On the second Saturday of each month, a group of bloggers who are passionate about pairing food and wine come together around a wine theme and share food pairings related to that theme. Our theme for May is Skin-Contact White Wines.

A Type Of Wine By Any Other Name…

Skin-contact wines (a.k.a “orange wines,” skin-fermented,” “macerated”, “amber wines,” or ramato) are white wines made like red wines. What makes red wines red. “They ferment with the grape skins, which give wine its color. Depending on how long the juice ferments with the skins—anywhere from a few hours to many months—skin-contact wines can range in color from golden-straw yellow to vibrant amber to Tony the Tiger orange. The time with the skins also gives these wines more red wine characteristics, like bigger body and more tannin, while maintaining the acidity of a white wine. The longer the skins hang with the juice, the bigger and bolder the wine”. Source

Perhaps more so that than red, white or rosé wines, skin-contact wines are affiliated with very minimal intervention (some might say “natural) winemaking techniques. Most skin-contact wines are bottled unfiltered and unfined, so don’t be surprise to see visible sediment or the wine may even appear cloudy.

What Is Old, Is New Again!

While skin-contact white wines have been trending in the United States for a decade or so, their roots lie in the mountainous Eastern European country of Georgia. There, skin-contact wines are made in large, egg-shaped terracotta pots called qveri. These vessels are buried up to their neck and the wine is left to ferment from a few days to up to six months. The process, which dates back more than 6,000 years. Georgians call these skin-contact white wines “amber wine”.

According to Wine Enthusiast, in the early 1990s, inspired by Georgian winemaking techniques and natural viticulture, a pair of cult winemakers from the northeastern Italian region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Stanko Radikon and Joško Gravner, began to produce skin-contact wines.

There, the wines are called ramato, which translates to “copper-colored.” Made from grapes like Ribolla Gialla and Tocai Friulano, as well as Pinot Grigio, Radikon and Gravner brought skin-contact wines to prominence. It inspired a new era of experimentation throughout the region and elsewhere.

Join Us

We have great lineup of wine and food writers eager to share their experience with skin-contact white wines, and their food pairing suggestions.  Here is a preview of some of the topics covered.

• Camilla of Culinary Adventures With Camilla will be “Diving into the Skin Fermented Wine Pool of Two Shepherds Winery”
• Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm presents Donkey and Goat Skin Fermented Roussanne; A Baaaaad Ass Wine”
• Andrea of The Quirky Cork takes up “Turkish Amber Wines and Fast Food”
• Olivier of In Taste Buds We Trust will be “Trying Orange and non-Orange wine with Jamie’s Kinda Niçoise salad”
• Lori of Exploring The Wine Glass asks “Orange you glad I have wine? “
• Jeff of FoodWineClick offers “Wine 201: Orange Wine Primer
• Jill of L’Occasion will have us “Thinking Wine: The Engaging World of Orange Wine” 
• Linda of My Full Wine Glass will be “Revisiting NY Finger Lakes Skin-Contact White Wines”
• David of Cooking Chat proffers “Cauliflower Bacon Spread with Orange Wine from Georgia”.
• Gwendolyn at Wine Predator will be featuring “Orange Wines from CA and Italy by Accident and on Purpose Paired with Shrimp curry #WinePW
• Lauren at The Swirling Dervish shares “He Said, She Said: Ryme Cellars and the Tale of Two Vermentinos”
• Susannah of Avvinare serves up “Orange wine from Slovenia’s Movia Paired with Homemade Sushi”
• Katrina Rene of The Corkscrew Concierge wonders “Is Orange (Wine) the New Everything Wine?”
• Nicole at Somm’s Table will be “Cooking to the Wine: Kabaj Rebula and Chicken w/Mushroom Escabeche and Lentils”
• Rupal, the Syrah Queen advises us that “Radikon Orange Wine – Not Just For Hipsters”
• Here at ENOFYLZ Wine Blog, I’m serving up “A Cadre Of California Skin-Contact Wines Paired With Ethnic Fare”

Twitter Chat (#Winophiles)

We love visitors! Please join us for a Twitter chat #Winophiles on Saturday, May 9th 8:00 am PST/11:00 am EST as we explore Skin-contact White Wines and food pairings. Just follow the hashtag #winePW to join the fun!

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