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Fermentation Atlas

Alcoholic drinks from Georgia

Orange wine (white wine with maceration, amber wine)

Orange wine is white wine made the way red wine is, with the crushed grapes left to ferment and soak on their skins and seeds for at least a month. The skins give it an orange to amber colour, more phenolics and a tannic grip. The international definition cites the old Georgian method of making wine in clay qvevri. Made in 5 steps over 30 days. The longest step, keep macerating after fermentation, takes at least 30 days (OIV 2020). Saccharomyces cerevisiae does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main stepat least 30 daysSet[oiv647][crisan2026]Keep macerating after fermentation
Temperature10–12 °CReported[crisan2026]Ferment on the skins
AciditypH 3 → 3.32Measured[crisan2026]Keep macerating after fermentation
Fully documentedAlcoholic drinks30 daysWhite wine with maceration, OIV International Code of Oenological Practices, definition 4.9 (resolution OIV-ECO 647-2020)Family: Red wineMore alcoholic drinksMore from Georgia

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceAmounts from a 27 L tank trial at the Iași University of Life Sciences, Romania; producers set their own, and many rely on the grapes' own yeasts.
White grapes, destemmed and crushed · Juice and pomace kept together at 3 parts liquid to 2 parts solids by volume in the trial[crisan2026]
5 g/hLPotassium metabisulfite · Added to the crushed grapes at once, against oxidation and spoilage[crisan2026]
20 g/hLActive dry wine yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae)[crisan2026]
Starterinoculated wine yeast or the grapes' own yeasts

Total time across the recorded steps: 30 days

Start
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What changes: White grapes are destemmed and crushed, and the skins stay with the juice

Step 1 of 5
Destem and crush white grapes
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Yeasts

Output: crushed grapes with skins and seeds.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

What makes this one different

A white wine is pressed off its skins before it ferments. Orange wine keeps white grapes on their skins, seeds and sometimes stems for at least a month, as a red wine would be, which is why it is filed here under red wine.

Grapes
White grape varieties only
Maceration
At least one month in contact with the pomace (skins, seeds and sometimes stems)
Colour and taste
Can be orange-amber in colour with a tannic taste

Related ferments

Variants

  • Georgian qvevri wine (Kakhetian style)The traditional method the OIV definition cites; see the qvevri entry.
  • Short skin contactOrdinary white wines get at most a brief skin contact before fermentation, for aroma in some aromatic grapes; that is not white wine with maceration.

Safety

Long contact with the pomace raises volatile acidity. In one trial it peaked at 0.65 g/L after six months, still below the 1.20 g/L limit for white wines.

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

The OIV adopted the definition "white wine with maceration" in November 2020, citing the ancient Georgian method of winemaking in qvevri, which UNESCO listed as intangible cultural heritage in 2013.

  1. [oiv647] OIV 2020, Resolution OIV-ECO 647-2020, White wine with maceration (International Code of Oenological Practices, definition 4.9)spec
  2. [crisan2026] Crișan (Buican) B.-C. et al. 2026, Phenolic evolution during extended skin contact, effects of harvest maturity on "orange" wine composition and color, Foods 15:3334, doi:10.3390/foods15183334paper