Orange wine: the oldest way to make white wine

Wine Letter · 18 October 2026

An amphora being tipped, the skins of the Graue Freyheit falling into the press basket at Weingut Heinrich

Orange Wine · Six wines, six vessels

The oldest way to make white wine

Hello,

Fermenting white grapes on their skins is the oldest way of making white wine. In Georgia, traces of it have been found in clay vessels eight thousand years old. In Kakheti the grapes still spend months in the qvevri, stems and all. Stanko Radikon in Oslavia took it up again in 1995, his neighbour Josko Gravner in 1997. In 2004 the merchant David Harvey first called the result orange wine. The colour, though, runs from golden yellow to rosehip red.

Two things decide what ends up in the glass: how long the skins stay in the must, and in what. The six wines here show the range, from two weeks in terracotta in Tuscany to eight months in Spanish clay jars at the foot of the Dolomites. All six are also on our new orange wine page, which we finished three days ago.

Six orange · 6 wines · approx. €164 →

All orange wines →

Cirelli Orange Vino Bianco

Trebbiano · Atri, Abruzzo · approx. €13

Trebbiano from Atri, thirty days on the skins in stainless steel, four months on the fine lees, unfiltered. Elderflower, orange zest, redcurrant, fine bitterness, flowers on the finish. With arrosticini, the lamb skewers of Abruzzo.

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Le Masse Camporella 2022

Trebbiano · Chianti Classico · approx. €25

Robin Mugnaini in Barberino Tavarnelle, vines planted in 1974, fermented on the skins in terracotta with no added sulphur. Peach, mandarin peel, sage, with smoke and forest floor, juicy and austere at the same time. Jamie Goode gave it 92 points. With crostini di fegatini.

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Vins Nus Instabile Brisat No. 3 In Albis 2022

Garnacha, Macabeo, Xarel·lo, Muscat · Priorat, 480 m · approx. €29

Alfredo Arribas is an architect from Barcelona. His labels quote Calder’s mobiles. Whole bunches spend ten days in a wooden vat, then go into stoneware eggs. Green mango, grapefruit, caramelised quince, soft tannins, salty on the finish. With escalivada or suquet de peix.

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Trapet Alsace Ambre Blanc Muscat Maceration 2022

Trapet Ambre Blanc Muscat 2022

Muscat · Riquewihr, Alsace · approx. €29

Andrée Trapet converted her parents’ estate to biodynamics in 2002. Today her sons Pierre and Louis make the Ambre series, macerated whites as studies in colour. Muscat on its skins, 11% alcohol. Linden blossom, kumquat, candied ginger, fine tannins with the texture of sandpaper. With Munster and caraway.

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Heinrich Graue Freyheit 2022

Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc, Neuburger · Gols, Burgenland · approx. €31.50

Pinot Gris from the schist of the Hackelsberg in Jois, two weeks on the skins, then seventeen months in amphorae and large casks, bottled without added sulphur. Rosehip, lingonberry, red apple skin, orange oil, grip. With Martinigansl, the St Martin’s goose, in three weeks’ time.

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Foradori Fuoripista Pinot Grigio Vigneti delle Dolomiti IGT 2024

Foradori Fuoripista Pinot Grigio 2024

Pinot Grigio · Campo Rotaliano, Trentino · approx. €37

Elisabetta Foradori brought Juan Padilla’s tinajas from La Mancha to Mezzolombardo. By 2018 there were already 173 of them in her cellar. The Pinot Grigio spends six to eight months on its skins in them. Rosehip, orange, mountain herbs, copper red, grippy, 12.5%. With canederli in broth.

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Orange wine opens up with air. I decant the Foradori and the Trapet an hour ahead. The Cirelli I leave alone. Whatever is left at the end of the evening is often better the next day.

The perfect decanter for orange wine →

Six orange · 6 wines · approx. €164 →

All orange wines →

One click adds all six to your basket. You can remove or swap single wines there.

Warm regards from Berlin,
Lisa and the Living Wines team

P.S. The Vin Orange 2021 from Domaine du Bouchot in Pouilly-Fumé has the longest skin contact of the lot: Sauvignon Blanc from vines planted in 1955, five months on the skins in amphora, then a further twelve in the same vessel. Vinous gave it 92 points. Approx. €38.50.