The Other Sunday Sport: Drinking Orange Wine

I’m a football fan, so my Sundays in October tend to involve the cultured delicacies of fall-themed beers, chips and dips, and pizza, or wings, or something else of the greasy variety, with a front-row seat to the televised game. But on this particular Sunday, I find myself off the couch at a fair close to Union Square, sampling the other classic football beverage — orange wine. Okay, maybe it hasn’t caught on yet, but as I head up the elevator to the event space, I’m convinced I’m on the cusp of a new cultural crossover.

“Today we have wines from Georgia, Hungary, Austria, Germany, and even some from California.”

I look past my host, and an overwhelming feeling surges through me as I scan the tables and wine bottles adorning them. Listen, I like wine as much as the next person, and I could even tell you the difference between a grigio and a noir — besides their colors. I can feel the sweet wines tickle the front of the tongue while the more bitter ones linger on the back. I know that “dry” feeling isn’t what makes wines dry — “dry” refers to how much sugar is left after fermentation. That dry-mouth feeling comes from tannins, and wines from colder regions tend to have more aggressive tannins. So, yeah, I may have been to a wine tasting or two, but still, I feel out of my depth. Luckily, I have Doreen, my host and conversation partner.

Doreen Winkler is the founder of Orange Glou, a subscription orange-wine club, and today she has curated the Orange Glou Fair, showcasing some of the best orange wines from around the world. She tells me of her origins as a sommelier and how her preference for orange wines turned into her passion and eventually her business. She says it’s a simple story — not that its simplicity makes it any less inspiring. After traveling around the world discovering orange wines, she’d want to share the ones she loved with friends in the city, but there wasn’t anywhere to find them. She tells me, “I literally had a moment where I thought, ‘Someone should open an orange wine club.’ And then friends would say, ‘Yeah, you.’” And she did. Like I said, a simple enough idea — but one preceded by years of honing her craft and the tenacity to see it through.

But what is this orange wine that Doreen is so passionate about? Well, no matter what your hipster friend in Brooklyn tells you, they did not discover it, nor did they start this wine “fad.” Orange wine is also not made from some mythical orange grape or even olives (I overheard that one time on the train, and I’m now convinced there’s someone out there drinking olive oil thinking it’s orange wine). No, orange wine is a skin-contact wine made from white grapes. While white wines are fermented without the grape skin, orange wines are fermented with the skin — similar to the process for red wines. i.e., an orange wine is a white wine fermented like a red wine. Take note of this formula — it will be on the test.

It’s a process that was developed in the country of Georgia 8,000 years ago, and yet it still encourages creativity. At least that’s what I learn at the first table Doreen leads me to. I’m given a blend to try called Glück from Weingut Werlitsch of Austria, and immediately I feel right at home in this new world of wine. I realize that Doreen has not just filled a room with some of the best wines in the world — her original mission of sharing this joy with friends still continues. Her infectious passion has drawn similar passion from the winemakers in the room — an eagerness to share something they love with others.

The Glück has a bold flavor that hits so many taste buds. At another table, I try Machherndl’s Pulp Fiction wine (because it’s a cinematic masterpiece), and Erich tells me about the intricacies of the aging process and how he is constantly testing to find the right age for each wine. It’s a process that will never be complete but will still yield new findings and delicious wines. I learn about traditional Georgian wines at another table. The gentlemen tell me about the qvevri — a traditional vase buried in the ground that Georgian wines were aged in — and I try a wine called Silhouette, which is my favorite of the day. It isn’t super sweet but tastes like strawberry jam, the perfect chaser to a wine called Orange Affair, which is more traditional and very smoky.

When I ask Doreen what she hopes will come from this fair, all she says is, “Not enough people know about orange wine.” Sure, it’s her business, but after going from table to table, this is clearly a labor of love. The winemakers are here for Doreen as much as they are here to showcase their product. It’s a community that loves what they do and is excited to have a platform to express themselves. The wines are incredible, but the experience is unforgettable. Any wine aficionado would love the Orange Glou Fair, but even a more casual fan would feel right at home. Unfortunately, this year’s event is over — but I happen to know of an online club where we can get the wine for next week’s game.

Learn more at the Orange Glou Website