Orange wine is white wine made the way red wine is made: white grapes ferment together with their skins, and sometimes their seeds and stems, for days, weeks or months. The skins give the wine an amber color and tannin. It is also called amber wine, skin-contact white or skin-fermented white. It contains no oranges.
The style is thousands of years old in Georgia, where winemakers ferment white grapes on their skins in qvevri, clay jars buried in the ground. Winemakers in Friuli and Slovenia revived it in the 1990s, and a British importer gave it the name “orange wine” in 2004.
Alsace: Gewurztraminer
La Mancha: Verdejo
Abruzzo: Trebbiano
How orange wine is defined
All the official definitions agree on white grapes fermented with their skins. They differ on how long the skins must stay in.
Scroll the table sideways to see every column
| Who defines it | The rule |
|---|---|
| OIV, the international wine organization (2020) | “White wine with maceration”: white grapes only, at least 1 month on the skins, “an orange-amber colour and a tannic taste” |
| South Africa (2015) | “Skin macerated white”: fermented and macerated on the skins for at least 96 hours, dry, “light golden to deep orange” in color |
| Ontario, Canada | “Skin Fermented White”: fermented on the skins for at least 10 days |
| Georgia | Amber is one of four legal wine colors, next to white, rosé and red |
| Manchuela, Spain (2025) | The first EU appellation to list “orange wine,” with the skins in “for as long as considered necessary” |
Skin contact during fermentation is the dividing line. A white wine whose juice sits on the skins for a few hours before pressing, then ferments without them, is a different technique. The Australian Wine Research Institute and the writer Simon J Woolf, who wrote a book on the style, both draw the line there.
How orange wine is made
- White grapes are picked and usually destemmed and crushed. Some producers keep whole bunches, stems included.
- The juice, skins and seeds go into a vessel together: a clay qvevri or amphora, an oak vat, concrete or steel, often open-topped.
- The juice ferments with the skins in it. The skins release aroma, phenolic compounds and tannin. These fermentations often run warm, without temperature control.
- The wine stays on the skins for days to months, sometimes longer, then the producer presses it off.
- The wine ages and is bottled, with or without added sulfur dioxide.
Orange wines have less tannin than most reds. White grapes contain few anthocyanins, the red pigments that help a red wine hold on to its tannin. The amber color also does not come from anthocyanins: it comes from compounds extracted from the skins and their oxidation.
Orange wine compared with white, rosé and red
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| Orange | White | Rosé | Red | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grapes | White | White | Red | Red |
| Skins during fermentation | Yes, for days to months | No, pressed first | A few hours of contact, then drawn off | Yes, for days to weeks |
| Color | Gold, amber or copper | Pale straw to gold | Pale to deep pink | Ruby to purple |
| Tannin | Noticeable, lower than most reds | Almost none | Almost none | Light to firm |
Ramato, the copper Pinot Grigio of Friuli, sits between the styles. Pinot Grigio has pink-gray skins, so even a short time on them turns the wine copper.
Where orange wine comes from
- Georgia
- Residue in pottery from two Neolithic villages south of Tbilisi, dated to about 6000 to 5800 BC, is the earliest chemical evidence of grape wine found anywhere. The study does not say whether that wine was white or fermented on skins. In eastern Georgia, white wine traditionally ferments with all its skins and seeds in qvevri and stays on them until spring. UNESCO added the qvevri method to its list of Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2013.
- Friuli and Slovenia
- In Oslavia, a Friulian village on the Slovenian border, Stanko Radikon made his first Ribolla Gialla macerated on its skins in 1995. His neighbor Josko Gravner experimented in the late 1990s, traveled to Georgia in 2000, and fermented his first Ribolla in qvevri in 2001.
- The name
- David Harvey of the UK importer Raeburn Fine Wines coined “orange wine” in 2004, while working in Frank Cornelissen’s cellar on Mount Etna in Sicily.
- Today
- The Australian Wine Research Institute describes it as a regional specialty in Georgia, Friuli, Sicily, and parts of Spain, Slovenia and Switzerland.
Grapes used for orange wine
- Georgia: Rkatsiteli, Mtsvane, Kisi and Khikhvi in the east; Tsolikouri, Tsitska and Krakhuna in the west.
- Friuli and Slovenia: Ribolla Gialla, and Pinot Grigio for ramato.
- Elsewhere: Riesling, Chardonnay, Pinot Gris, Gewürztraminer, Semillon, Sauvignon Blanc, Muscat and Viognier are among the grapes the Australian Wine Research Institute lists.
What orange wine tastes like
Orange wine is usually dry, with noticeable tannin. In a Cornell study that made a white and an orange wine from the same grapes, tasters found the white fruity and sweet, and the orange sour, bitter and astringent. Longer time on the skins gives more color, more tannin and more savory notes. Georgian Rkatsiteli can show marmalade, honey, caramel, white fig and sweet spice.
The best orange wines guide lists the tasting notes that come up most in the orange wines we carry.
How to serve orange wine
- Serve tannic, long-macerated orange wines at about 54 to 57°F (12 to 14°C), and warmer if the wine seems closed.
- Serve lighter orange wines, made with only a few days on the skins, at about 50 to 54°F (10 to 12°C).
- Drink it with food. The acidity and light tannin stand up to rich dishes.
The temperatures come from Simon J Woolf, writing in Decanter.
Orange wine and natural wine
Orange wine describes how the grapes ferment. Natural wine describes how the grapes are farmed and how little is added in the cellar. Many orange wines are also natural wines, but the style does not require it: South Africa’s legal category allows up to 40 mg/L of sulfur dioxide.
Orange wine on a label
- United States: federal rules use “orange wine” as the example name for a fruit wine made from oranges, and list “amber wine” as a color name for grape wine.
- Australia: Orange is also a wine region in New South Wales, so some producers use “amber wine” instead.
- Georgia: look for “amber” or qvevri on the label.
Common questions about orange wine
- What is orange wine?
- White wine fermented with the grape skins, the way red wine is made. The skins give it an amber color and tannin.
- Is orange wine made from oranges?
- No. It is made from white wine grapes. The name describes the color.
- Is orange wine the same as amber wine?
- Yes. Amber wine is the Georgian term and the name some producers prefer.
- How long does orange wine stay on the skins?
- From days to months. The OIV definition requires at least 1 month, South Africa’s at least 96 hours and Ontario’s at least 10 days.
- Is orange wine sweet?
- Usually not. The Australian Wine Research Institute describes orange wines as dry, with noticeable tannin.
- Is orange wine natural wine?
- Not by definition. Orange wine describes the fermentation on skins. Many orange wines are also natural wines.
- What is the difference between orange wine and rosé?
- Rosé is made from red grapes with a few hours of skin contact. Orange wine is made from white grapes that ferment on their skins for days to months.
Sources
- OIV: Resolution OIV-ECO 647-2020, white wine with maceration
- Australian Wine Research Institute: amber wine
- Buican et al. (2023): “Orange” wine, a review
- McGovern et al. (2017): early Neolithic wine of Georgia
- UNESCO: ancient Georgian qvevri wine-making method
- National Wine Agency of Georgia: qvevri wine
- Georgia: Law on Vine and Wine
- South Africa: skin macerated white (2015)
- VQA Ontario: wine categories
- EU: Manchuela PDO amendment (2025)
- US: 27 CFR 4.21, standards of identity
- Decanter: orange wines, it’s time to get in touch
- Decanter: how to serve orange wine
- Decanter: ramato wine
- Wine Spectator: Radikon
- Maker’s Table: the Gravner notebook
- Heberlein et al. (2026): orange and white wine from the same grapes
- WSET: Georgian wine and amber wine
- Simon J Woolf: don’t call it skin contact
Keep reading
The best orange wines guide picks bottles to start with, by country and style. The orange wine collection lists every orange wine we carry.
Read the best orange wines guide Shop orange wine Read the natural wine guide
