All about ORANGE

What exactly are orange wines? How are they made? Are they the same as natural wines? Here's all you need to know to start discovering this increasingly popular style

- STORY & SELECTION SIMON J WOOLF

Hanging out at a neighbourhood wine shop in Amsterdam last weekend, I overheard this interaction...

Customer: 'Hi, I'm buying a bottle as a birthday present for a friend.'

Assistant: 'Okay, what style are you looking for? Red? White?'

Customer: 'I was thinking maybe something orange. I know she likes natural wine. She's into everything organic - that sort of thing.'

The young customer happily admitted that he knew nothing about wine. But he was more than familiar with the term 'orange', and he – or his friend - automatically conflated it with all things natural and organic.

It was a great demonstration of how orange wine has permeated popular culture, in a similar fashion to kombucha, flat whites and sour beers – all specialities that have become familiar, if not necessarily well understood.

Orange wines are now sold by supermarkets and major wine retailers. Wine-savvy restaurants list them in their own separate category. They have a significant niche following and, particularly for a younger generation of drinkers, orange is now simply part of the canon.

Nonetheless, orange wine's rise from obscurity hasn't been straightforward. Two key issues, both aptly distilled into that customer exchange, still prove challenging. One is incessant bickering about the name. The other is that confusion between orange and natural. Are they joined at the hip? Are they the same thing?

Troublesome terminology