Goat Winery (California): I’ll admit it: the name of this winery pulled me right away. But this winemaker/ proprietor/ hose cleaner Jared Brandt and his tasty drinks charmed me. Based in Berkeley, CA, ared and his co-founder Tracey Rogers founded Donkey and Goat Winery in 2004 in San Francisco after studying the art of crafting natural wines in the Rhone Valley. I tasted the Elen Ridge Vineyard Stone Crusher orange wine made from the Roussanne varietal. It was rich, well structured and the tannins revealed a fresh finish. Donkey and Goat also have a testing room in Berkeley, so I’d say they’re probably one of the coolest natural wine operations in the Bay. 

3. 10:10: 8000 Vintage Selections (Georgia): The 8000 Vintage Selections table was the party epicenter of the orange wine fair. The team from 8000 Vintage Selections had over a half dozen producers at the ready, with at least a dozen or so bottles to taste from. The founder and CEO Shalva Tevdoradze was an absolute beast. The 8000 Vintage Selections collection is almost exclusively Georgian wines. Winemaking in Georgia dates back at least 8,000 years. Early Georgians made wine at least 6,000 BC when they discovered that grape juice could be turned into wine after being buried in qvevris underground. Kveri is an egg-shaped earthenware vessel made for making, aging and storing wine. It's the oldest way of making wine. This experience completely cemented in me the need to visit Georgia to explore viticulture for myself. Two Georgian winemakers caught my attention: Nikalas Marani and Vellino Wines. 

Nikalas Marani: We tasted the Nikalas Marani Rkatsiteli 2020 vintage from a small-scale winemaker with over 100 years of family legacy. Winemaker Zurab Mgvdliashvili's grandfather was a small-scale wine cultivator in the 1920s, during the peak of the Soviet Union. When Zurab Mgvdliashvili took over the property in 2005, he restored everything, and as a tribute to his grandfather kept the old name Nikala's Marani. I'd describe the Nikalas Marani Rkatsiteli 2020 vintage as tropical and balanced with pronounced tannins and fruity aromas of peach, forest honey, and yellow dried fruit. 

Vellino Wines: Vellino was founded in 2015 to continue a family business of winemaking. The 26-year-old winemaker makes wines from Kakhetian grape varieties, utilizing knowledge passed down by family and fellow winemakers. I tasted the Kisi 2020 vintage, and the Rkatsiteli 2020 vintage. Beka Jimsheladze did an excellent job with this wine. I can imagine this amber colored wine being perfect with fish, veggies, chicken and cheeses, thanks to its gentle, refreshing notes of citrus. The best part: Vellino Wines in Georgia offers tours!

Wines Mentioned:

• Orange Glou orange wine shop in NYC 

• D-I Wine (Alsace), Domaine Brand’s Tout Terriblement wine 

• Donkey and Goat Winery (California), Elen Ridge Vineyard Stone Crusher orange wine 

• 8000 Vintage Selections (Georgia), Nikalas Marani Rkatsiteli 2020 and Vellino Wines Kisi 2020

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