MWG January 16th tasting (4/8): A white red orange
Saar 2010, Orange, Weigut Orea ($24.00, La QV, 6 bottles/case)
100% organically farmed Pinot Noir vinified like a white – a blanc de noirs, in other words – which , if I understand correctly, the winemaker, Hervé Bar, considers an orange wine of sorts, not that I know how that works with a red grape. Spontaneous fermentation. Hands-off approach to the wine-making, including no chaptalization, fining or filtering and no or minimal added sulphur. 11.5% ABV. The estate has reportedly ceased making wine, Bar having followed his wife back to his native Bordeaux.
Colour somewhere between an orange wine and a rosé. People toyed with bouquet descriptors like lemon cookies and lime zest before one of them pegged it: flat champagne. The wine has a silky, caressing texture. The sweet-ripe fruit (apple, mango, mangosteen) is brightened by acidity and dried by a faint hint of tannins. There’s a certain depth and good length. Emminently quaffable, far more so than other still white Pinot Noirs you might name. Popular with many of the assembled tasters. (Buy again? Yes.)
The estate’s Rieslings are well regarded and its Chardonnay has been compared to Chablis.
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