Best Orange Wines to Try (2026)

Our picks, grouped by style. Each note gives the grapes, the place and, where the producer publishes it, how long the wine spent on its skins.

Good first orange wines

Shorter skin contact and light tannin.

• Gulp Hablo Orange: Verdejo and Sauvignon Blanc from La Mancha, 1 week on the skins, in a 1 liter bottle.
• Field Recordings Skins: About 12 grapes led by Chenin Blanc, from California's Central Coast.
• Meinklang Mulatschak Orange: Welschriesling, Pinot Gris and Traminer from Burgenland, Austria, 5 to 7 days on the skins.
• Domaine Einhart Orange Gewurztraminer: Gewurztraminer and Pinot Gris from Alsace, 24 hours on the skins.

Benchmark orange wines from Italy

Longer skin contact and firmer tannin.

• Radikon Slatnik: Chardonnay and Friulano from Oslavia in Friuli, 10 to 14 days on the skins, a year in large oak.
• Radikon Sivi: Pinot Grigio turned copper by 10 to 14 days on its pink-gray skins.
• Denavolo Dinavolo: Ortrugo, Malvasia di Candia, Marsanne and a local grape from Emilia-Romagna, 6 months on the skins.
• Le Coste Bianco Orange: 7 local grapes from Lazio, 2 weeks on the skins, aged in large oak vats.

Amber wines from Georgia

Most spend weeks or months on the skins in qvevri.

• Pheasant's Tears Khikhvi: Khikhvi from Kakheti, 6 months on the skins in qvevri, then another year in qvevri.
• Pheasant's Tears Tsitska: Tsitska from Imereti in western Georgia, 3 days on the skins, fermented and aged in steel.
• Artana Kisi: Kisi from the village of Kistauri in Kakheti, 3 to 4 weeks on the skins in qvevri.
• Ocho Who Do You Love?: Khikhvi from Kakheti, fermented on native yeast with long skin contact in qvevri, bottled unfiltered.

Orange wines from everywhere else

• Ruth Lewandowski Tatto: 8 grapes from Mendocino County, California, 7 to 10 days on the skins, no added sulfur.
• Domaine Matassa Brutal Orange: Old-vine Macabeu from Roussillon, France, bottled with no added sulfur.
• Cacique Maravilla Vino Naranja: Moscatel de Alejandría from old, dry-farmed vines in Chile's Bío-Bío Valley.
• Bichi La Gorda Yori: A field blend from Tecate, Mexico, 3 months on the skins in concrete jars.

Orange wine is white wine fermented with its grape skins, the way red wine is made. The skins give it an amber color and tannin. The orange wine guide covers the official definitions, how it is made, its history in Georgia and Friuli, and how to serve it.

Read the orange wine guide

These 4 tasting notes appear more often than any others across the orange wines we list.

Apricot Fresh or dried apricot

Lemon peel The zest and pith of citrus, with a slightly bitter edge

Honey A honeyed aroma in a wine that is still dry

Flint A struck-match, stony note

The tannin is what sets it apart

Grape skins and seeds contain tannin. A white wine is pressed off its skins before fermentation, so it has almost none. An orange wine ferments with them, so it has a drying grip on the gums, closer to a light red.

Longer on the skins usually means darker and grippier

A wine left on its skins for a day or two stays gold and fresh. One left for weeks or months turns amber and gains tannin and savory notes such as dried tea and walnut, which come up often in Georgian amber wines.

The grape changes the color

Pinot Gris has pink-gray skins, so it turns copper rather than gold. In Friuli that copper style of Pinot Grigio is called ramato. Aromatic grapes like Malvasia, Muscat and Gewurztraminer give orange wines with a strong floral smell.

Almost all are dry

The skins stay in while the wine ferments to dryness, so there is very little sugar left. The fruit and honey notes are aroma, not sweetness.

Radikon, Friuli, Italy

The Oslavia estate that brought back long skin contact in 1995. Slatnik and Sivi spend 10 to 14 days on the skins.

Frank Cornelissen, Sicily, Italy

The Mount Etna producer in whose cellar the term "orange wine" was coined in 2004.

Denavolo, Emilia-Romagna, Italy

Its Dinavolo spends 6 months on the skins in steel.

Pheasant's Tears, Kakheti, Georgia

Its Khikhvi spends 6 months on the skins in qvevri, then another year in qvevri before bottling.

Artana, Kakheti, Georgia

Its Kisi goes into qvevri as whole grapes and spends 3 to 4 weeks on the skins.

Meinklang, Burgenland, Austria

A biodynamic farm whose Mulatschak Orange spends 5 to 7 days on the skins.

Ruth Lewandowski, California

Tatto blends 8 grapes from Mendocino County, each fermented on its skins and bottled with no added sulfur.

Domaine Matassa, Roussillon, France

Tom Lubbe's estate, which makes Brutal Orange from old-vine Macabeu with no added sulfur.

Is orange wine made from oranges?

No. It is made from white wine grapes. The name describes the color, which comes from fermenting the juice with the grape skins.

Is orange wine the same as skin-contact wine?

Yes. Orange wine, skin-contact white wine and amber wine all describe white grapes fermented with their skins. Amber wine is the term used in Georgia.

Is orange wine sweet?

Almost never. It ferments until nearly all the sugar is gone. Notes like apricot and honey are aromas in a dry wine.

What is the difference between orange wine and rosé?

Rosé is made from red grapes that stay on their skins for a few hours. Orange wine is made from white grapes that stay on their skins for a day to several months, which also gives it tannin that rosé does not have.

Is orange wine natural wine?

Not by definition. Orange wine describes how the grapes are fermented. Natural wine describes organic farming and minimal intervention in the cellar. Many orange wines are also natural wines, and most of the orange wines we list come from organic or biodynamic vineyards.

Why is my orange wine cloudy?

Many orange wines are bottled without filtering, so fine particles from the grapes and yeast stay in the wine. It is safe to drink. Standing the bottle upright before pouring leaves most of it behind.