Tuscany may not be the first region that comes to mind when you think about orange wine. However, there are more and more local producers following this worldwide movement to revive such ancient style of winemaking technique—macerating white grapes with their skins and treating white grapes as they would for red ones.

Podere Le Ripi is an iconic winery in Montalcino produces this brilliant orange wine Canna Torta by using the indigenous white grape varieties Trebbiano and Malvasia with skin contact during fermentation and ageing in terracotta jars and clay amphorae (the ancient containers that were used for making wines thousands of years ago).

It has beautiful pale orange/amber color. The nose is quite intense with orange peel, tangerine, orchard fruits, aromatic herbs, oolong tea and a bit of honey, cheese and wax note. On palate, it has medium (+) phenolic texture, medium (+) body and concentration, and medium alcohol. The finish is long and savoury with mineral flintiness and some tannic and nutty sensation. It almost tastes like a red wine in the white wine’s cloth, so a higher serving temperature around 15 °C is ideal.

As the wine is savoury with good concentration of fruit and only slightly tannic, it is a very food- friendly wine suitable to match with many savour Asian dishes. My suggestion will include: Chiu Chow style of Cold Fish (潮州魚飯), Steam Egg White and Crab with Chinese Yellow Wine (Cantonese cuisine) (花雕蛋白蒸蟹) and Shanghai style of Drunken Chicken (上海醉鷄). It is also a fantastic pairing with the Japanese fermented soybeans (Natto) and goes well with Korean Kimchi. You may explore your own food and wine pairing preference with this very interesting wine. Cheers!