Gateway Skins - an intro to orange wine

Four beautiful bottles that are a perfect introduction to the world of skin-contact orange wines  

Oniric Brisat, Entre Viynes, Spain

£18.00 > £16.20

Light skin-contact orange wine from Penedes in Spain - this is a great introduction into the world of orange wine. There's stone fruit aromas and light savoury spice. Its a light, easy-going orange wine that's elegant and balanced.

The wine sees 14 days of maceration with the skins of Xarel-Lo, after which it is pressed into clay amphoras (giant clay pots), where it rests for six months prior to bottling.

Curtido, Foilas de Baco, Portugal

£22.00 > £19.80

Made from the grape variety Moscatel Galego, this wine spends four months with its skins, but considering that it's a relatively soft skin-contact/orange wine.

Moscatel brings ripe stone fruit with floral aromatics. The skin contact adds a savoury texture to the palate - a super-interesting counter-point between fruit and savoury notes. Try with dishes that have this interplay - tagine and biryani, for instance, are good matches for this wine.

Coconar, Vini Sassara, Italy

£24.00 > £21.60

Two months on skins which might make you think this is going to be pretty tannic and rich. However, Garganega when combined with the cooling impact of Lake Garda on the Morainic Hills has created an orange wine of real elegance. It's light, bright with unique notes of apricot, orange-zest and subtle spice.

Malvasia dello Scarparo, Collecapretta, Italy

£29.00 > £26.10

The Rolls Royce of orange wine! This is sophisticated and extremely elegant. There's just three days skin-contact or maceration, so there's just a hint of savoury character. The skin-contact really amplifies the texture and gives the wine a stunning mouteel. It's dry, complex with loads going on, tonnes of complexity and lots of character - think apricot, thyme, fresh almonds, minerals, and a salty finish. Collecapretta are one of the original natural wine innovators and have been growing wine in this fashion for centuries - it's not about the on-trend wine zeitgeist here, it's just how it's always been done.