WTN: Orange is the new beer

[Jenise]

2020 Meinklang Pinot Gris Graupert Burgenland
First off, must describe the color. Sitting in wide burgundy bowl illuminated by an overhead light, it's the prettiest wine I've ever seen. Orange, a burnished shade, but with a neon yellow rim. Drinking it is another kind of effort, and the flavors take some adjusting to: Seville (bitter) orange, guava, hops, onion skin. At moments it tastes more like a bitter British beer than a wine. Didn't love it, didn't hate it; needs food but it's not an easy match.

2020 Meinklang Pinot Gris Graupert Burgenland
First off, must describe the color. Sitting in wide burgundy bowl illuminated by an overhead light, it's the prettiest wine I've ever seen. Orange, a burnished shade, but with a neon yellow rim. Drinking it is another kind of effort, and the flavors take some adjusting to: Seville (bitter) orange, guava, hops, onion skin. At moments it tastes more like a bitter British beer than a wine. Didn't love it, didn't hate it; needs food but it's not an easy match.

From your description, Jenise, it sounds to be a VinoMacerati/skin-contact white. Did you pick up any of that characte??
Tom

[Jenise]

Very definitely, Tom, while at the same time I can say I've never had any like this one.

Jenise, while most winemakers make white PG, and so screen out all the skins after the press, some use longer soak times to give some colour, sometimes making them into a Rose.

Have you ever had the Kettle Valley PG? Excellent and the result of the long maceration certainly seems to pay off in bouquet and flavour. They occasionally also impart enough tannins to detect.

[Jenise]

Bill I'm familiar with that difference. But this was not merely a longer soak, the skins were included in the fermentation.

OK, they are doing that in BC too - but I generally don't like it much.

[Jenise]

I've liked a few, grudgingly. But I have disliked more than I liked (while sitting in the same room with guys that were going gaga over them).

This is the first time I have seen in writing orange wine compared to beer, but the similarity has occurred to me also. In particular with this weird Greek wine - semi-sweet, semi-sparkling, and orange with a ruddy tone (it has some red grapes too). Glinavos Paleokerisio 2019 - try it if you get the opportunity!
http://www.winenous.co.uk/wp/archives/13666

For me, this was easy to match, but more with eastern Mediterranean food than west European (to speak in broad terms)

[Jenise]

Steve, thanks for the validation. It's strange, isn't it? And I agree about the kind of food that would work with it. It just didn't work with what I was having--I honestly didn't realize it was an orange wine when I bought it. Everything about it was a total surprise.