Wine 9 min

Orange Wine

On 8,000 years of skin contact, the people of the Caucasus, and a thing that is apparently in Vogue

Orange wine is a thing now. Don't get left behind. People responded to this sign I made more than any other in the department, and at first I thought it was my attempt to shame them. But then I googled it. It's in Vogue for God's sake.

Imagine you're a farmer in the Caucasus mountains 8,000 years ago. It's not hard to see how an abundant harvest of grapes ended up in a spare amphora somewhere to be dealt with later. By the time you finish everything for the season, it's too late. All that's left in the clay amphora is a big bubbly vat of fermenting grape juice. Lemons into lemonade. You give up, throw a top on it, seal it with beeswax and decide to check in on it a month later.

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