I’m stumped. I don’t know if this wine is stylistically correct or oxidized.
Nose muted, oxidized stone fruit, tight waxy uninteresting finish.
sounds like every orange wine I have tried, sadly I am just not hip enough to understand these faulty creations
Sounds about right.
Opened a second bottle that was slightly more open and a bit less dark. It was still, for my palate, not worth the price of admission.
I’ve had this many times now…and I’ve had one “wow” experience with this. One some levels it parallels my experience with Beaucastel Blanc VV. The one experience I had with it when it was on was awesome…every other one was meh. At 20-25% success…I have NO interest in spending my money on it.
The deal is, a friend us trying to impress her wine geek SiL with a bottle and she’s focused on orange wines. I ordered these to sample one and provide one for the gift. BTW, She LOOOOVED it.
The Moroccan spiced chicken and root vegetables we ate with it were really good though.
Don’t say that. BB is a totally different beast with no oxidative notes and NOT orange. Of course, like many Rhone whites, you need to catch it on the right day, but the hit rate should be over 90%, not 25 with that wine.
The biggest problem with purchasing Orange wines, and Gravner in particular, ESPECIALLY the older bottlings, are the storage conditions. I run into old bottles of Gravner all the time in stores, and they are usually stored at room temperature, and usually turning brown by 10 years of age. Purchase them upon release and cellar them yourselves. I had an '05 Breg a few months ago that was just breathtaking, and still beautifully light amber in color with no browning -
What might be a safer option for the gift (under $40)?
I was talking about my experience with the wines being “off”. They’re both about the same in that 3 out of 4 bottles have been “ok” for me with one being…“Oh, this is why people rave about this wine”. I’m not comparing the wine styles at all…
Seconded. Had a 1995 Breg some time ago. Was thoroughly oxidized and completely in pieces. A shame, because I enjoy well-made skin-contect white orange / amber wines quite a lot.
Any advice or recommendations for my friend’s Orange wine gift?
Can you find a Zidarich white? (Prulke, Malvasia, …whatever) Not easy to find but well-made. Old Bressan whites if you can suss them out. Does it have to be OLD? And why does it have to be ORANGE?
Agree on the Zidarich. Also Skerk and Kabaj are good choices.
Easiest option would probably get one of JimCowan’s skin-contact whites,
or a Forlorn-Hope, or a Ryme Vermentino “His”.
Tom
Try looking for Coenobium from Suore Cistercensi. Awesome wine and not too far out in the orange spectrum.
“Week of Orange Wine” started yesterday in NYC.
Will hit up a couple of events and see what’s up!
If you are set on Italy, and white - go with a white from Liguria - Pigato in particular. Usually in the $30 range, it’s just an extraordinary white, and a little bit easier to understand than an orange wine -
The orange wine thing is something she’s kinda stuck on. At least stylistically I need to stay in that lane. Thanks guys.
Piggy-backing on Thomas’ suggestion. We tasted a Pigato for the first time last week. Very nice wine. Also tasted Malvasia at the same time which we also enjoyed. Finally, another Italian white suggestion is Fiano di Avellino, which to our tastes has just a little bit more “going on”” than the other two. All three could be enjoyed on their own or with food. We would be happy receiving or gifting any of the three. They are all in the $25 range.
2017 Cascina Praie Pigato
2017 Caravaglio Malvasia
2014 Colli di Lapio Fiano di Avellino
I have not had too many orange wines, but from the ones I’ve had, an older Gravner served from Magnum was a wonderful standout (2001 Breg Amfora) when I tried it last December. I especially enjoyed it as it approached room temperature.
My ‘challenge’ with most Orange wines is that they tend to speak more of the ‘process’ than individual varieties - kind of like lots of ‘carbonic’ wines these days. Though many may be ‘enjoyable’, few are standouts, at least to me.
That said, I am certainly open minded and am enjoying the suggestions here.
Cheers.