Best Orange Wines of 2023

A good year for orange wine

2023 offered a lot of good orange wines, for me at least. As with the past years, the interest in skin contact on white wines increased last year and so has the selection. I traveled to Canada, Denmark, Sweden, and Italy last year, seeing a large interest in orange wines in all of them. As most people have already discovered what natural wine is, the search for what type of natural wine they like has begun. I'm hoping that 2024 will be the year of orange wine in the Nordics, and hopefully in Europe and North America as well. In Asia, the interest is also growing, with Japan being the biggest market for orange wine. China seems to have an increased interest in natural wine, and in Shanghai, there are popping up more natural wine dedicated wine bars.

To celebrate the year that has been, I have reviewed my entire wine log from 2023 and selected the top 20 orange wines I tasted. The selection is based on the quality of the wines, how unique they are, and how versatile (some) of them are. It is not sorted by ranking, but chronological from when I tasted them.

Kaplja 2015 - Damijan Podversic

Tasted in Oslo, Norway 02.02.23 🇳🇴

This wine was the wine that made me fall in love with the orange wines of Friuli back in 2019. It's so rich and complex, often a heavy bouquet of noble rot and a wine that deserves hours of decantering. Great producer and a magnificent bottle of wine.

Rkatsiteli - Pheasant's Tears

Tasted at Mangelsgården in Oslo, Norway 16.02.23 🇳🇴

One of my absolute favorite Georgian orange wines, which sadly can be hard to get your hands on (at least in Norway). Luckily I got to try it early last year, and it was as amazing as I remembered. Full of natural funk, acetone, fruitiness, and complexity.

Á Freux de Luxe - La Sorga

Tasted at SKAAL in Oslo, Norway 28.02.23 🇳🇴

Perfect balance of juicy, funky, and complex that only La Sorga knows how to. I've had mixed experiences with La Sorga's wines before, some very volatile and others just incredible. 2023 was a good La Sorga year for me, and this one was no exception. Deserves a good hour or two in a decanter.

Montjoie - La Sorga

Tasted in Oslo, Norway 03.03.23 🇳🇴

Speaking of La Sorga, this was the bottle from Antony that I purchased the most (which I usually don't do as I normally like to try new things). Not too funky, has great fruitiness, and enough complexity that it's not just an okey glou glou wine. Great on a Tuesday afternoon and great at the afterparty past midnight.

Fuoripista Pinot Grigio - Foradori

Tasted in Fiesco, Italy 07.04.23 🇮🇹

I had the great pleasure of visiting Foradori while I was on vacation North in Italy for easter. A family who makes clean and high-quality natural wines in Trentino, and also one of my favorite skin-macerated Pinot Grigio wines. This one tends to change for each vintage, but the 2021 was perfection. Grab it if you find it! Thank you so much for having us!

Otoño - Kindeli

Tasted at Naturvinmessa in Oslo, Norway 22.04.23 🇳🇴

Last year was the 3rd edition of Norway's only natural wine fair created by Naturvinforbundet and held in Oslo. I got to try Kindeli for the first time, thanks to Eirik from Bohem Vin who imports great stuff from NZ. Otoño is a fun field blend with a very Alsace-ish mix of grapes. Spicy, complex, and highly chuggable.

Brutal Orange - Matassa

Tasted at Nektar Vinbar in Oslo, Norway 05.05.23 🇳🇴

On my birthday last year, I got to enjoy this bottle from Matassa at one of my favorite wine bars in Oslo. Pure perfection of complexity and drinkability from Tom on this one. I also had the joy of meeting Tom Lubbe in person on his visit to Norway. Love it when great wines are also made by great people. Thank you for the good chats, Tom!

El Carner - Matassa

Tasted in Oslo, Norway 13.05.23 🇳🇴

Matassa wines are great for spring, and this red wine looking orange wine is the perfect bottle to accompany a good time. I love it when wines can be dangerously easy to drink, but also bring complexity and concentration at the same time. Matassa has perfected this, and El Carner is for those times you just want something nice in your glass without having to think about it, but then be reminded every now and then that this is a fucking good wine.

Capsule - Fabien Jouves

Tasted in Oslo, Norway 21.05.23 🇳🇴

I often get disappointed with petnats, especially when they are a bit higher in the price range. Fabien Jouves is a producer that makes solid wines, so when I discovered this petnat last year I was excited. It's not a wine that should age, so drink it within a year. But popping this when the sun is out with some friends is absolutely perfect. It's one of the wines I repurchased several times last year and used in a couple of tastings as well. Solid choice for an orange fizz.

Fennefoss - Katla Wines

Tasted in Oslo, Norway 17.06.23 🇳🇴

This bottle was acquired on our way from Norway to Italy, when we dropped by Copenhagen for the obligatory wine shopping (even tho the prices due to a very weak NOK was tough). Rødder & Vin has a great selection of wines, and seeing this one I knew I had to get it (thanks for a great recommendation Solfinn). Jas Swan makes really fun and great wines in Mosel, but surprised me heavily with this one. It's the most balanced and juicy 100% macerated Gewürztraminer I have ever tasted, and I have tasted a lot. So smooth and full of complexity, yet it went down like a waterfall. I also had the pleasure of meeting Jas in Norway when she came over last year. Not surprised that her wines have a lot of personality! Great meeting you Jas!

Ribolla - Gravner

Tasted in Oslo, Norway 29.06.23 🇳🇴

If you know, you know. Gravner is the holy grail of orange wine for a lot of people, me included, and for good reasons. I had the absolute pleasure of tasting his Bianco Breg in 2022 (several times actually), and last year I opened up one of the last Ribolla 2008 bottles left in Norway. It's almost silly to try to explain this wine, but I can say that it topped my Bianco Breg 2008 experience. It was smoother, but equally as complex (and I mean this is a different level of complexity). Paired it with some simple Brillat Savarin and honey, which worked wonders. The wine went down faster than I wanted, and surprising considering how old and concentrated it is. I have so much respect for producers who store their wines until they are ready, and Gravner's wines not only show maturity but also uniqueness and concentration beyond what you think is possible. I have a bottle of Bianco Breg 2008 left that will be opened this year, and I am already looking forward to it. Mille grazie.

Chateau Nubbgatan Orange - Fruktstereo

Tasted in Oslo, Norway 09.08.23 🇳🇴

I love when producers try new stuff, but also when they don't forget what they do best. The two guys behind Fruktstereo, Karl, and Mikael, have been making great ciders in Sweden for a while and managed to expand to New York and Tokyo. They have changed how Swedes perceived cider and created the fruit petnat category in which they are some of the best in the Nordics. Summer last year they launched their new product line called Chateau Nubbgatan, a blend of Swedish wine grapes and Swedish cider. Their Orange wine/cider blend is the perfect mix between the two, giving you a very complex cider, and a very chuggable and fresh orange wine, all in one. If you haven't tried this before, you are missing out. I also had the pleasure of meeting them both in Oslo last year and to taste the upcoming products in their new wine projects. Definitely a producer to keep an eye on!

Ambre de Savagnin - Domaine de la Tournelle

Tasted in Oslo, Norway 26.08.23 🇳🇴

If I'm having white wine (without skin contact), I generally prefer it to be from Jura in France. It's such a unique area in France that makes so much good wine, all with a richness you can't find elsewhere in the same way. A few times in my life so far I have been so lucky as to find an orange wine from Jura. This is one of those few times, and damn it was not a disappointment. A producer that hasn't reached the masses (of Jura fans) yet, but probably will soon. Savagnin with skin contact works so damn well, making a good grape taste even greater. This was both dense and light at the same time. Get it if you can!

Vitovska - Zidarich

Tasted in Oslo, Norway 13.09.23 🇳🇴

The first time I tasted the magic of Zidarich was back in 2022 when I had a short trip to Cividale del Friuli in Italy. With fond memories of his wines, I hoped to find some back in Norway, but no one seemed to import them. Finally, it showed up last year, and it did not disappoint. A more classic style of the Friulian orange wines, more friendly for those who haven't dug deep into the skin contact world yet. A wine that both deserves and needs some time in the decanter and to be served at a red wine temperature. Solid producer you can't go wrong with.

Aromatico - Grape Republic

Tasted at SKAAL Oslo, Norway 29.10.23 🇳🇴

Japan is not just a country that enjoys drinking orange wine, they also make some damn good ones. Last year I celebrated the 3-year anniversary of Oransjevin at SKAAL as always, where we open up the most unique and fun bottles we can find. This one was perhaps the crowd favorite that night, and understandably so. It has a synthetic fruitiness that is so good that the word synthetic becomes a positive thing in this context. I have never tasted anything like this, and it opened my eyes to Japanese orange wine. I'm excited about what we can expect from Japan in 2024.

Blanc - A Thousand Gods

Tasted in Oslo, Norway 01.11.23 🇳🇴

This is another producer I discovered last year that I am excited to taste more from in 2024. New Zealand can grow some good Sauvignon Blanc, but it takes true craftmanship to make it excellent. A Thousand Gods makes very clean, sharp, and solid wines. Blanc has a friendly touch of skin contact which gives the wine that little extra. It's a great allrounder for food, or just drinking by itself. I really loved this one, and it's going to be a staple in our home now that we can more easily get this in Norway. Thank you, Eirik for bringing this to Norway!

Orange - Chateau Lafitte

Tasted in Oslo, Norway 03.11.23 🇳🇴

Chateau Lafitte might be pricey, but it's worth the money. Their half-liter of orange wine is not an easy wine to get, so I was lucky when I managed to try it last year (thank you Carl-Otto). I had high expectations after hearing great things about this wine for two years, but those expectations where surprisingly succeeded. It was so good that half a liter wasn't enough and I didn't want to share the wine with anyone else. It was part of my annual Mont d'Or party, in which it was a fucking good pairing with. This is expensive and rare stuff, but if you see it you buy it.

Ribolla Gialla - Matthiasson

Tasted at Frances in Oslo, Norway 21.11.23 🇳🇴

It's no secret that I love Friuli and almost everything that comes out of that area in a wine bottle. When I heard about an American producer making orange wine from Ribolla Gialla in Napa Valley I almost got offended, but my curiosity was stronger than my prejudice. At the end of last year, I finally found a bottle and had to try it. I gotta say I am impressed by how well Matthiasson has produced something so Italian in a respectful and different way. Well done.

Mus'cat - L'Octavin

Tasted at Alba in Stockholm, Sweden 01.12.23 🇸🇪

I have a big weak spot for Muscat of Alexandria with skin contact. It's something about the tropical smell and super fruity flavors that just hits the spot almost every single time. On my research trip to Stockholm in December I ended up at Alba by myself with a decently topped-up glass of Mus'cat and got to just enjoy how fucking great this stuff is. It's a wine that can (and probably should be) stored for some years to get even better, but it also drinks so well right now. Gets me every time.

Sialis Bianco - Terpin

Tasted with Jordmånen in Stockholm, Sweden 02.12.23 🇸🇪

I did not expect to discover a new Friuli producer (to me) last year as I thought I knew them all, but man was I wrong. Terpin is among the top Friuli producers when it comes to quality, aging, and concentration. He makes everything from the more accessible and chuggable wines to the heavy macerated and aged orange wines in true Friulian style. Sialis Bianco was without a doubt among my top 5 favorite discoveries last year, and I am already trying to get my hands on more from this producer. Don't be fooled by the labels, this shit is good.