I mentioned this wine in my post on Father's Day. My Father-in-law gave a bottle to my husband recently. My husband first tried this wine while traveling abroad and has been looking for it in The States for a long time. I am not at all familiar with orange wine or La Stoppa. So I had some research to do!
Orange wine is not a rosé, although I see where it might be a useful comparison. Orange wine is made from white wine grapes. The orange color is a result of the grape juice being allowed to have contact with the grape skins. In this case, the grapes were left in contact with their skins for 30 days. Being in contact with the skins gives the wine characteristics you are unlikely to find in your average white wine, like tannins. Where rosé is red wine grapes who have had minimal contact with the skins, usually hours, orange wine is the opposite. White wine grapes allowed to have more contact with the skins. This is a fairly simplistic explanation, if you want more information on the wine making process check out Wine Folly's overview of wine making processes. It is a great overview of how different processes can effect wine.
The particular orange wine we are talking about today is from Italy. It is made with Malvasia and Trebbiano grapes (white wine grapes). La Stoppa is located in Emilia-Romagna, Italy. Our wine, Ageno, was named for the founder Gian-Marco Ageno. If you want more information on this producer, here is a link to their website.
Even though orange wine is made from white wine grapes, they are very different from what you would expect from a white wine. It would be ridiculous for me to generalize much about orange wines since this is the only one I have ever had, but still, this La Stoppa certainly was different. Right out of the bottle, it had a mild medicinal smell. I know, it sounds awful, and I am not going to lie, I was briefly concerned. However, this bizarre chemical smell was replaced by a glorious floral smell. I have heard people describe wine as flowery before, but this was like sticking your nose in a gardenia or a magnolia blossom. It was really nice, I didn't want to take my nose out of the glass, Seriously! When I finally stopped sniffing the wine like a crazy person, I actually took a sip. I am not going to pretend I had some life-altering wine moment, in fact, I didn't know what I was tasting at first. It was big and bold, but I wasn't sure how I felt about it. There were tannins. Tannins in a white wine! It just didn't feel natural! Once I got over the shock tannins (I know, I still sound like a crazy person), I started tasting something wonderful. Honeysuckle! Tannin honeysuckle. Yes, I am still on about the tannins. The honeysuckle taste with the floral smell was really pleasant. It was like eating honeysuckle with magnolia blossoms shoved up my nose. Except, less weird and uncomfortable. In addition to honeysuckle, there was a touch or orange zest, apricot and perhaps leather. After being in the glass for a while, the tannins softened a bit, and after getting over myself, I liked them.
To be honest, this wine may not be for everyone. It is the most delightfully unusual wine I have ever had (certainly the most memorable).
I would absolutely recommend that everyone try it. If you do, give it a chance, and some time.
Before I rate this wine, I have to confess that this will probably be a completely useless rating. This is an incredibly unique wine, and I loved it! However, I am sure that not everyone will be as enthusiastic. While I highly recommend everyone try this bottle, take this score with a grain of salt.
I give 2011 La Stoppa Ageno 4.6 magnolia blossoms up your nose out 5
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Have you tried orange wine? If not, would you like to?
