Today I join the Wine Pairing Weekend bloggers in their dive into skin-contact white wines, aka orange wines. These are wines that are made from juice that macerated on the grape skins, resulting in a darker hue, more volume, and noticeable tannins in the wine. The wineries who make this style of wines often swear by minimal intervention, and their wines are called “natural”. If you’re a regular on social media, you will undoubtedly have witnessed fascinating debates (I admit it is with some irony that I say this) on what constitutes a natural wine, or whether natural wine should be certified, and so on. Rather than participating in the controversy, I find it more interesting to highlight the fact that this makes for a highly original style, which in my experience often stands out because of the freshness and the purity of fruit. That is if they do not reek of barn, and other funky smells that unfortunately still occur in some of these wines. Orange wines in particular are often said to be versatile when it comes to food pairing. So, not having extensive experience with orange wines, I got very excited about this Wine Pairing Weekend theme and decided to step in with a little experiment…

I found an Italian winery that actually makes both styles, traditional and orange, of the same grapes. At Draga winery, situated in the north-east of Italy near the border with Slovenia, they have a Ribolla Gialla that is made in the traditional way, while there is also an orange Ribolla Gialla, released under the named Miklus, the name of the family who owns the winery. On his website The Morning Claret, Simon J Woolf talks to Mitja Miklus, who is currently holding the reins at Draga. Miklus describes the orange wines as “his” wines, the style he wants to make, and apparently they are very popular in Japan in China. The Draga series is produced for the Italian market, as there is more demand for the traditional style in Italy according to Miklus.

I chose both the Ribolla Gialla “Natural Art” 2014 and the traditional Ribolla Gialla 2018 to pair with Jamie Oliver’s Griddled Tuna kinda Niçoise Salad because of the meaty structure of the tuna, capable of absorbing tannins, and the very fresh dressing based on basil. I chose both wines, firstly to fully appreciate the difference between the wines, and then of course also to judge which one would fit best with the tuna. Honestly, though, I expected this to be a walkover for the orange wine. Little did I know at that point…

But first a closer look at the wines :

Miklus Ribolla Gialla Natural Art 2014, IGT Venezia Giulia

First impressions just after opening and coming straight out of the fridge : ouff, what’s this?! There’s a lot of vinegar-like and oxidative aromas coming out of the glass. The first suggests volatile acidity, which is an aroma that can come from an oxidative style of wine making, creating an environment in which the lactic acid bacteria who are responsible for these off aromas, can develop. There is also a very pronounced curry aroma, which makes me think of a vin jaune, an oxidative style of white wine from the Jura, France.

After half an hour the wine fortunately opens up with a more pleasant bouquet of exotic fruit, curry, honey and cedar wood. There’s no obvious trace anymore of the volatile acidity, but the nose is still “lifted” with a touch of freshness. With the temperature now only just below room temperature the full-bodiedness of the wine becomes very clear. This wine has great volume, is bone-dry and has pleasant tannins. The acidity is lively and well integrated. The wood is more prominent than I had expected and carries the very long and satisfying finish. I find this definitely an interesting wine, with a good deal of complexity. But it’s not an easy one. Something they obviously realize at Draga’s as well as the website clearly states: “This wine requires a lot of experience”…

Draga Ribolla Gialla 2018, DOC Collio

If there was one word I had to choose to describe this wine, it is “shy”. There is a little bit of (browned) apple in the nose, a hint of florality perhaps. Again very dry, and the acidity is rather mild. Apart from a slight almond bitter the finish is very short. A very light and rather neutral wine.

Would anyone at this point expect the second wine to be the better match with the grilled tuna? You wouldn’t, would you?

Jamie’s Griddled Tuna kinda Niçoise Salad

Jamie Oliver’s take on the famous Salade Niçoise is a very loose one, with fresh, grilled tuna and a dressing with basil giving a fresh lift to the dish. Fresh tuna is already very chunky, but grilling gives it even a more meaty feel.

The pairing

I thought the powerful and outspoken tastes of the orange wine and the tuna would keep each other in balance, but alas. Instead of a beautiful marriage, the two behaved like wrestlers in a ring where there is only place for one to come out victorious. The strong, spicy character of the Miklus did not work at all with the charred and salty flavors of the tuna. And the cedar wood cursed with the lemony fresh basil dressing. While one and one can sometimes be three, this pair went for a fight to the death.

I didn’t see that one coming!

As if that wasn’t enough, the traditional Ribolla Gialla started singing like a nightingale. What I first perceived as mild acidity, became a vibrant and zingy backdrop for the tuna salad in a way that reminded my of my experiences with Verdicchio. Although I regard Verdicchio as a higher quality grape, it behaves in the same way as this Ribolla, namely as a great food partner, not very expressive but capable of accompanying many dishes and supporting them with a fresh backbone. The palate-cleansing quality of the Draga Ribolla worked wonders in comparison to the overpowering orange Ribolla.

Normally the experiment would have ended here in a quod erat demonstrandum kind of way. What had to be proven, was proven. But since it wasn’t, I was piqued and felt an urge to re-try the orange Ribolla with a different dish. By coincidence I was offered a second chance the next day when we had a improvised stir-fry beef dish. The slices of beef were marinated in yakitori dressing and the chillies gave a nice heat to the dish.

We tried the rest of the orange Ribolla with it, and this time it was bullseye! The wine beautifully echoed the spicy and hot character of the stir-fried beef. Instead of a ring fight, this combination felt very natural and balanced.

No wonder they like this Miklus Ribolla Gialla in Japan and China.

Wine Pairing Weekend Posts

Have a look below to see what other bloggers pair with their orange wines.

• Camilla of Culinary Adventures With Camilla is “Diving into the Skin Fermented Wine Pool of Two Shepherds Winery”
• Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm presents Donkey and Goat Skin Fermented Roussanne; A Baaaaad Ass Wine”
• Andrea of The Quirky Cork takes up “Turkish Amber Wines and Fast Food”
• Lori of Exploring The Wine Glass asks “Orange you glad I have wine?”
• Jeff of FoodWineClick offers “Wine 201: Orange Wine Primer”
• Jill of L’Occasion has us “Thinking Wine: The Engaging World of Orange Wine”
• Linda of My Full Wine Glass is “Revisiting NY Finger Lakes Skin-Contact White Wines”
• David of Cooking Chat proffers “Cauliflower Bacon Spread with Orange Wine from Georgia”.
• Gwendolyn at Wine Predator is featuring “Orange Wines from CA and Italy by Accident and on Purpose Paired with Shrimp curry #WinePW
• Lauren at The Swirling Dervish shares “He Said, She Said: Ryme Cellars and the Tale of Two Vermentinos”
• Susannah of Avvinare serves up “Orange wine from Slovenia’s Movia Paired with Homemade Sushi”
• Katrina Rene of The Corkscrew Concierge wonders “Is Orange (Wine) the New Everything Wine?”
• Nicole at Somm’s Table is “Cooking to the Wine: Kabaj Rebula and Chicken w/Mushroom Escabeche and Lentils”
• Rupal, the Syrah Queen advises us that “Radikon Orange Wine – Not Just For Hipsters”
• Martin at ENOFYLZ Wine Blog, is serving up “A Cadre Of California Skin-Contact Wines Paired With Ethnic Fare”

Twitter Chat (#winePW)

You can join a Twitter chat on Saturday, May 9th 8:00 am PST/11:00 am EST/5:00 pm CEST (Brussels time) as we explore skin-contact white wines and food pairings. Just follow the hashtag #winePW.