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| Bott-Frigyes Hárslevelű Slovakia 2022 $34 Paolo Bea “Arboreus” Umbria 2016 $71 Pelletier “Blanc” Vin de France 2020 $26 Berucci “Raphaël” Passerina del Frusinate Lazio 2023 $28 Abeles Pinot Gris Hungary 2022 $28 |
| Tonight, we’re pouring five varied orange wines, a tasting that feels appropriate, given the cold and rainy day. I’ve come to dislike the “orange wine” moniker and prefer the more precise terms, “macerated,” or sometimes, “skin-contact.” The term “orange wine” seems to close more doors than it opens, and I’m all about open doors (except for changing rooms and Andy Gump). Modern winemakers typically crush and immediately press their white grapes, and the grape juice spends little or no time in contact with the skins of the grapes. As a consequence, most white wines, at least when young, have little or no hue; to confuse matters, a winemaker might soak their wine on the skins of their grapes for months, yet achieve a wine that has not much more pigment than a non-macerated white wine—even so, the resulting wine has all the texture and flavors you might want from a more obviously orange wine. Orangeness all depends on the grape variety, the vintage, and to a lesser extent how the winemaker handles the wine during and after fermentation. Pinot gris, for example, most familiar as white wine, begins to turn a coppery red after a few days on the skins, and with extended maceration, the wines resemble a light red. Tonight, we’re tasting five wines, some of which see only a few days of maceration because why? Because the winemaker determined that this was the path for that wine. We’re pouring other wines tonight that see extended maceration, some of which are pale, some of which are not. |