Refinement and classicism in Mlečnik Ana

A wine that helped me answer the question 'how many days maceration defines a wine as orange'?

One of the more popular questions I get asked in masterclasses is  "how many days of maceration is necessary before a white wine becomes an orange wine?"

My answer has been in flux for the last few years. At one point, I felt that anything less than a week didn't constitute the full monty, but the right answer is more complex. The definition of orange wine for me is not primarily to do with colour, but rather with style. White wines cross the line when they start showing more texture and quite possibly tannins - and when the typical flavours of maceration start to appear: dried or cooked fruits, tea leaves, dried or fresh herbs, woodsmoke and so on. When this occurs depends on myriad factors - grape variety, method and amount of extraction, fermentation vessel and temperature are just a few.

Valter Mlečnik, now very ably assisted by his son Klemen, is one of the classic producers of this style in Slovenia's Vipava valley. Valter was lucky to have Josko Gravner as a mentor between 1983 a…