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Skin contact whites Uncorked
Uncorked Skin contact whites
Orange, amber and off-white
Skin contact white wines, or orange wines, are an instantly recognisable style to the eye. The cloudy colour makes the warm hues of the wines glow in the right light. The flavour, however, could not be more versatile or unique. Harrison Davies explores how this old style of winemaking has rediscovered the limelight over recent years.
Jayden Ong. Photo: Young Gun of Wine
Skin contact white wines might conjure up images of wine-bars in back alleys populated by wine drinkers looking to try something new and revolutionary. In fact, fermenting white grapes on the skins is a technique steeped in tradition and finds its roots in traditional Mediterranean winemaking. The style invites low intervention growing and winemaking and offers a way for winemakers to express the unique characteristics of the grapes they are working with. It is very similar to the winemaking process of red winegrapes. This result is a much more textural wine with tannic elements, but not always. Some of them could be deeper in flavour, just not all the time. In fact, the colour itself, the most noticeable aspect of the style, plays the least important role and is nothing more than a signifier of how the producer has created the wine.
While many winemakers are keen to throw their hats into the ring of skin contact whites, the practice in Australian winemaking is still relatively young. Skin contact white wine stems from traditions in Italian and Georgian winemaking, where the skins were left on the grapes and placed in amphora to ferment when making table wine. The style was put into the dustbin of history in the early 20th century, when Italian producers began to find a new niche within the premium wine market and what was once table wine drunk by workers became pure, clean, premium wines.
Italian winemaker Joško Gravner wanted to re-discover the older traditions in Italy and went on a research expedition that eventually led him through countries like Slovenia and Georgia, before putting what he learnt in the bottle and releasing his own skin contact whites in the early 2000s.
The introduction of the style to Australia can be traced back to Kevin McCarthy, winemaker at the T’Gallant winery on the Mornington Peninsula, who released the first example of the style in 2008 – a blend of Chardonnay, Gewürztraminer and Moscato Giallo. small, independent winemakers as they offer a unique and individualised way of exploring the flavours and textures of the grapes. Macedon Ranges based winemaker Micah Hewitt, founder of the Defialy wine label, uses skin contact winemaking for several of his whites and explained what he likes about the style.
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Skin contact whites are known by several names; some are known as orange wines, others as off-white. Some skin contact whites may even be indistinguishable from cleaner white wines.
“The more options that are out there, the better. Adding a bit of skin contact, whether it’s a short amount or a long amount, just adds an extra dimension to the traditional winegrape varieties that we’re used to,” he said. “We’re experimenting with different varieties. There’s a lot of the Italian varietals that are really suited to our climate. “I like to work with [grapes] that are really suited to that skin contact; they’ve been making these wines for hundreds if not thousands of years.”
Cloudy memory
Skin contact whites entered their vogue moment as the natural wine scene took hold in the early 2010s. It was this scene that drew Adelaide Hills based Unico Zelo brand ambassador Noah Ward to the style while he and the team were at university. “With the rise of the natural wine movement in Australia in the early 2010s, skin contact white wine was well and truly in the zeitgeist, but back then – at least domestically – it was relatively expensive to purchase the very few on the market; around the $50 mark as an entry point,” he said. “Unico Zelo was started by university students, so to experience those styles was well and truly out of the student budget, so if we were going to make it, we’d have to make it affordable. “We stumbled across this vineyard of Zibbibo in the Riverland that was dry grown and planted in the 1940s – as winemakers we were particularly excited by that, and aromatic varieties make fantastic examples of skin contact white wine, so we thought we’d give it a crack. “This became the genesis of Esoterico, now well and truly our most popular wine, based on the fact that we intentionally made it very affordable, sitting on the shelf at AU$25.” Unico Zelo now have two skin contact whites in their repertoire, the aforementioned Esoterico, a blend of Zibbibo, Moscato
Unico Zelo brand manager Noah Ward. Photo: Riverland Uprising
Noah Ward
Giallo and Gewürztraminer, and the Terra Cotta, a Greco varietal wine. Ward said that both of them are treated very similarly to the reds in their range and that leaving them on the skins helps to express the terroir more than would be possible with a cleaner white. “We treat them very similar to our red wines; de-stem them, crush them, pump over twice a day until we press them off,” he explained. “We then age [the Esoterico] for 12 months to let the tannin settle and also partially age in barrel to add further complexity. It’s a more approachable style of skin contact wine, with plenty of peach, nectarine. “Our other wine, Terra Cotta, we only leave on skins for two days, but since it is such a tannic grape it extracts extreme colour, tannin and more burnt citrus peel flavours. “Flavour wise, the main addition when skin fermenting is tannin, which adds structural complexity and texture, which for some white wines is very pleasing, but can also be quite aggressive as a lot of white grape varieties have a lot of natural tannin – much like red grapes. “The other thing it adds flavour wise, is more interaction with oxygen, but since the skins add antioxidants, it means that the wine can interact more with oxygen whilst being protected, so this adds more complexing flavours that we don’t often see in white wines.”
The two wines demonstrate the breadth of possibility lended by making wines with the style, as well as what makes them so hard to pin down. Ward said the style was derivative of traditions that had been started in Europe, but what was being experimented with in Australia was very innovative. “It’s separate from the more commonly known traditions of white wine of France and Italy, but the way we look at it, it’s not all that out of place in the wine world,” he said. “Every wine producing country in the world has been making skin contact wine well and truly before the emergence in popularity of natural wine – we know them as red wines.
“[Skin contact whites] have a place in every wine industry and definitely in Australia. The market and consumers are growing more and more comfortable with the style, producers around the country are making interesting, stable and delicious examples at a wide range of price points.”
Finding their own footing
With more accessible prices and a wider consumer base of knowledge about them, orange wines and skin contact whites are slowly finding themselves on more bottle shop shelves and wine lists. As consumers become more familiar with them, the industry has shone a greater spotlight on the style. Awards like the Australian Alternative Varieties Wine Show have begun separating award classes to allow for skin contact whites to be judged in their own category, and events like the Yarra Valley’s Pulp Festival look to showcase the work of upcoming winemakers. Wine Yarra Valley CEO Caroline Evans said the festival aims to bring together wine producers and consumers to explore emerging wine styles, outside of the traditionally-made Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon. “Whilst the Yarra Valley is home to some
Photo: Micah Hewitt
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Like many red wines, skin contact whites pair especially well with foods due to their rich texture. Winemakers often suggest pairing them to summery fish dishes or even something hot like Thai or Indian food.
Skin contact whites over time
5800BC
Wines made in Georgia were crafted using qvevri, a vessel that facilitated the method of aging winegrapes on the skins
20th century
Italian wine moves away from table wine and toward a premium, French style. Skin contact whites are pushed aside for cleaner styles.
Early 2000s
Frustrated with the standard style of white winemaking, Josko Gravener researches and eventually releases white wine made with deliberate skin contact.
of the most classic and iconic estates in the country, we recognise that the market is dynamic and that consumers are very interested in new and evolving wines with an authentic story behind them,” Evans said. “Experimentation, and pushing the boundaries in winemaking, cultivates interest and complexity compared to traditionally-made and ‘technically correct’ wines.
“These alternative styles aren’t typical for the collector, but there is an increasing segment of the market that likes to experiment, who likes interesting, textural drinks with a funky story based on a ‘hands-off’ winemaking approach, rather than terroir.
“We’re finding these styles are becoming more popular and mainstream, particularly amongst Gen Z and Millennial consumers.”
Events like the Pulp Festival showcase not only the new styles of winemaking, but a changing consumer attitude towards wine.
Evans said that as society changes, the wine industry must also change to meet new demands, as consumers won’t always want what their parents and grandparents drank. “There is a fine line between being rooted in tradition and being complacent, and we’re fortunate that the Yarra Valley is home to some of the most progressive, dynamic winemakers in the world,” she said
“an ever-evolving ‘new wave’ of winemaking talent looking to alternative approaches, with a particular focus on sustainable production through the use of organic or biodynamic principles, new technologies and reducing carbon output in adapting to climate change. “Aside from a moral and ethical responsibility to contribute to more sustainable practices in wine production, there is also a financial benefit in attracting new consumers. “Gen Z and Millennials are often committed to sustainability and social change and are willing to support companies that uphold their ideals and values.”
Skin contact whites may be the future of wine, and they might also not be. What they represent is change. Whatever that change ends up being, using techniques like those used on skin contact whites is a way to demonstrate that a longstanding industry still has room for new ideas.
Tim Perrin from Oakridge. Photo: Redfish Bluefish Photography
Caroline Evans
