About The Pack
The rise of skin contact white wines in Australia has added another interesting orange tinge to the rich tapestry of Australian wine.
From rosy Pinot Gris and spicy wacky blends to some rarely-seen varieties, you'll get to see some of the best Australian examples of the style in this pack.
Great value and the perfect place to start exploring the delicious world of skin contact white wines.
2020 Brave New Wine Ambergris Pinot Gris
There are so many more interesting examples of Pinot Gris in Australia at the moment.
Here's another one to enter the fray from Yoko and Andries at Brave New Wine.
This is some very fine fruit from the Great Southern. Andries leaves this wine on skins for about three weeks before pressing. He makes it more like a Pinot Noir than a white wine and the results are delicious.
Loads of sweet berried fruit and super delicious acidity, this is the perfect picnic smasher for the Summertime.
Read more about 2020 Brave New Wine Ambergris Pinot Gris2020 Between Five Bells Amber
Dr Ray Nadeson is your classic 'mad scientist' in the wine world. An academic and scientific background sits behind a seemingly endless creative streak in his winemaking. Each vintage there's new projects brought to bottle. Here's his latest instalment.
The B5B Amber is a bottling from a single 800L terracotta amphora. Around half the wine is made up of Pinot Gris that sat on skins inside the earthen vessel for 45 days before it was joined by a wild motley crew of white varieties bringing different colours and detail to the party.
Unsurprisingly, Ray's second crack at an amber wine is a massive success. Spicy, grippy and a little bit wild, this is a great example of Australian amber winemaking.
Read more about 2020 Between Five Bells Amber2020 Dormilona Skinnie Sauvignon Blanc
Sauvignon Blanc is a great variety to experiment with. Winemaker Jo Perry plays around with it a bit here, pushing this Sauvignon Blanc into the realm of the weird and wonderful.
The fruit is crushed straight into a combination of amphora and open top bins, then left to hang out of skins for a full six weeks before bottling. No fining. No filtration. No adds. Just the awesome raw essence of Sauvignon Blanc.
If you're in the market for crisp dry whites, you may want to look elsewhere. But if funky, textural wines with a wild personality are your thing, this is going to be right up your alley.
Read more about 2020 Dormilona Skinnie Sauvignon Blanc2020 Smallfry Tangerine Dream
The Tangerine Dream is one of the most experimental of the Smallfry wines. After sampling a few things at the Rootstock natural wine festival a couple of years ago, Wayne thought he might try his hand at making an amber wine. This is his eighth dig at the style and it's a beauty.
This skin-contact field blend of Semillon, Pedro Ximenes, Riesling, Roussanne and Muscat is the embodiment of Wayne's creative winemaking exploration, a left of centre amber wine for this region so steeped in tradition.
And quite simply, it is down-right delicious. We love it when winemakers broaden their horizons and just give something a go. Sometimes when you take a chance you can end up in a Tangerine Dream...
Read more about 2020 Smallfry Tangerine Dream2020 Somos Naranjito
The Somos team tackle skin contact whites for the second time here.
This is a great example of a more smashable 'orange' wine than some of the more challenging examples on the market today.
The Verdelho fruit was grown biodynamically, all the fruit was fermented on skins before being split in two portions: the first went to barrel to spend time in oak on lees; the second stayed on skins for a huge six months before pressing giving a wild, gingery, exotic tweak to the flavours.
So much personality, so much drinkablity, so much value. A super offering from this great small McLaren Vale operation.
Read more about 2020 Somos Naranjito2020 Anim Lion in the Clover
Such great experimentation going on under the Anim label.
This is Max and Siobhan's crack at an orange wine made from white grapes grown on the Clarence House vineyard. The two grapes are Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Blanc. The grapes soaked on their skins for a huge 70 days before pressing.
It shows a wild fruity perfume with a hint of spice and dried citrus peel. It shows plenty of tannin and grip and a good crunch of nutty savouriness through the finish.
This is not your typical Tasmanian white wine, that's for sure.