What Is Orange Wine? How It’s Made and Why Cold-Climate Grapes Excel

Orange wine is white wine made by fermenting white grapes with their skins left on for days or even weeks – exactly the opposite of how most white wine is made. That extended skin contact pulls color, tannins, and texture out of the grape skins, turning the juice from pale straw to deep amber. The result tastes nothing like a standard Chardonnay: think dried apricot, chamomile, walnuts, and a savory grip that pairs better with food than a glass of Pinot Grigio ever could.

I started experimenting with orange wine after my third season growing La Crescent vines in southern Wisconsin (USDA Zone 4b). I had more white grapes than I knew what to do with and a fermentation bucket sitting idle. It turned out that the cold-hardy white varieties I was already growing – La Crescent, Itasca, Brianna – are some of the best candidates in the world for making orange wine at home. Here’s what I’ve learned.

What Makes Orange Wine Orange?

Normal white wine is pressed quickly. The juice goes into the tank within hours of harvest and the skins are discarded. That’s what keeps white wine pale and crisp.

Orange wine skips that step. The crushed grapes – skins, seeds, and all – stay together in the fermentation vessel. As fermentation kicks off, alcohol extracts pigments and phenolic compounds from the skins. The longer the skins stay in contact with the juice, the deeper the color and the more tannin and texture you get.

White grape skins don’t contain meaningful anthocyanins – those red and purple pigments belong to red grapes. The amber color in orange wine comes from a different set of reactions: flavonoids and other phenolic compounds in the skins are extracted by the alcohol as fermentation progresses, and these compounds oxidize and polymerize over time into the amber and orange-brown hues you see in the glass. Think of it like how a cut apple browns in air – phenolic oxidation. The longer the skin contact, the more extraction and the deeper the color: three days gives you a light golden hue, three to four weeks gives a deep copper that can look almost like apple cider.

The University of Minnesota Extension describes skin contact as one of the oldest winemaking techniques on record – predating the “press first” approach that defines modern white winemaking. If you’ve ever made a red wine at home, you already know how to make orange wine. The process is essentially identical: ferment the must with skins on, punch down the cap, press when you’re satisfied with the extraction.

Ancient Origins: Georgia and the Qvevri Tradition

The oldest wine region in the world – the country of Georgia in the Caucasus – never stopped making skin-contact white wine. Georgian winemakers bury large clay vessels called qvevri (sometimes spelled kvevri) in the earth and ferment white grapes with their skins for six months or longer. The result is an intensely tannic, deeply amber wine that has been made essentially the same way for at least 8,000 years, based on archaeological evidence from the Caucasus region.

The technique spread into neighboring regions – northeastern Italy (Friuli-Venezia Giulia) and Slovenia – where it was preserved by a handful of producers through the 20th century. In the early 2000s, Slovenian winemaker Stanko Radikon and Italian producer Josko Gravner brought skin-contact whites to international attention, and the style took off from there.

When you make orange wine in your basement fermentation bucket, you’re connecting to that same 8,000-year-old tradition. There’s something satisfying about that.

What Does Orange Wine Taste Like?

Orange wine sits in its own category. It’s not white, it’s not red, and it’s nothing like a rosé. Typical tasting notes include:

• Dried fruit: apricot, dried mango, candied orange peel, quince
• Nutty and oxidative: walnut skin, almond, sherry-like depth
• Savory and herbal: chamomile, dried herbs, hay, sometimes honey
• Texture: a notable grip from tannins – more body than white wine, less than a full red
• Acidity: still present, but softened by the phenolics from the skins

The longer the skin contact, the more tannin and texture, and the less fresh-fruit brightness. A 3-day skin-contact wine tastes closest to a rich white. A 3-week skin-contact wine tastes genuinely closer to a light red. Most home winemakers land somewhere in between – 10 to 14 days is a common sweet spot.

Serving temperature matters more than people realize: orange wine is best served cool (55-60°F / 13-16°C), not cold. Straight from the fridge suppresses the aromatics. Think of it like a light red, not a white.

How to Make Orange Wine at Home

If you already make red wine from your backyard vines, you have everything you need. The process is the same – just substitute white grapes for red. Here’s the basic flow:

Step 1: Crush and Destem

Crush your white grapes and remove as many stems as possible. Stems add harsh, green tannins that most people find unpleasant. A manual or mechanical crusher-destemmer works well; even stomping in a clean food-grade container does the job for small batches (under 20 lb / 9 kg).

Step 2: Sulfite (Optional)

Some orange wine purists skip sulfur entirely and use wild yeast. That’s a legitimate choice but adds unpredictability. I add 50 ppm potassium metabisulfite at crush to knock back wild yeast and bacteria, then wait 24 hours before pitching a cultivated yeast. For orange wine, I reach for a yeast that handles warmer fermentation temperatures and develops interesting aromatics – Lalvin 71B is a classic choice for fruit wines and works well here.

Step 3: Ferment on the Skins

Move the crushed must into your fermentation vessel – a food-grade bucket, a ceramic crock, or a glass carboy with a wide mouth. Do NOT press. Leave the skins in contact with the juice throughout fermentation.

Punch down the cap (the floating mass of skins) twice daily using a clean punch-down tool or a sanitized spoon. This keeps mold off the exposed skins and improves extraction. Fermentation typically runs 5-10 days at 65-75°F (18-24°C).

After active fermentation finishes, you have a choice: press immediately (lighter style, more like a structured white) or continue skin contact for another week or two (more tannin, deeper color, more complexity). Most first-timers press around day 10-14.

Step 4: Press and Rack

Press the skins out using a basket press or bag press. Rack the wine into a clean carboy, leaving the heavy lees behind. Top up to minimize headspace. Fit an airlock.

Step 5: Age and Bottle

Orange wines benefit from at least 3-6 months of aging before bottling. The rough tannins soften noticeably over time. I’ve had La Crescent orange wine that was almost too grippy at 2 months and genuinely pleasant at 8 months. Taste every 6-8 weeks and decide when it’s ready.

For home-scale equipment – fermentation bucket, airlock, hydrometer, siphon, wine thief – a basic starter kit covers everything you need for your first few batches. I use one similar to what’s below for all my experimental batches:

Best Cold-Hardy White Grapes for Orange Wine

Here’s where cold-climate growers have a genuine advantage. The hybrid white varieties developed at the University of Minnesota and Cornell – bred for Zones 3-6 – tend to have thick, flavorful skins loaded with phenolic compounds. That makes them excellent candidates for skin-contact winemaking. Check our overview of grape varieties by skin thickness for more detail on what to look for. Varieties I’ve found work well:

La Crescent (UMN, Zone 4)

This is my personal favorite for orange wine. La Crescent grapes have aromatic, thick skins that contribute peach and apricot notes during skin contact. The wine develops a beautiful amber-gold color in 7-10 days. La Crescent is cold-hardy to about -30°F (-34°C) and ripens in late September in Zone 4.

Itasca (UMN, Zone 4)

Itasca was released by UMN in 2017. It’s clean, high-acid, and highly disease-resistant – one of the easiest white grapes to grow in the Upper Midwest. Extended skin contact brings out herbal and citrus zest notes that don’t show up in conventional white winemaking. The acidity holds up well even with heavy tannin extraction.

Brianna (Iowa State, Zone 4)

Brianna has pronounced tropical aromas that make it unusual for a cold-hardy variety. As an orange wine, it develops layers of mango and pineapple mixed with a pleasant waxy texture from the skin tannins. Hardy to about -20°F (-29°C).

Any of these varieties is far more interesting as an orange wine than it is made conventionally. If you’re already growing them, you have no excuse not to try at least one batch. Read our full guide to making wine from backyard grapes for the complete home winemaking process from harvest to bottle.

Orange Wine vs. Natural Wine: What’s the Difference?

These terms get confused. Orange wine refers specifically to the process – white grapes with extended skin contact. Natural wine is a loose category describing wine made with minimal intervention (no added sulfites, no commercial yeast, no fining agents). Many orange wines are natural wines, but not all. You can make an orange wine with commercial yeast and sulfites (I do) and it’s still orange wine. You can also make conventional white wine with zero additives and call it natural wine – no orange wine involved.

The orange wine style also isn’t the same as Baco Noir wine or other dark-red home wines, though the fermentation techniques overlap significantly. If you’ve made Baco Noir at home, you already understand cap management and extended maceration – the same skills transfer directly to orange wine.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does orange wine actually taste like oranges?

No. “Orange” refers to the color, not the flavor. Orange wine tastes like dried apricot, walnuts, dried herbs, and sometimes sherry-like oxidative notes – not citrus fruit. The name comes from the amber-orange hue the wine develops from extended skin contact.

Is orange wine the same as rosé?

No. Rosé is made from red grapes with very short (a few hours) skin contact, or by blending red and white wine. Orange wine is made from white grapes with extended (days to weeks) skin contact. They look vaguely similar in the glass but taste completely different. Orange wine is much more tannic and complex.

Can I make orange wine from any white grape variety?

Yes, technically any white grape can work, but thick-skinned varieties with aromatic skin compounds give the best results. For cold-climate growers in Zones 3-6, La Crescent, Itasca, Frontenac Gris, and Brianna are excellent starting points.

How long should I leave the skins in contact?

It depends on your taste preference and the grape variety. A general guideline: 3-7 days produces a lighter orange wine with some texture; 10-21 days produces a deeper, more tannic wine with more complexity. I recommend tasting daily once fermentation slows – the wine will tell you when it’s ready to press.

Why is orange wine considered “ancient” if it’s trendy now?

The technique is genuinely ancient – Georgian winemakers have made qvevri-aged skin-contact whites for over 8,000 years without interruption. What’s “new” is its appearance in Western wine culture, starting with Italian and Slovenian producers in the late 1990s. The trend is a rediscovery, not an invention.