What Is Skin Contact Wine?

For the longest time it seemed like reds, whites, and rosés were the only categories and colors of wines around. But, sometime in the last decade or so, skin-contact wines, also known as orange wines, began popping onto wine lists at trendy restaurants and onto the shelves in boutique wine shops. Today, skin contact wines are more widely available, and if you’re a wine lover, they’re definitely worth a try. Here, wine pros share details on what orange wine is, what it tastes like, and how to pair it with food.

What Is Skin Contact Wine, or Orange Wine?

Before we go any further, the first thing to understand is that orange wine is not made from oranges, but from grapes, just like your favorite bottle of red or white. Now that we have that out of the way, here’s what you need to know.

At its most basic level, wine is considered “skin contact” when the grape juice has contact with the grape skins during the winemaking process.

First, a refresher on how wine is produced. “Virtually all color in wine comes from contact with the skin,” says Hoopes. “Otherwise, grape juice is clear. You can make white wine from any grape, even red grapes.” For example, pinot grigio is a white wine made from red grapes. 

If the winemaker is making white wine, the juice has no contact with the skins. If the winemaker is crafting red wine, they’ll start with red grapes and let the juice macerate and ferment with the skins, seeds, and stems for days or weeks until the juice is red and the desired color, flavor, and alcohol level is achieved.

Orange wine is made in the style of red wine with white grapes. So winemakers start with white grapes, squeeze the juice, and then let the juice hang out with the skins, seeds, and stems, picking up flavor and color. “I’ve seen some orange wines with eight to 24 hours of skin contact, but I’ve also seen some outliers that macerate for 100 days or even a year,” says Patterer. 

Are There Other Types of Skin-Contact Wine?

All red wines are technically skin-contact wines, since they get their color from red grape skins. And many rosés are also technically skin-contact wines, made by letting the juice sit with red grape skins for a few hours or days to impart color and flavor. But, not all rosés are skin contact. “Some are made by blending white and red wines,” says Patterer. 

While you may see rosés and oranges together on a restaurant wine list under the heading “Skin Contact,” the term is most frequently used for so-called orange wines.

How Does Skin-Contact Wine Taste?

The flavor and the color of skin-contact or orange wine can vary widely, depending on the grape varietal and how long the skins had contact with the juice. The color can range from pale yellow to deep amber. Or, it may even be pink-ish. It may also look a little cloudy, if the wine was finished without filtering.

In general, orange wine has a deeper, fuller flavor than white wine and often a heavier texture. Because of the grape juice’s contact with the skin, stems, and seeds, the resulting wine can taste more tannic—slightly bitter and astringent—similar to many red wines. It might even taste a bit sour. “You often find characteristics of dried apricot and kombucha with orange wines, flavors that can be off putting for some. But they’re a great option for people who are familiar with the genre or folks who are feeling adventurous,” says Patterer.

Because the flavor of skin-contact wines can vary so much, be sure to try multiple bottles. Just because one isn’t to your liking doesn’t mean that you’ll be averse to all orange wines. 

How to Pair Skin-Contact Wines

“I typically enjoy orange wine with a hard cheese,” says Townsend. She notes that it can sometimes be a more challenging style of wine to pair than a red or white you’re familiar with since you can’t always pinpoint which grape a bottle of orange wine was made from.

Gaeta typically enjoys drinking a glass of orange by itself, almost as a pre-dinner cocktail. “However,” he continues, “they certainly have a seat at every table.” Since many orange wines are made in Friuli in northeast Italy, Gaeta subscribes to the “what grows together, goes together” philosophy. “Think orange wine teed up with a big plate of prosciutto and cheeses.” He also likes to serve them when he can’t decide if a dish calls for white or red. “You can split the difference with the freshness and acidity of white wine and the weightiness and tannin of a red wine.”

As for how to serve it, Townsend recommends skin-contact wine be served chilled, but not super cold. “When a wine is too cold, you miss out on a lot of its aromas and flavors.” Note that this is the case for white and rosé wines as well. To reach an ideal temperature, remove a well-chilled white, rosé, or orange wine from the fridge about 10 minutes before opening the bottle.

Bottles to Start With

Gaeta suggests looking for orange wines from regions that have a long history of making this style of wine, such as northern Italy, Slovenia, Greece, the Republic of Georgia, and Sicily. One bottle he recommends from the latter is COS’s Pithos Bianco Terre. 

There are interesting bottles to be had from California, as well, Gaeta says. One of his favorites is Old World Winery’s Rise, described by the winery as “orange blush skin contact white wine.”

For first-timers open to adventure, the best way to sample skin-contact wine, though, is probably ordering by the glass at a restaurant, since there’s less commitment than buying a whole bottle. Once you know what you enjoy in the skin-contact category, then you can graduate to full bottles. Cheers!