What is Orange Wine and Is there an Italian version?

Though orange wine has surged in popularity across contemporary wine bars, it is far from a modern invention. The style represents one of the oldest winemaking traditions in human history, dating back over 8,000 years to the ancient Caucasus region of Georgia, where grapes were crushed and fermented inside subterranean clay vessels called qvevri.

Despite the name, orange wine contains no citrus fruit. Rather, it is an amber-hued wine crafted entirely from white wine grapes using the traditional technique typically reserved for red wines: Extended skin contact.

Check out Carluccio's guide to this product below.

The Process: White Grapes Cooked Like Red

In standard white winemaking, white grapes are pressed quickly to separate the juice from the grape skins, seeds, and stems before fermentation begins. This creates clear, light, and fruit-forward white wines.

Orange wine flips this process on its head. To produce an orange wine:

• Maceration: White grape skins are left in contact with the fermenting grape juice for period ranging from a few days to several months.

• Extraction: During skin contact, the juice absorbs natural pigments, polyphenols, and tannins from the grape skins.

• Texture & Aroma: The result is a wine with a striking amber or burnished orange hue, a fuller body, a lightly grippy textural palate, and complex aromas of dried apricots, orange peel, wild herbs, and toasted nuts.

Italy’s Orange Wine Revival

Italy has played a pivotal role in the modern renaissance of skin-contact winemaking. In the late 1990s, visionary winemakers in the northeastern region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia began looking back to ancient techniques, reviving long skin maceration and amphora ageing.

Today, this ancient art form has spread down the Italian peninsula to the sun-drenched islands of the south, where Indigenous grape varieties thrive under the Mediterranean sun.

New for Autumn 2026: Tenute Orestiadi Orange Inzolia (Sicilia Organic)

Arriving in our online shop for autumn 2026, we are delighted to introduce a remarkable expression of organic Sicilian winemaking: Tenute Orestiadi Orange Inzolia.

Crafted in the rolling hills of Trapani in western Sicily, this organic wine utilises Inzolia—one of the island's most prized native white grape varieties.

• The Style: Five days of skin-contact maceration gives this wine a luminous amber hue and an extraordinarily textured palate.

• Tasting Notes: Layers of dried apricot, white peach, wild Mediterranean herbs, and citrus peel balance against a soft, savory core with a gentle, satisfying tannic structure.

• The Perfect Pairing: Thanks to its unique combination of vibrant freshness, rich body, and gentle tannins, this organic Sicilian orange wine makes an extraordinary partner for aged Italian cheeses such as Pecorino Siciliano, sharp Caciocavallo, or vintage Parmigiano Reggiano.