Please The Palate |

Red, White, Rose and now Orange Wines

We now have four categories of wine - red, white, rosé and orange. Orange wines have a long history of being made and are basically white wines that are made like red wines, meaning the wines spend time on the skins, where they impart color. But many people think of orange wines as those sour beer-like wines that are nothing like what we think of wine. However, not all orange wines are beer-like and many producers are making skin-contact white wines in order to enhance the texture of the wine. I wrote about some of these wines in the Napa Valley Register, which I am sharing here.

It used to be an easy choice — do you want red wine or white wine? Then rosé grew in popularity and the choice was between red, white or rosé? But now, more and more, restaurants have a new section on the wine list offering orange wines, also called amber wine.

Orange wines are made like red wines. When we make red wines, the color comes from the skins. For rosé wines, the time the grapes spend on the skin is less than for red wines, resulting in a lighter red shade, or pink, wine. Orange wines are made from white wine grapes where the skins are kept on for hours, days, weeks or months, resulting in wines with orange or amber hues.

10 December, 2019

Please The Palate Pick of the Week: Valter Scarbolo Pinot Grigio

When you think about pinot grigio, you might think of water and lemon. You might think of a wine that does not really express anything. But pinot grigio made well can have real character - aromas of fresh apple, minerality, balance and aging potential. My tasting of the Valter Scarbolo pinot grigios from Friuli, Italy are beautifully expressive wines. As Lara Scarbolo explained, "pinot grigio is the wine of our heart." And that is why it is the Please The Palate "pick of the week."

Scarbolo is located in Friuli in the Northwest of Italy, a region is bordered by Austria and Slovenia. Friuli is the door to the Balkans and influenced by the Alps, hills, flats, beach and Adriatic sea. All of these influences contribute to the complexity of the area that consists of sand, clay and stone soils. The winters are cold, with eastern wines from the Balkans and marine breezes from the Adriatic. The Alps, like big shoulders, protect the region from the northern winds. The summers are warm with diurnal shifts that give the grapes good acidity. Being located at the same parallel as Bordeaux, although the area is known for white wines, they also produce red wines.

29 April, 2017