Orange Wine

Orange wine is white wine made the way red wine is. The skins stay in the tank during fermentation, so you get amber colour, a little grip and flavours of tea and orange peel.

Canadian ones come mostly from Ontario, with some from British Columbia, and cool-climate fruit keeps them zippier than you might expect. Plenty never reach an LCBO shelf, which is why we found the side door. Bottles ship straight from the winery.
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How long the skins stay in

The time varies, and longer on the skins means more colour and more grip. Some bottles spend about ten days there, others three or four weeks. In 2017, Ontario's VQA made skin-fermented white an official category with a 10-day minimum on the skins, and the longest here sits on its skins for about a month.

Canadian orange wine: grapes and places

Riesling, Gewürztraminer and Chardonnay lead, with a couple of blends and the odd Vidal. The fruit comes from around Niagara, including the Beamsville Bench, and from Prince Edward County, with a few bottles from British Columbia.

Orange doesn't automatically mean natural wine, though many bottles are unfiltered. A piquette, a lightly skin-contacted blush and a skin-contact Pinot Gris share this page because they borrow the technique. None is a true orange wine. If you want a plain, crisp bottle, the white wine collection has them.

Is orange wine dry or sweet?

Nearly all of it is dry. Skin contact adds texture and a bit of grip, so it can taste richer than most whites, but the finish stays dry. The skin-contact Pinot Gris here leans slightly off-dry, so check the tasting notes.

What food goes with orange wine?

Fried chicken, mushrooms and a cheese board are safe starts, since fat and salt soften the grip. Very spicy dishes can make tannin feel harsher, so go easy on the heat. Serve it cool rather than ice cold.

How much does orange wine cost?

Skin-fermented bottles here typically run from about $30 to $45. Some come from batches of under 50 cases. A piquette is far cheaper if you only want a taste of the technique.