What is an Orange Wine?

Despite the name, orange wine isn’t made from oranges!

 

It’s a style of white wine made by fermenting white grapes together with their skins, and sometimes seeds and stems, just like in red winemaking. This skin contact, which can last anywhere from a few days to over a year, imparts colour, flavour, structure, and tannins; resulting in bolder and more complex wines.

 

That’s why orange wine is also known as skin-contact white, macerated white, or amber wine - the latter referring to its rich golden-orange hue.

The roots of orange wine date back over 8,000 years to the country of Georgia - widely regarded as the cradle of winemaking - where it was then traditionally made in large clay vessels called qvevri, buried underground. In recent decades, the style has been revived by pioneering natural winemakers in regions like Slovenia and Friuli-Venezia Giulia in northeastern Italy.

We love orange wines because they’re simply more delicious, aromatic and beautifully unconventional. They can range from being fresh and glou-glou to something deeply expressive and age-worthy.

 

 

What is a Pét-nat?

Pét-nat is short for pétillant-naturel, French for “naturally sparkling.” It refers to a style of sparkling wine made using the méthode ancestrale, an ancient technique that actually predates champagne. The wine is bottled while primary fermentation is still ongoing, so the fermentation completes in the bottle, naturally trapping bubbles without any added sugar or secondary fermentation.

 

 

The result? A fizzy, fruit-forward wine that’s often unfiltered - meaning it can be cloudy, with lees or sediment in the bottle.

 

Pét-nats are typically lower in fizz and alcohol than traditional champagne, with a more playful, raw, and spontaneous character. Because of the difficulty in controlling fermentation once it’s in bottle, pét-nat is also considered one of the trickiest styles to master.

 

Think of it as champagne’s wild cousin - fun, unpredictable, and full of life!

 

Why bring in Slovenian wines in particular?

While it’s not widely known outside of Europe, Slovenia is one of Europe’s most progressive culinary nations where sustainability isn’t a trend, but a philosophy woven into tradition. It has a rich history of low-intervention winemaking and is actually home to the oldest grape vine in the world! 

 

 

The wine scene is made up of thousands of family run producers seeking perfection in their wines, which are rarely exported outside of Europe because of their small quantities. However, through our local partner Boris, we are able to bring some of these wines to Singapore.