08. Snack Wines: Orange Wine! (The "WTF Do I Pair This With" Wine)

The final episode and EASIEST (maybe best?) snack yet!

Welcome to the FINAL episode of SNACK WINES! For the past 8 weeks, I’ve been sharing weekly Snack Wines, aka wines that pair really fricken well with snacks. Each one has included a little crash course on the wine, PLUS a quick and easy savoury snack pairing. Today we have ORANGE WINE! AKA the “WTF Do I Pair This With” wine.

Any ideas for my next free series!?

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The Video

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The Wine: Orange Wine

Featured Wine: Parajes del Valle Maceración Macabeo Ecológico Orange
Food Besties: Charcuterie | Orange | Asian flavours | Spice | Turmeric | Ginger

What is orange wine?

Orange wine is technically the first and oldest style of wine. It’s made from white grapes in a typically minimal-intervention (aka natural) style, and of course, has a lovely orange colour. This is because it’s made in the same way as red wine (following the crush → ferment → press described below), but with white grapes instead of red.

When making white wine, the grapes are gently crushed, then pressed to separate the grape skins and release the juice, which is then fermented.

For red wine, the grapes are crushed, then left on the grape skins to ferment before pressing to remove the grape skins. The longer the juice sits on the skins, the more intense the colour.

• Up to 24 hours → rosé

• 1-2+ weeks → red wine

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Why is orange wine such a great snack wine?

Because it’s honestly kinda miraculous. Along with its high acidity (which I’ve said over and over → acidity = good for snacks) and bright, refreshing white wine flavours (citrus being a BIG one), it also has the texture of red wine (from the tannins and often higher alcohol), PLUS layers of spice to amp up the complexity. Since it has so many similarities to whites and reds, the pairing potential is insane. It can work with anything from delicate fish to rich red meat, and it works wonders with foods that are often harder to pair with wine (like spicy curry!)

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THE SNACK:

Boursin Caramelized Onion Dip + Salt & Vinegar Chips

How to make it: If you can find the premade dip from Costco then you’re good to go!! Just pick up some chips and dip away. If you can’t find it, just mix half and half caramelized onion dip and classic garlic and herb Boursin cheese! Full disclosure, I haven’t tried this yet. But how could it be bad?

→ All recipes + pairings!

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THAT’S IT!!
I had a lot of fun with this series and would love to start another one in the fall! If you have any suggestions or requests, please let me know in the comments!
Love you all!

xx Steph

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Previously on Snack Wines: