Is Orange Wine the Same as Skin-Contact Wine?

Many wine terms are interchangeable: quaffable and crushable, bouquet and aroma, tasting notes and flavor descriptors. Skin-contact and orange wine are also frequently lumped together. But are they the same thing?

Though all orange wines are made via skin contact, not all skin-contact wines are orange. Here's why.

What is skin-contact wine?

Sarah Favinger, formerly of Brooklyn-based wine store Smith & Vine, says that skin-contact wines come in a variety of colors. What we tend to label as “orange wine” is typically made from white grapes that have spent extended time on the skins. “This imparts a lot of orangey color on the wine,” she says. 

Favinger says that this process is similar to red wine vinification, where red grapes macerate with their skins to achieve a dark hue. Red grapes that see short periods of skin contact finish generally as rosé wine. 

As with red grapes and rosé, certain white wines can experience brief periods of skin contact, which result in paler-hued, not-quite-orange wines. 

“Extremely short or only partial skin contact can be used in white wines to enhance aromas, flavors and texture,” says Favinger. 

When making natural wines, short periods of skin contact are often implemented. This contact can protect the wine from flaws and allow for the use of less sulfur at bottling. 

“For orange/skin-contact wine, the grapes are pressed, stomped, or crushed following harvest, then left to macerate with the skins still in the juice during the primary fermentation process,” says Favinger. Longer maceration periods result in wines with more flavor and tannins. 

What grapes make the best orange wine?

Any white grape can be used to make orange wine. The most common varieties used are Pinot Gris, Zibbibo (Muscat), Xarel-lo, and Macabeo, as well as a number of Georgian varieties (Rkatsiteli, Chinuri, Kisi, and Krakhuna). 

Georgia is the best-known country that produces orange wine, where extended skin-contact wines have been made for centuries. The process has gained traction globally. 

“As the natural/minimal-intervention wine movement has grown around the world, those winemakers have also begun producing skin-contact wines, especially in Italy — particularly Sicily & Friuli-Venezia, stretching into southern Slovenia — and Catalonia,” says Favinger.

Why do skin-contact and orange wines taste like?

Skin-contact wines span the entire flavor profile spectrum. Orange wines are more synonymous with notes of citrus, dried fruits, and herbs. They’re known for their prominent mouthfeel. 

“Skin contact imparts tannins into wine (the mouth-drying feeling you get from red wine), which give these wines distinctive texture,” says Favinger. “And depending on the length of contact, you'll find more or less tannins.”

The unique qualities found in skin-contact and orange wines offer a world of discovery. 

“The more winemakers explore working with skin contact, the more the rainbow of wine colors expands, and the defined barriers between white, orange, rosé, and red wine begin to crumble, which is pretty fun and exciting,” says Favinger.

5 skin-contact orange wines to try

Venica & Venica Jesera Pinot Grigio (Friuli, Italy)

This skin-contact Pinot Grigio is macerated for 4 to 8 hours and aged sur-lie in a combination of used wood and stainless steel for six months. It’s fruity and floral with notes of peach, acacia, and citrus.

Head High Wines Skin Contact White Wine (Sonoma, California, U.S.)

A skin-contact blend of Chardonnay, Viognier, and Muscat, this is macerated for seven days and aged in a combination of neutral French oak and stainless steel barrels. It’s crisp and refreshing with notes of dried apple, tangerine, and orange peel.

Les Vins Pirouettes Orange Cubique François (Alsace, France)

This bottling is an orange wine made from an organically farmed blend of local varieties: Auxerrois, Muscat, Riesling, Pinot Gris, and Gewürztraminer. Macerated for 12 days and aged for nine months in a combination of large-format oak and stainless steel, the wine is medium-bodied with flavors of fresh orange, tropical fruits, and sweet spice.

Domaine Marcel Deiss ‘Le Jeu des Verts’ (Alsace, France)

Made from a biodynamically farmed field blend of Alsatian varieties in Bergheim, this orange wine is vinified with native yeasts, and macerated on the skins for three weeks in steel prior to aging for 12 months in old oak barrels. It has notes of apricot, bitter orange, and a hint of amaro-like freshness. It’s bottled unfined, unfiltered, and without added sulfur dioxide.

Pheasant’s Tears Kisi (Kakheti, Georgia)

An orange wine made from 100% Kisi grown in the village of Tibaani on sandstone and quartz, this is macerated with the skins for six months and aged in new qvevri for one year. Aromatic and textured, it has flavors of pithy stone fruit, orange marmalade, honey, and black tea.