EXPLAINED Orange wines

Orange wine has gone through a transformation in the last decade. Go back a few years and those who knew about this ‘third’ colour of wine viewed it as niche, and presided over by obscure barrel-fiddlers in the hills of northern Italy, eastern Europe and beyond.

Nowadays it’s everywhere; supped and championed in trendy city centre ‘tap rooms’ where modish insiders drink it by-the-glass from Enomatic dispensers and discuss skin contact.

These are the extremes, but it’s fair to say that orange wine is increasingly common among wine drinkers, found on restaurant wine lists, in gastro-pubs and on the shelves of many a discerning indie merchant. You can even find it in Asda.

But what makes it ‘orange’? Expert on orange wines and author of Simon J Woolf defines