ORANGE features a selection of macerations which invigorate and excite. Offering examples so filigree and fine they could be classified as genre-defying, alongside those with enough flesh and grip to stand up to the most robust of cooking, few wines are as versatile on the table as these.
LE BATOSSAY
Pied! 2023
Loire, France
Chenin Blanc from a parcel of seventy year old vines planted over quartz and schist that has been in Baptiste’s family for four generations. Fermented as whole bunches for a week before being pressed to cuve for a short rest, this pours a thousand shades of gold and wows with delicate scents of tropical fruit, minerals and brine. A vibrant, singular expression of this most noble of grapes.
Chenin Blanc
DOMAINE DE L’OCTAVIN
Sly Vin 2021
Jura, France
Sylvaner grown by Guillaume Clauss in Ergersheim, Alsace. This spent three weeks on the skins as whole bunches, before being pressed to cuve until the following spring. How Alice manages to coax such beautiful aromas out of Sylvaner we’ll never know. A vivid shade of yellow in the glass, this really impresses with gentle floral notes, neat tannins and a refreshing line of acid that screams apéritif.
Sylvaner
LE COSTE
Bianco 2022
Lazio, Italy
Mostly Procanico with the balance being made up of Malvasia, Roscetto, Pedino, Vermentino, Romanesco and Ansonica from vineyards young and old. From a cooler vintage, this saw a shorter maceration of just five days, before being pressed off to old casks for a year of élevage. Straw yellow in the glass, this vintage is wonderfully light on its feet, with delicate notes of lemon zest, sea salt and minerals offering refreshment in spades.
Procanico, Malvasia, Roscetto, Pedino, Vermentino, Romanesco, Ansonica