Corkheads: Is that wine orange?
Corkheads: Is that wine orange?
May 16, 2012 6
(MercuryNews) - What gets a wine geek's juices flowing? Aroma, certainly. Nothing's quite as satisfying as that first whiff of lychee in a glass of gewürztraminer, or the unmistakable l'eau de jerky in some syrahs.
Color plays a close second for me. In addition to its bracing acidity, the thing I love about rosé is the range of glorious shades, from watermelon to raspberry. Pink wine is like a Broadway musical for the eyes.
So you can imagine how my peepers popped the first time they fell on orange wine. I'm not talking about the salmon hue in French Provencal rosé (though I dig that color, too) or even the dark gold of a sweet riesling.
Orange wines start from white grapes. But instead of crushing the grapes and removing the skins and seeds, as white wine is usually made, the juice is left to marinate in the skins and seeds for an extended period of time. The resulting colors are sunset-worthy, whether copper, amber or tangerine.
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