Qvevri and orange
Qvevri, or kvevri, a term given to large terra cotta pots used to ferment and age wine, are more normally associated with Georgia. That was until Walgate of Tillingham got his hands on some.
The estate’s Qvevri Dharc 2018 is made from 100% Chardonnay, grown in two different sites. The grapes were foot trodden and then divided into two qvevri, one with 10% skins, the other without. After six months in the vessels, the wine is pumped into a fourth fill oak barrel for another six months before being bottled with no fining or filtration.
Orange wines, made from white grapes that have been left in contact with the skin during fermentation, have also started appearing in the UK.
Organic and biodynamic producer, Ancre Hill in Monmouthshire in Wales, makes a quirky amber-hued expression made mostly from Albariño, which is fermented in oak and stainless and aged on its lees for 10 months. Surrey-based Litmus also makes an orange from Bacchus grapes, which is aged in two to five-year-old French barriques for nine months. The wine was listed in Waitrose last year.
