We’ve all heard of red, white and rose wines. Now bursting on the scene are the orange wines.  While these wines have technically been around for thousands of years, they have recently come into vogue being on the tips of many a sommelier’s tongue and in the writings of many hip wine pundits. Not to be out- tongued or out hipped, I thought we should start the year off with an introduction to these new, old wines.

Named for their color, not their content as they aren’t made of oranges, these wines are created by skin contact. What I mean by that is, the majority of grape juice is clear. Red wine is made by keeping the juice of dark grapes in contact with the skins until the desired effect is reached. In white wines there is usually no skin contact with the light skinned grapes used. In orange wine, the same light skinned grapes are used, but they are left on the skins for an extended period. Sometimes a year or more. This can lead to some interesting flavors ranging in descriptions from furniture polish to blue cheese.

While these wines aren’t for the faint of heart, they are an interesting way to start the new year. Here is a small sample of the orange wines available at our store. Swing by and ask a wine consultant to show you the whole selection.