Oxidative versus Oxidised: Pacina - La Cerretina 2012

"It's oxidised" - how many times have I heard this statement, when talking about orange wines? Even amongst wine professionals, the misconception often prevails. Most of us are very visual creatures - confronted with what we're told is ostensibly a white

(Almost) every week, I select an orange wine (a white wine made with extended skin contact) that grabbed my attention. View the whole series here.

"It's oxidised" - how many times have I heard this statement, when talking about orange wines? Even amongst wine professionals, the misconception often prevails. Most of us are very visual creatures - confronted with what we're told is ostensibly a white wine, and a darker russet brown, golden yellow or downright orange colour, it can be hard to shake off the thought that the wine is in less than prime condition.

Let's be very clear. Orange wines are generally not intended to be oxidised. Many are made in a hands-off way, in the presence of more oxygen than most industrially produced wines, but the aim is still  for a clean, fresh end product. Pretty much all the producers recommended on this site achieve that. That's sound winemaking. I've come across a couple of less consistent producers, and some bottles that were absolutely, unquestionabl…