You like the red, white and rosé versions? You love it with bubbles? Well now it’s time for Orange wine. Now I know what you’re thinking: another one of those wines from some “bearded, unwashed indie winemaker” out in the back of beyond who refuses to follow any of the rules. But this is no joke; it is actually very serious. The community of Orange wine producers is growing around the world and has a history going back thousands of years. And, judging by the number of articles on the topic, it is also fashionable. Orange wine, according to some, is a sure-fire way of tasting wine the way it used to be, centuries ago. Really? But then what is the “real taste” of wine?
FORTUNE magazine describes it: “Orange wine is, in a word, challenging”
In Huffington Post, a sommelier warns: “Some of them should come with warning labels“. Well…And THE GUARDIAN describes the taste: “Almost like a craft-brewed mead, as the tannins create a honey, apricot flavour, smoky, spicy, a little bitter.”
After having read a few lines of the above, you could assume there is a touch of the sadomasochist about those who like Orange wine. But you would be wrong. Personally, it has been a long time since I have tasted wines from Italy or Slovenia of this ilk (they weren’t called orange back then) and I have to say that sometimes I like them very much. If the cloudy aspect of the wine bothers you then prepare to be…bothered ! But when these wines are well made they are good. You do have to be careful however to separate the wheat from the chaff because in wine, as in anything else, there is the good, the not so good and the undrinkable.
But frankly, is one wine better than another because it is made using the methods employed 5,000 years ago? No. First of all because over the last 5,000 years much water has flowed under many bridges (and much wine in many glasses) and consumer tastes have changed. Proust’s famous Madeleine – the idea that the taste of something from your past conjures up the same pleasure you experienced in the past – does not work every time. Also, man’s interventions have wrought significant improvements in the intrinsic quality of wine, and throughout the world too. So does going back to the methods used five millennia ago make the wine better? It is one thing using these methods but you have to know how to do so properly. I mention the intervention of man because behind the marketing of Orange wine the message is very much that once the grape has made it to the cellar man should have nothing more to do with wine production.
Over the last 25 years, some tried and the results were…questionable. All this requires a certain mastery so man is essential to the process. If you consider Josko Gravner’s experimentations since the 70s, you understand that the man had to adjust his approach – keeping the same philosophy – in order to produce some of the good wines he is showing. Indeed, knowing that a great winegrower has guided the grape to make a fine wine out of it only renders the wine more exciting. The personal touch of the winegrower is essential; it is the wine’s signature and is what makes it unique (unlike some Orange wines which smell and taste the same). If wine simply made itself in the cellar it would lose all its flavour, wouldn’t it?
(*Since 2003, Guillaume Jourdan has been advising more than 200 prestigious wine estates for their international marketing & communication strategy incl. Chapoutier, Hugel, Dr Loosen, Famille Perrin, Cos d’Estournel, Brad Pitt & Angelina Jolie’s Miraval…Write to info@vitabella.fr)
