Orange wines arrive in India, and go well with tandoori chicken

The simplest way to categorise wines is through colour. There’s red, white, rosé—and orange wines have recently entered India. Last month, Mumbai-based retailer Wine Park introduced them, and they come in varying shades of sunset. 

For now, they are selling two different orange wines from the Italian producer Radikon: Slatnik Bianco made with a Chardonnay blend, and Sivi Bianco made with Italy’s most popular white grape, Pinot Grigio. These are premium bottles priced at ₹8,495 each. Funky on the palate, the flavour and aroma of these wines come closest to home-brewed rice beer from the North-East. 

The interesting aspect about them is they are made with grapes, like Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay and Chenin Blanc, that go into refreshing whites too. The difference is in the production process. Orange wines use the same grapes but with skin, whereas white wines need the pulp. The skin contact (to use a wine term) imparts a pale orange colour and slightly thicker texture. The fermentation involves natural yeasts, which explains the funky flavour. 

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It’s not an easy, sipping drink and either you will like it or hate it. Nevertheless, it’s a trendy drink as the preference for naturally fermented wines is on the rise. Biodynamic and natural wines are having a moment, points out Kevin Rodrigues, the award-winning sommelier of the restaurant Indian Accent in Delhi and Mumbai. Orange wines are not a modern phenomena, they have been around for centuries, and originated in Georgia. Rodrigues plans to include them in pairings, for diners to discover something new. Their savoury flavour underscored with hints of umami is unlike any other wine and complement spicy Indian food. “Both have that intensity,” he notes. 

There’s another contemporary Indian restaurant that has been experimenting with orange wines much before it was imported. Masque along with Nashik-based Vallonne Vineyards launched an orange wine named Kustavaan in 2022. It isn’t available to buy and is only served at Masque. “We introduced it to fill a gap. Diners and Indians living abroad who moved back to the city after the pandemic asked for them,” says sommelier Hridhay Mehra of Masque. They made 300 bottles, ran out of them in 15 months and a fresh batch is underway.

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Wines like these are niche, and are typically discovered through restaurants with an expert sommelier taking you through the tasting. “The way I pushed it was in a flight of wines called homegrown favourites. It has six Indian wines which go well with the food. I’d add the orange wine to get people to experiment and try it out,” says Mehra. According to Rodrigues, he will be standing next to the guests who will taste the wine for the first time lest their first impression is of being served a bad wine. For now, it’s a highly experimental bottle. 

All orange wines don’t have the blue cheese-like fermented taste though. There are few that are barrel-aged for extended periods, which mellows the flavour. Rodrigues suggests orange wines from Jura region of France where they are aged for six years and more and acquire an almost sherry-like characteristic. For those curious to know more, he suggests the excellent wine book Amber Revolution by orange wine expert Simon J. Woolf. 

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