Orange wines: A genre with a large grey area

TO call a category of wine "orange" strikes some people as odd, as no wine is truly a shade of orange.

I think "orange wine" is a fine term. No white wine is actually white nor red wine red, yet we accept these phrases.

Alternative descriptors have been proposed for orange wines - white wines that are made using red wine techniques. Some would prefer to call them amber wines, while others like skin-contact wines, alluding to the production process rather than the colour. Orange seems to have caught on a little better. So here, orange it will be.

But what does it mean to label a wine orange?

At the same time, we become aware of the extraordinary and precious diversity of the wine world. We may still decide to open a bottle of the brand of sauvignon blanc we've enjoyed for years, but that becomes a decision made with awareness of many options rather than simple force of habit.

With orange wines, we are in a sense starting from scratch. Fifteen years ago, few people had ever heard the term, much less tasted any wines to which it might be applied. Today, intrepid wine drinkers are familiar with orange wines, but many more casual consumers are not.

As a way of introducing the idea of orange wines, I chose 3 different examples. Unlike the bottles I would ordinarily select, they were not bound by geography or grape. The wines all happened to be Italian, but they came from different regions and were made with different varieties. Rather, the 3 simply coexist in this broad, unwieldy category.

The 3 bottles were: Montenidoli Vernaccia di San Gimignano Tradizionale 2019, COS Terre Siciliane Pithos Bianco 2020 and Monastero Suore Cistercensi Lazio Coenobium Ruscum 2019.

What they have in common is a production technique. Each of these white wines, to varying degrees, was made like a red wine. Unlike the typical modern white wine, in which the juice is whisked away from the skins shortly after the grapes are crushed or gently pressed, red wines are permitted to macerate with the skins, which contain pigment and tannins.

That's how orange wines are made. Juice from the white grapes macerates with the skins as with red wines, absorbing tannins and pigment depending on the length of the maceration. According to the producers' websites, the Montenidoli spent up to a week in contact with the skins - not long at all in the context of orange wines, where some extreme examples spend months mingling with the skins.

The Ruscum stayed on the skins for 15 days and the COS a month. I might have guessed the reverse, as the Ruscum was an amber colour and the COS reddish but still somewhat pale. They both had distinct tannic rasps, but it's hard to fully account for the differences. Other elements play a role, such as the vessels in which the wines were fermented and aged. The COS was produced in amphorae and the Ruscum in steel and fibreglass vats.

I enjoyed all 3 of these wines. The Montenidoli, made entirely of vernaccia, was sort of an introductory example, the closest to a conventional white wine, with just a hint of colour. But it did have discernible, if gentle, tannins, felt in its fine sandpapery texture. It tasted to me of dried flowers and orange zest.

The COS was made of grecanico, as garganega, the grape of Soave, is known in Sicily. I found it exceedingly fresh and energetic, floral and almost meadowy in its breezy fragrance. Compared with the Montenidoli, it was quite a bit more tannic.

So was the amber Ruscum, which was a blend of 4 grapes: trebbiano, malvasia, verdicchio and grechetto. It was herbal, spicy and peppery, with flavours of cloves and citrus zest. It seemed less fresh but equally delicious.

The Ruscum, by the way, is produced at a convent by Cistercian nuns, who in addition to vineyards have orchards and gardens, which they farm organically. They also sell products such as jam, beer and chocolates.

Several people are perplexed by which foods to serve with these wines.

I'm generally happy with good food and good wine together, regardless of fireworks.

Fiona Beckett, whose website Matching Food and Wine examines such matters, offers some general recommendations for orange wines, though it's difficult to speak broadly about this genre.

I hope this introduction whets the appetite for further examination. I don't drink orange wines frequently, but I have some that I love and others that did not move me. Yet I often find them compelling, particularly the more emphatic examples.

I know, though, that these wines are not for everyone. That's as it should be. For some it will be one and done. For others, it may be the beginning of a beautiful friendship. NYTIMES