Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Cloudy mid-orange hue. Tile, apricots, loquat and golden berries to the nose followed by a nicely firm, full-bodied palate with fresh, chiselled tannins and a flavorful, lengthy finish. Salted plums at the end. A very lovely, well-made “orange wine” fermented with natural yeast. No added sulfites and filtration. Vegan. Sustainable.
What is orange wine?
“Orange wine” is the most common term in modern American culture used to describe a white wine that is made like a red wine. In other words, it is a white wine made from white grapes that ferment while in contact with their skins (rather than being pressed). You’ll also see the terms, “skin-contact wine,” or in Italian, ramato (copper-colored) to describe this style.
How is orange wine made?
In modern winemaking, to make fresh white wine, pale-skinned grapes need to be pressed immediately after harvest so that the juice can ferment free from the skins and seeds. In ancient winemaking they didn’t have presses or other fancy winery equipment so made use of the tools at hand—mainly just vats for fermenting. This skin-contact style dates back to the 6th millennium BC in what is modern day Georgia (the country). At that time, they fermented ripe white grapes together with their skins, seeds and stems in a clay amphora, called a qvevri, which were sealed and buried in underground vessels for 5-6 months.
Where does orange wine come from?
Today’s modern skin-contact winemakers pay homage to this non-interventionist style of white winemaking. Though some people dismiss it as a fad, this age-old style has been resurfacing on the global scene over the last twenty or so years. Multiple countries make it—Georgia (of course), Slovenia, Italy, the U.S. and Australia to name a few. Each country produces this style in a different way with time on skins ranging anywhere from a half a day to multiple weeks. This creates a range of results in the finished wine. The color of these wines can be golden yellow to vibrant popsicle orange.
Tasting notes for orange wine
The time on skins also adds tannins and phenols to the finished wine and skin-contact wines normally show off a bright acidity. Typical flavors and aromas include bruised apple, peach, orange rind, lemongrass, lemon balm, chamomile, juniper, ginger, exotic spice, honey, beeswax and hazelnut.
Perfect food pairings for orange wine
Because of their complexity in aromas and flavors, structure and good acidity, skin-contact wines pair with a wide variety of foods. Common pairings include cream sauces, curries, spicy foods, roasted poultry and any seafood including shellfish.
Bordering the Coastal Range in the west, and stretching as far east as the foothills of the Andes, the Curicó Valley has two major mesoclimates that allow it the potential to offer a great diversity of high quality wines. In the east around Molina and north of the Claro River, the chilling winds coming off of the Andes make this part of the valley cooler. In the west, the Coastal Range protects inland wine growing areas from the Pacific Ocean, making it hotter and drier. The valley can support a large range of grape varieties within these climatic variations.
In 1979 Miguel Torres, Spain’s largest family-owned producer of premium wine based in Penedès in northeastern Spain, invested heavily in the area. By introducing many modern technologies, Torres put the Curicó Valley on the international wine map and strengthened Chile's presence in the global wine market.
Curicó is one of the southern appellations of the greater Central Valley wine growing region, which includes from north to south: Maipo, Rapel, Curicó and Maule.