Duemani ("two hands") is a beautiful Tuscan estate sitting on the cusp of the Mediterrannean Sea. Looking at the photo above, you can almost tell that the biodynamic farm is buzzing with life. Several types of wildflowers (purple and yellow) and plants bloomed on the edges and between the vines, the leaves seemed to sparkle (perhaps a recent silica spray?), the soil felt great-- lose and spongy (unlike some vineyards in which the soil can become very compacted). Standing in the vineyards, looking toward the ocean you cannot help but be captivated by mysterious Elba, rising out of the sea in the distance. 

<-- The majestic Mediterranean coast just a short drive away. 

Husband and wife team Elena Celli and Luca D'Attoma cultivated this magical vineyard where they grow 65% cabernet franc, 15% merlot, and 20% syrah. Luca is the winemaker and Elena runs the business side of things, helping in the vineyard whenever possible. The cab franc and merlot are done guyot style but the syrah is trained up posts. Above, Elena examines some cabernet franc vines. Below, Luca holds court in his cellar, located a short drive away. The cellar is tiny-- pretty much what you see in the picture below; with such tiny production, you know that Luca spends a lot of time with each barrel. 

Together, they make three cuvees (pictured below): Altrovino, Duemani and Suisassi, all IGT.  The labels all have a similar geometric dot pattern. The wines inside are all on the powerful side, but each so different from the other. 

Duemani "Altrovino"
The altrovino is a 50/50 blend of cabernet franc and merlot, reminiscent of a right bank Bordeaux. This wine is vinified in cement, then spends elevage in cement-- nothin' but grape (no wood at all here!).

Duemani "Duemani"
The Duemani really explores what cabernet franc can be in Tuscany. On this particular trip, cabernet franc seemed to be a fairly popular topic of conversation-- many growers experiment with it, and in just about every wine-centered conversation people kept mentioning the interesting things happening with cabernet franc in Tuscany and the Marche (keep a lookout for this trend!). 
Duemani's "Duemani" is 100% cabernet franc-- this one fermented in oak, then aged in 50% new French oak. This is a very powerful wine with incredible aging potential-- Duemani was in their 12th year in 2010; I'd love to try these same vintages again in about a decade and see how they have aged.  Lots of varietal character here, with green pepper and black pepper jumping out through the sweet vanilla fragrance of the oak.  

Duemani "Suisassi"
This one really got me. Fermented in open-topped barriques, then elevage in all new oak (a blend of 70% French & 30% American). Luca tasted me through all the syrah barrels before he did his final blend-- the differences and complexities were stunning; one barrel sample smelled like vanilla pancakes, another like meat, another like a blackberry pie. The raw fruit power of the biodynamic syrah was stunning-- full of complexity and life. 

<-- Here, if you look to the right of the happy grapes (with a lovely natural bloom), you catch a glimpse of the cover crop between the rows. 

<----  Here is a little station on the edge of the vineyard used to dynamize the biodynamic preparations. All three wines are Demeter certified. 

These wines are so interesting, and I am really looking forward to tasting future vintages of Duemani, but I'm really excited to taste how these wines age. One thing that I find fascinating is the combination of biodynamic viticulture and the use of oak-- so many organic/biodynamic winegrowers shy away from oak use and go for amphoras/porcelain/cement;  their reasoning is that the oak flavors will not mask or dominate the fruit of the grape. The Duemani "Altrovino" seems to play around with this idea a bit. The Duemani "Duemani" and the  Duemani "Suisassi" have pretty obvious oak influence.  I wonder if Luca is going for serious structure aimed at agability, or if he feels that the fruit is so intense that it can be softened by the oak.  I didn't get a chance to pick his brain about it on this visit, but hopefully I can report back on it later!

Welcome to Contino, an artisinal winery under the umbrella of CVNE. Contino formed in 1973 when CVNE and several familes that owned the Contino lands and sold wine as "La Serna Wine Society" banded together as a single entity to make wines under the name "Contino."   I made this visit in September, 2011; harvest had just begun on certain blocks and graciano grapes were coming in from the vineyards and going into the crusher. 

Pictured below is winemaker Jesus Madrazo, who took over the winemaking from his father, Jose de Madrazo Real de Asua, in 1984. Jesus' father made a single cuvee every year from 1974 through 1984: Contino reserva (with the exception of '77, '79, '92, '93, '94-- in these not-so-good years he didn't produce any wine at all, but sold the best of his grapes to larger Rioja houses). 

In the early days Contino labels also state "La Serna Wine Society," and on some on the first bottlings "LSVS" is clearly visible. Before diving into LSVS/Contino, Jose had worked at Viña Real (they are known for bottling their Rioja in burgundy-shaped bottles), and considered his winemaking style to be lighter-- along the lines of a pinot noir. He bottled Contino reserva in burgundy-shaped bottles through 1980. When he began to taste back vintages and was struck by the nascent power of the wine, he switched to Bordeaux bottles (starting in 1981). 

When Jesus joined the CVNE & Contino group in 1994 (and later became Director of the Estate in 1999) the Contino reserva continued to be the flagship wine and a staple of annual production, but in addition he began producing a range of other small-production, artisinal cuvees-- experimental one-time bottlings and other cuvees made only in certain years with special weather. In 1994 he began bottling 100% graciano and also created a Contino gran reserva. In 1995 he created the Viña del Olivo cuvee. In 2010 he experimented with a malvasia/grenache blanc/veura white blend. 

In the photo below, Jesus holds an aerial map of the vineyards to clearly demonstrate how the Contino vineyards sit in a crook of the Ebro river, with a land rise at the opposite end. The sun runs across the vineyards from east to west-- the vines have full sun, all day long. 

Below is an old grinding stone recovered from the property, once used to grind wheat. 

Circa the 15th century an olive oil producer made olive oil from this land. A few olive trees still dot the premises (see left). 

One particular plot-- one of Jesus' favorites-- has an (circa) 800 year old olive tree standing at the center (see photo below).  Grapes from this piece of land (planted in 1980) have unique characteristics that may have to do with soil & nutrient interaction between the vines and the olive tree.  These special grapes go toward Contino's Viña del Olivo, one of their top cuvees. 

The farmhouse is extremely old; the main structure was built about 200 years ago but certain parts of the cellar date back to the 1500s. 

In the old farmhouse cellar these huge vats--no longer in use-- remain. I'm standing in the photo to give you an idea of the scale of these bohemoth barrels. 

Several years ago Contino wine production moved a few steps next door to a new, state-of-the-art facility (stainless steel fermenters, cement tanks gravity fed below for malo, and a few select large wood fermenters/agers). In several steps of production the building makes more use of gravity than the farmhouse. It also has much better ventilation and helps prevent CO2 build-up. 

Once production transferred to the new facility the farmhouse cellar began to be used solely for aging the bottles. 

This is the oldest part of the Contino farmhouse. The unique architecture, brick-laying and design indicates North African architectural influence and was most likely built in the 1500s (but potentially earlier). 

These are graciano grapes, known for their biting acidity. Jesus notes that "If it is unripened, it will taste terrible; but if it is ripe, it gives grace to the blend."  In the 1800s this indigenous variety was popular, but plantings dwindled eventually because of low yields and also the fact that in the early 1900s growers began to br paid for alcohol/kilo which led a trend of growing grapes with higher sugar (& therefore potential alcohol) content. 

Jesus passionately feels that graciano grapes are a special indigenous variety that should be vital to the production of Rioja. He is one of the first producers to fully explore this varietal, including bringing a 100% graciano bottling to market.  In fact, in 1994 Contino was the first producer in Spain to bring a 100% graciano bottling to market (2,625 bottles only), and they were 2nd in the world (John Brown from Brown Brothers Winery in Australia was the first person to do this). 

He is also a public advocate for graciano and has led a revival of it in the area: since he began singing its praises other producers have joined the chorus. In the past few decades hectare plantings of graciano have increased exponentially from 80 hectares to about 1,000 hectares. (To put this in perspective, that is 1,000 hectares of graciano out of a total of 64,000 hectares of all grape varietals in Rioja; this is about 1.5%, up from .1%). Graciano is a great case study of how, through passion, commitment and hard work, the flavor landscape of a region may be adjusted. 

This once obscure grape is now blended into several Riojas, used primarily to enhance the acidity of the vintage. 

The special plot for Viña del Olivo was planted in 1980 (which happens to be my birth year, and I mentioned this when he said "1980"). Toward the end of our visit I was complementing Jesus on the wines, saying something like "I really enjoyed these, you can taste that lots of focused care goes into these." 

And he replied with, "Maybe you will like this even better," and he placed a cork in front of me. I looked down and it had 1980 etched into the side! He had opened  it about 20 minutes earlier and saved it for the end. 

A few notes about this 1980 wine: First, notice the burgundy-style bottle-- this was the last year Contino reserva was placed in a burgundy bottle. The color was transparent and had a brickish hue to it. The aromas and flavors were amazing: dill, fall leaves, and pumpkins. A soft cherry fruit was still kicking, bright and alive. 

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"Orange wine" refers to white grapes vinified with extended skin contact. Leaving the wine in contact with the skin extracts more tannins, phenolics and color; sometimes a slight oxidativeness accompanies this as well. These processes induce chemical changes that make the wine appear "orange."  Sometimes the color is distinctly orange, at other times it is more coppery and at times there is even a brownish tinge.  Once in a while, an orange wine will look pretty normal (lemon-yellowish) but will still have had extended skin contact.

 
Though they seem new, interesting, and wild, orange wines come from thousands of years of winemaking tradition, most likely first being made in Georgia close to where Vitis vinifera grape vines originated. Practically speaking, it's likely possible that several thousands of years ago most white wines were "orange."  Yeasts that jumpstart fermentation are found naturally on skins, and pre-modern winemakers may have had to leave the skins in longer to take advantage of these native yeast populations to get their white wine fermentations going. Now that the industry better understands yeast and temperature, the winemaker has more control than ever before and does not have to make orange wines. Winemakers have the option to inoculate their must with special yeasts and do not need to rely on naturally occurring yeast populations on the skins.  In fact, most winemaking courses will not even address extended white grape skin contact. A huge emphasis during the last century on sterile, bright, technically-perfect white wine flooded the market with such wines leaving very little room for these interesting and sometimes rustic gems.  They are making a slight comeback-- in part because a younger wine-drinking public is more willing to take risks and try these (sadly) unfamiliar wines.

Another thing that most orange wines have in common is that they are all made by small, artisinal producers. Perhaps this is just because the style of vinification is not mainstream and as such a large company would not  want to invest in such an esoteric product. This may change in the future, but I have yet to come across an orange wine made by a large producer. 

See below for a few classic/standard orange wines that you can hopefully find in your local market. There are plenty of options, but the winemakers below are sort of spear-heading the orange wine phenomenon and influencing other producers in their areas:

Coebobium (Lazio, Italy) 2009
trebbiano (45%) + malvasia (35%) + verdicchio (20%)
long skin contact + lees aging. 
made by Cistercian nuns and Giampiero Bea (Paolo Bea's son)


This wine has some extended skin contact, but not enough to elicit that dark orange color. Still, you can taste the heaviness in the wine, and the more intense skin tannins. 

Coebobium "Rusticum" (Lazio, Italy) 2009
trebbiano (45%) + malvasia (35%) + verdicchio (20%)
even longer skin contact than the preivous. 
made by Cistercian nuns and Giampiero Bea

By comparing the color of this first photo and the second photo it's easy to see that extended skin contact really does impart an orange color to the wine. These photos demonstrate that the longer the skins are in contact with the wine, the darker the color will become. 

Paolo Bea "Chiara" (Umbria, Italy) 2009
grechetto (20%) + malvasia (20%) + garganega (20%) + 2 other types 
15 days of skin contact
made by Paolo Bea (Giampiero's father)

This one is super complex: fresh cut apricots, persimmon, citrus, spice, flowers, nectar, oregano. 

Definitely decant this one-- the photo shows the sediment all mixed up in the wine (we opened this bottle after traveling with it)

Paolo Bea "Arboreus" (Umbria, Italy) 2006
trebbiano spoletino

A beautiful specimen. This here is one of the benchmarks of orange wine. It's expensive, but worth the experience if you can find a bottle of this. Made from high-trained vines that echo a vine growing in a tree (hence the name arboreus). 

21 days of skin contact
232 days on the lees

Tissot savagnin "Amphore" (Arbois, France) 2010


skin maceration for 3 months

This one is pretty amazing- ripe pear and fresh cut valencia orange aromas, rich in tannins. truly unique and very special. 

A few other iconic producers to look into are Movia (Lunar), Camillo Donati, Gravner, Pheasant's Tears, and The Prince in His Caves. 

Personally, I find orange wines to be interesting, refreshing, tart, unique and great food wines-- their heavier weight allows them to be paired with wines that would normally require something like a pinot noir. I also think they go great with-- and I hope it isn't just placebic-- oranges. Imagine one of these wines with cod or aparagus in a tart lemon sauce with orange zest on top-- or even a fresh cut orange. They also require some mental attention-- they are not like quaffing whites that you can just drink on a hot day at the beach and practically forget that you are drinking wine. These wines tend to be brooding and sentimental. You'll want to sit down and really think about what you are drinking. Good wines to drink if you are, say, working on your PhD dissertation and need some philosophical stimulation or sitting on the porch trying to make a major life decision. Also big enough for unique food pairings. Great with cheese. 

At the moment orange wines are a minority of production and critics will often frame them as a sommelier's geek-wine recommended for their obscurity. One magazine, for instance, jovially frames them as "a current favorite of hipster sommeliers." Another article mentions that orange wines are a "category gaining favor among some younger, edgier sommeliers."  Though I've sensed that this is the current climate I do believe that there could be a larger space for these wines in the world. They are beautiful in their own way. They are also hearty and pretty resistant to oxidation (which means they are great glass pours because an open bottle will not spoil as fast). It's funny how these wines are framed by the media as hipster & edgy, while the winemakers are usually older and mature with a penchant for philosophy. The impetus for producing an orange wine is usually a pastoral desire to create something natural and expressive, an honest and hardworking wine that conveys an almost spiritual message. It's too bad (or maybe good, for marketing?) that they've gained a rep as odd-ball food-fashion accessories, and that this branding may hold them back from gaining any real ground or a serious following. But then again maybe the small market is actually a good thing since the production is relatively small as it is. In any case, I'm a serious follower, and I know a few others, so all is not lost-- even if we are just an army of a dozen!

Now that my allegiances to orange wine are clear, there is still a sticky philosophical quandry to be tackled about them. Some terroirists believe that terroir comes from the soil and the ground, that this voice is transmitted through juice, and they might argue that extended maceration reduces the expression of terroir because the anthocyanins/phenolics/etc extracted from the skin mask the soil flavors in the juice. They see extended maceration as an unnecessary cellar intervention that overpowers the voice of the soil.

But there is another way to frame it. The skins of the grape may well be as much transmitters of what the soil is saying equally as much as the juice inside the grape; after all they both come from molecules that are sucked up from the soil by the vine. In red wines it is rarely argued that skin contact interferes with terroir, why should this not be the case with white wines as well? Perhaps extended skin contact for white wines is merely a different expression (to which we are unaccustomed?) of terroir-- perhaps the definition of terroir could be broadened to include phenolic and anthocyanin shades in white wines as strong but place-specific conduits for what the earth is saying. 

Debates/stances/discussions on terroir run deep and cannot possibly be fully explored in the above two paragraphs; but it is a beginning, a conversation starter if you will, and an important issue to be aware of when talking about orange wines-- especially to wine professionals who are likely to have a passionate opinion for or against. 

Regardless of your nuanced stances on terroir or "hipster" wines, I believe this breed of wines is too interesting and unique (and delicious!) not to try. 


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