Red or white? The quaint dichotomy is a convenient way to categorize fermented grape drinks, but, like most binary reductions, the choice is - thankfully - not so simple. The fruit itself wears skin of a certain color, but different winemaking methods dictate various flavors and appearances. Blanc de noirs, a common Champagne style, is a white wine made from red grapes. Very few ‘red’ grape varieties have flesh with color, so the juice is pressed, the skins removed, and the wine is clear, or nearly so. 

And if the grape is pink, or greyish, then what do we call the wine? The berries of Gewurztraminer, Pinot Grigio and Trousseau Gris are a dark pink, almost reddish color, but pressed and vinified without skin contact, the wines are called ‘white’. in Italy’s northeastern province of Friuli Venezia Giulia, Pinot Grigio is macerated on the skins, as one would with red grapes, producing a style of light orange wine called Ramato, meaning auburn or copper colored. We have a sparkling Pinot Grigio from the Veneto right now with a dazzling crimson hue and a delicious balance of acid, tannin and fruit.

In the Republic of Georgia, it has long been the style to skin-macerate white wines, sometimes for many years, extracting colors from pink to brown to orange, along with tannins and other compounds found in the skins, adding structure and flavor complexity to the wine, and helping to preserve it without additives. The ‘orange wine’ style is as old as the hills, but it has been enjoying a newfound popularity as more of these wines are imported, and many of our American winemakers experiment with alternative methods of fermentation. We get a lot of requests, and we’re glad you’re curious. This Saturday, we’ll open several of these anomalies…and orange you glad I didn’t say ‘banana-wine’.

But first…Thursday Night Flights TONIGHT! 3 Italian Whites and 3 Spanish Reds. Flights $12 from 4-8 and wines by the glass. 



SATURDAY 3/23: Skin Macerated ‘Orange’ White Wines

2016 Mocine Toscana Bianco ‘Alba’

2017 Salcheto Toscana Bianco ‘Obvius’

2016 Doqi Qvevri Mtsvane



SUNDAY 3/24: Wines of the Loire Valley

2017 Domaine de la Bregeonnette Folle Blanche

2016 Domaine des Aubuisieres Le Petit Clos Vouvray

2017 Les Athletes du Vin Grolleau
2015 Domaine de la Chevelerie Diptyque Bourgeuil


Weekend Flights $15 from 2-6 and wines by the glass until 9pm


Cheers,

Max