Today is National Orange Wine Day. Orange wine can be traced back 5000 years, to what is now modern-day Georgia, where wines were fermented in large clay vessels that were buried in the earth, sometimes for years.
Orange wine is made using white grape varietals. After the grapes are crushed the juice is allowed to rest on the skins (maceration) imparting an orange colour to the wine as well as tannins. The intensity of the colour and the degree of tannins will depend on the grape varietal and the length of maceration; maceration can last for days or even months.
In general, orange wines are made using wild yeast for fermentation. This means the yeast that grows naturally on grapes is responsible for fermentation, versus the winemaker inoculating the grapes with commercial or cultured yeast.
You will also find that many orange wines are unfiltered. When wine has finished fermentation, it has sediment which makes it cloudy in appearance. Wines can be filtered to remove sediment and this is often done twice. The first filtration removes larger particles, such as spent yeast, while the second filtration removes smaller particles, like bacteria.
Unfiltered wines, as the name implies, skip the filtration step and are racked instead. Racking means that the wine is allowed to rest undisturbed in the tank causing particles to settle at the bottom, at which point the wine is siphoned off the top into a new tank.
There are some that believe the particles left behind in unfiltered wine add to the wine’s body and flavour. The downside to unfiltered wines is that the bacteria left behind can increase the risk of the wine spoiling. Two things can be done to supress the activity of remaining bacteria, and these are the use of malolactic fermentation and the addition of sulfites (SO2).
Malolactic fermentation is not really a fermentation at all. It uses Oenoccocus Oeni, a bacteria that eats the malic acid in wine and excretes lactic acid; the result is a creamier wine. Malolactic fermentation can also make a wine microbiologically stable because the bacteria used in the process consume much of the remaining nutrients in the wine that other bacteria would use, potentially producing wine faults.
Sulfites protect wine “from oxidation and microbial contamination during aging and storage. This allows the wine to continue developing safely throughout its entire lifetime.”[1]
And now onto the wine and food pairing…
Plot Orange No. 1 2019 $30.00
Orange No. 1 from Plot is a blend of Gewurztraminer and Muscat from Kaleden, British Columbia. The grapes were hand-harvested and hand-destemmed before undergoing wild fermentation. The wine spent two weeks on the skins giving it a hazy, golden-orange hue. The wine was bottled unfined and unfiltered, with minimal SO2 added. Only 90 cases were made.
It opens with aromas of marmalade (orange, grapefruit and lemon rind), with notes of lime, rose and dried peach. This is a dry, medium bodied wine with medium+ acidity, low tannins and a long finish. The palate offers salinity which mingles with flavours of dried apricot, mandarin, grapefruit, rose and dried peach.
I am grateful to Chef Jarrod and the team at the Brownstone Restaurant in Kamloops for this recipe and wine pairing. If this pairing is any indication, the Brownstone Restaurant seems like a great foodie destination while in Kamloops – and they have a wonderful BC wine selection too! The citrus flavours in Plot’s Orange No. 1 paired very well with the citrus in the ceviche, while the salinity of the wine was a delicious match for the seafood.
Brownstone Scallop and Cod Ceviche
Ingredients
1/2 cup each scallops and cod
1/4 cup fresh squeezed lime juice
1/2 small red onion
8 grape tomatoes
1 jalapeno (we remove the seeds but you can keep them if you like it spicier)
3 radishes
salt
Directions
Mince cod and scallops and put in non-reactive bowl (for example, a bowl made from stainless steel). Add lime juice, red onion, tomatoes and jalapeno, all finely diced. Add radishes, quartered and finely sliced. Add salt to taste. Mix together with wooden spoon. Let rest for at least one hour, refrigerated. Garnish with fresh cilantro and chile pepper infused olive oil. Served with good quality store bought tortilla chips, (we make our own by frying tortillas) and of course, a cold glass of Plot ‘Orange’ wine!
References
Kirchhoff, K. (January 14, 2020). Filtered vs Unfiltered Wine: Which is Better? Retrieved from: https://winefolly.com/deep-dive/fining-and-filtered-vs-unfiltered-wine/
Puckette, M. (October 27, 2018). Everything You Want to Know About Orange Wine. Retrieved from: https://winefolly.com/deep-dive/orange-wine/
Puckette, M. (February 20, 2017). What is Malolactic Fermentation? The Buttery Taste in Wine. Retrieved from: https://winefolly.com/deep-dive/what-is-malolactic-fermentation-the-buttery-taste-in-wine/
Malolactic Fermentation. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malolactic_fermentation#cite_note-Boulton-8
[1] February 22, 2012. Guide to SO2 Management and SO2 Calculator. Retrieved from: https://morewinemaking.com/articles/SO2_management