Had our first orange wine last night

This was a bottle my wife got in her monthly shipment that she gets from a local wine shop, a 50/50 mix of muscat & merlot.
Having no prior experience with orange wines I have no idea how to compare this to other bottles, but we both found it to have a lot of acidity but also a fleshy mouthfeel. I actually compared it to a sour beer I had recently but can’t remember the name of.
Looking forward to finishing it tonight, last night we had it chilled so I’d like to try the rest of it at room temp to compare.
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Orange with a blend of Muscat and Merlot? Orange wines I have had have been skin contact white wines or white grapes like pinot gris or grenache gris with skin contact.

Yeah and to be honest I have found varying descriptions of this particular wine, some saying that its 100% muscat with 3 weeks of skin contact. Soooo… who knows!

I agree with Brian - it it had merlot in it, it was not an orange wine. Describing it like some sour beers is an interesting comparison - were you getting VA on the most? Interested to hear more . . .

Cheers!

Jesse/Brian/Larry,

I had the Le Trouble Fait at Raw Wine LA back in November. It is indeed Alexandria Muscat and Merlot, with the Merlot being direct pressed and the Muscat having some skin contact. As I recall, it was a cloudy white as noted in the photo - but to be honest, even though I have the Trouble Fait in the pic, I’m not sure if that pic is the TF or the direct press Syrah I tried after it. Marc Barriot of Clot de l’Origine had some longer skin-contact/oxidized whites that were truly “orange” in color, but I would just call the TF a partially skin-fermented white. He also had a white blend of Macabeu and direct press Syrah that was interesting.


I noted on Delectable at the time that the Trouble Fait was my “fun” wine of the day, with a wild nose of blueberry, basil, rosemary and mint. Of course I only had a one ounce tasting pour, so only a brief and fleeting impression among 60+ wines tasted.

Jesse - I see that you are in the LA area. Check out RawWine.com and keep an eye out for the next LA tasting. Date TBD, but should be in November as it was in 2017 and 2018. A really fun event with many interesting (and a few crazy) wines. Quite a few different “Orange” wines to try, including some from the US such as Ambyth, as well a number from France, Italy and the Republic of Georgia. One of my favorites that day was an Alsatian orange by Mathieu Deiss of Vignoble du Reveur, called Un Instant Sur Terre. It is a blend of 50% Pinot Gris/50% Gewurztraminer macerated on skins in Amphora for 6 months each.

Bar and Garden in Culver City and Vinovore in Silver Lake had one of the Clot de l’Origine orange wines in stock at the time (I forget the name), while Lou Wine Shop in Los Feliz had the Un Instant Sur Terre (2016 was sold out when I tried to buy another last month - not sure if he has gotten the 2017 in yet).

Continue to explore!

Edit - I didn’t snap a pic of the Clot de l’Origine orange wine, but here is a pic of the Alsatian showing the color.


Cheers!

Steve

Thanks Steve, I’ll definitely check it out.