Orange wine is a category of wines totally different from red, white and rose wines; it can be considered as the fourth color of wine. In our online wine shop you will find some of the best Italian orange wines. Orange wines are produced with the prolonged maceration on skins (and yeasts) of white berried grapes; it can last from a minimum of few days to many months, according to the characteristics of the grape as well as to the style defined by the producer.

Often considered as a niche, by some simply seen as a fashion, the one of macerated white wines is a type of wine belonging to real and proper craftsmen of the vineyard, who often follow a production philosophy devoted to organic or biodynamic agriculture. The origin of orange wines is connected to the one of the birth of wine itself: they were born in Georgia, where since many millennia to this day must is vinified with skins in Kvevri, fathers of the current clay or earthenware amphorae used by winemakers of Europe and of the "New World".

These amphorae in Georgia are literally buried for the whole period of vinification, which traditionally lasts for many months; under the ground the must is naturally cooled during the whole fermentation process, which slows down, and a constant temperature is kept even during the aging process during the different seasons, an aging which, usually, is not less than 4 or 5 years.

Orange wines, because of the prolonged maceration in white wine, have aromatic sensations with more impact, richer and more complex than a common white wine, where tannins are clearly perceivable as well as having more structure. The question is therefore almost spontaneous: what is the suggested matching for an orange wine? The matching possibilities of orange wines are surely very vast, they depend on one hand on the characteristics of the single grape used, and on the other hand on the duration of maceration as well; as a general rule, macerated white wines can be matched to raw fish, such as sashimi and nigiri, in case of a moderate structure, to exotic, tasty and spicy dishes, as well as grilled white meat, lamb or red meat, gradually increasing with the structure and alcohol by volume of orange wine.

In Italy some of the greatest pioneers of macerated white wine or orange wine can be found in Friuli, where the practice was about to be abandoned but, thanks to some renowned winemakers, such as  Stanko Radikon or Damijan Podversic, they succeeded in preserving the tradition and in bringing it back to the forefront, as it is now shown by orange wines coming from many Italian regions, and from varieties such as Trebbiano, Pecorino, Fiano or Catarratto, different from the classic Ribolla Gialla or Pinot Gris.

Orange wines are wines which convey their own philosophy, the one of the winemaker, made of respect for the vineyard and wine traditions, which often challenges or does not follow commercial trends; particular wines, not suited for every palate. From Pinot Gris and Ribolla Gialla Orange Wine by Podversic, Radikon, Klanjscek, Draga and Skerk to the ones from Alto Adige by Lieselehof, to continue with Vernaccia orange by Cappella Sant'Andrea, Pecorino by Ausonia, Trebbiano macerato by  Claudio Cipressi 

or the Campania's expressions of Fiano and Falanghina or the Sicilian ones from Salina, scroll down and discover the selection of some of the best Italian orange wines.