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Orange wine. Amber wine. Skin-contact wine. It goes by many different names and comes in many different shades. This case is the perfect introduction to skin-contact wines and will teach about the unique way that this wine is made while taking you on a journey through Burgundy, Rhône, Gascony, Slovakia and Istria.
Traja Boxeri - Slobodne - Hlohovec, Slovakia
This wine is from Hlohovec, north-east of Bratislava. In this sleepy town wife and husband team Agnes and Miso produce a series of wacky wines. They were able to reclaim their family farm after the fall of the Iron Curtain due to the chance discovery of some legal documents in an old box under the staircase of the family home.
Mogul - Mas Theo - Southern Rhône, France
Laurent Clapier is one of few growers showing that biodynamic practices can be applied on a larger scale - he has 52 hectares planted with indigenous varieties. An hour or two of skin contact occurs as the grapes are transported from the vineyard to the winery.
Aligoté - Santini Collective - Burgundy, France
The Santini Collective is a négociant based in Auxey-Duresses. Chris Santini is based in Beaune and has been sourcing parcels from the Southern Rhone all the way to Champlitte, the northernmost part of Burgundy which borders Franche-Comté.
Malvazija - Piquentum - Istria, Croatia
One of the spiritual homes of skin-contact winemaking are the regions surrounding the Adriatic Sea like Friuli in Italy and Istria in Croatia. In these regions, skin-contact wine isn’t a new trend, but a deep-seated winemaking habit that reflects tradition.
Ginger - Mas Theo - Southern Rhône, France
This is much the same wine as the Mogul: same producer, same region, same grapes. But the winemaker has increased the length of skin-contact that the wine receives. The longer the wine stays on the skins, the more colour, flavour and tannin is drawn from the grapes.
Papillon de Nuit - Château Tour Blanc - Gascony, France
You won’t see many orange wines that have been aged. That is not because they aren’t great, it’s just because they are usually drunk quickly! This is a rare example of such a wine. Just as the best white wines can age superbly, this wine has developed a nutty layer of complexity that wouldn’t have been present when the wine was young.