@thefoodgriot original photography holding a tasting pour of a natural ‘orange wine’ at an industry event in manhattan …
Want to know more about or attend my next collectively created WINE CLASS (with a Revolutionary twist!) in conjunction with Good Wine: A Food Lover’s Wineshop taking place at The Old Stone House of Brooklyn on August 17, 2023 at 7pm. Here’s the direct link to PURCHASE TICKETS
International Beer Day is always the first Friday in August, which this year falls on August 4th…and this year that also happens to be National White Wine Day which is on August 4th each year.
IMHO this is the perfect opportunity to tell ya’ll my theory that ‘orange wine’ is a nice bridge for beer drinkers to explore and enjoy wine (going the other way, it’s not a bad idea for wine drinkers to check out some of the more elegant international styles of beer or perhaps one of the latest trends of “sour beers” for their viaduct into beer drinking but we’ll save further details on that direction for a future post)… Bottom line I like to tell my wine workshop attendees and curious customers that 'orange wine' (basically white wine’s more melanated cousin) is a wonderful way for wine lovers and beer drinkers to unite over one shared bottle….
So-called ‘orange wines’ (spoiler alert — oranges nor any part of that citrus fruit are involved in the making of these wines)... are inspired by an ancient wine-making style and are made from white wine grapes that've spent maceration time with the grape skins (incl. stems, seeds, juice, etc.) in clay vessels and that yield wines reflecting an orangey rainbow of colors from deep yellow to bright pumpkin with golden hues.
original @thefoodgriot photography & collage showing the range of orange wine options often available at Good Wine 327 5th Ave Brooklyn, NY 11215
Whether dry, fruity or ever so slightly (or seriously) "funky" (only in the good way), orange wines tend to have more layered complexities than most white wines — with tannins too that are typically only found in red wines. There also tends to be more pleasantly palatable bitter notes than you’ll find in a regular glass of white wine and instead is more akin to either a well balanced cocktail — OR like I’m tryna tell y’all, not unlike certain kinds of international beer styles (SIDE NOTE: American beers these days have become over the top— as in too big, dense, high in alcohol content and supercalifragilistically bitter — b/c most are way too hoppy in my opinion. Classically crisper, leaner and more refreshing beers from Mexico, Jamaica, Italy, and some Belgians are what tend to float my boat with my wine-skewed palate and all).
Beer aficionados fyi you can also find delightfully naturally fizzy orange wines in the form of Pét-nats (a nickname for the French term 'pétillant naturel' which means 'natural sparkling' wine made according an ancestral method. And if you’re thinking that’s prolly pricier than a beer — you MIGHT be right …BUT you should know you can get a good bottle in the low to mid $20’s which at 5 healthy servings per wine bottle comes out to about 5.50 per serving (= the same price or cheaper than one beer)…
Ok yeah, sure — a wine serving is half the liquid volume amount of single serving beer bottle — b/c it’s usually about double the alcohol content (wine ranges from about 10% to 13% ABV vs beer’s 5% to 9% range. Like i mentioned earlier though these days many modern American beers have almost the same ABV as some wines (i.e. in the 10% range) so do keep that in mind considering that beer servings are significantly larger than that of a standard wine pour). Anyway, just plan to sip and savor your orange wine or pet nat slightly more slowly and enjoy the conversation along the way.
Not unlike beer making, these styles of wines have a very long history that goes way back thousands of years. Once again what's old is new again — especially if it’s new for you and all the the beer lovers out there who thought there wasn’t a wine for them.
Comment below to let me know how it goes if / when you might happen to try your first orange wine and/or share a bottle with any of your beer loving peeps.